needed to be removed from these branches. 
This was that wood left in the bark usually 
decays more rapidly than does wood that has 
been peeled. 
While his parents, assisted by other grown 
members of the colony, were still busy at cut¬ 
ting off the tree's branches, and while Ilg and 
Ela were yet at their eating, O-Go finished 
his meal. As he hadn’t eaten enough to make 
him feel sleepy, and there seemed nothing fur¬ 
ther to interest him there in the slashing, 
O-Go wandered away. Perhaps, his mother 
did not notice him leave; perhaps, she sup¬ 
posed that he had gone down the canal to 
the new lodge. 
O-Go had done neither of those things. He 
had wandered off at an angle, coming out of 
the woods and onto the shore a full hun¬ 
dred yards from the mouth of the canal. 
This was new territory to O-Go, and it was 
best to be cautious. He paused, looked and 
listened, his round, little ears set to catch any 
hostile sound, his nostrils alert to detect any 
enemy scent, and his beady eyes keen to see 
whatever might be there to see. 
He was not long in finding something to 
interest him. There, not over a dozen yards 
from where he stood, were six queer crea¬ 
tures who swam, not in the water but upon 
it. Such a thing as that, thought O-Go, ought 
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