he was permitted to help. He had brought 
mud to be used as mortar, had collected leaves 
and moss to carpet the floor of the lodge, and 
had fetched building sticks from the slash¬ 
ing. He cared less for the stick-carrying job 
that he did for the other ones, as it was neces¬ 
sary to make a two hundred-yard trip through 
the canal for each piece of wood. 
A very few journeys of that sort were all 
that O-Go cared for, and he therefore looked 
about him for something else to do. Perhaps, 
Ilg or Ela might be busy at something which 
would entertain him too. O-Go hunted for 
them all along the bank, but could not find 
them; he looked for them along the canal, 
but they were not there; he sought them in 
the slashing, but they were nowhere to be seen. 
They had eaten their fill, and had gone home 
to sleep. 
There was nothing for O-Go to do, no 
one with w T hom he could play, and nobody 
to entertain him. He wandered around the 
slashing, feeling both bored and lonely. There 
was plenty to eat there, but he was not hun¬ 
gry. There was plenty of wood waiting to be 
carried, but he did not feel inclined to work 
at that. He could, of course, go back to his 
home lodge and sleep, but he wasn’t sleepy. 
Presently, O-Go came to the big poplar tree, 
which Uncle Castor and Chisel-tooth had mis- 
87 
