felled. Earlier in the evening, all the beavers 
of the colony had visited that place. Now it 
was deserted, though O-Go could hear work¬ 
ers not far away. 
O-Go wasn't hungry, but his constantly- 
growing chisel teeth urged him to gnaw wood. 
Therefore, he decided to cut down a tree, and 
sought for one not too big for him to handle. 
Finally, quite by chance, he waddled over to 
one of the saplings which supported the big 
tree, and in a moment more he was busily 
gnawing away at it. The fact that he sat di¬ 
rectly beneath the overhanging trunk of the 
suspended poplar meant nothing to O-Go. 
The grinding of his teeth, as he chipped 
away at that sapling, felt good to O-Go. He 
was not lonely now, for he was busy. He was 
not afraid, either, for there were no hostile 
sounds or odors there in the slashing. O-Go 
was a contented little beaver. 
Once, it is true, the big poplar made a 
queer, groaning noise, startling O-Go so badly 
that he scurried to find shelter in the water. 
There, he tarried for a while, lying motion¬ 
less and almost submerged until his heart quit 
its pounding. Then, very cautiously, he once 
more crawled out of the water. 
O-Go listened, but there was nothing to 
hear; he looked, but there was nothing to see; 
he sniffed the air, but its only odors were those 
88 
