"The very nicest place in all the world excepting the Green Meadowsand the Smiling Pool!" replied Jerry promptly. "Won't you stay, CousinPaddy? I'm sure we would all like to have you."
"Of course we would," said a gruff voice right beside them. It wasGrandfather Frog.
Paddy the Beaver looked thoughtful. "Perhaps I will," said he, "if I canfind some good hiding-places in the Laughing Brook."
CHAPTER XXIV: A Merry Home-Going
"The Laughing Brook is merry And so am I," cried Jerry. Grandfather Frog said he was too. And Spotty was, the others knew.
The trees stood with wet feet where just a little while before had beenthe strange pond in the Green Forest, the pond made by the dam of Paddythe Beaver. In the dam was a great hole made by Paddy himself.
Through the Green Forest rang the laughter of the Laughing Brook, foronce more the water ran deep between its banks. And in the hearts ofGrandfather Frog and Jerry Muskrat and Spotty the Turtle was laughteralso, for now the Smiling Pool would smile once more, and they could gohome in peace and happiness. And there was one more who laughed. Who wasit? Why, Paddy the Beaver to be sure, and his was the best laugh of all,for it was because he had brought happiness to others.
"You beat me up here to the dam, but you won't beat me back to theSmiling Pool," cried Jerry Muskrat to Spotty the Turtle.
Spotty laughed good-naturedly. "You'd better not stop to eat or play orsleep on the way then," said he, "for I shall keep right on going allthe time. I've found that is the only way to get anywhere."
"Let us all go down together" said Grandfather Frog. "We can help eachother over the bad places."
Jerry Muskrat laughed until he had to hold his sides at the very thoughtof Grandfather Frog or Spotty the Turtle being able to help him, buthe is very good-natured, and so he agreed that they should all go downtogether. Paddy the Beaver said that he would go, too, so off the fourstarted, Jerry Muskrat and Paddy the Beaver swimming side by side, andbehind them Grandfather Frog and Spotty the Turtle.
Now Spotty the Turtle is a very slow traveler on land, but in the waterSpotty is not so slow. In fact, it was not long before Grandfather Frogfound that he was the one who could not keep up. You see, while he isa great diver and can swim fast for a short distance, he is soon tiredout. Pretty soon he was puffing and blowing and dropping farther andfarther behind. By and by, Spotty the Turtle looked back. There wasGrandfather Frog just tumbling head first over a little waterfall.He came up choking and gasping and kicking his long legs very feebly.Spotty climbed out on a rock and waited. He helped Grandfather Frog outbeside him, and when Grandfather Frog had once more gotten his breath,what do you think Spotty did? Why, he took Grandfather Frog right on hisback and started on again.
Now Jerry Muskrat and Paddy the Beaver, being great swimmers, were soonout of sight. All at once Jerry remembered that they had agreed to goback together, and down in his heart he felt a little bit mean when helooked for Grandfather Frog and Spotty the Turtle and could see nothingof them. So he and Paddy sat down to wait. After what seemed a longtime, they saw something queer bobbing along in the water.
"It's Grandfather Frog," cried Paddy the Beaver.
"No, it's Spotty the Turtle," said Jerry Muskrat.
"It's both," replied Paddy, beginning to laugh.
Just then Spotty tumbled over another waterfall which he hadn't seen,and of course Grandfather Frog went with him and lost his hold onSpotty's back.
"I have an idea!" cried Paddy.
"What is it?" asked Jerry.
"Why, Grandfather Frog can ride on my flat tail," replied Paddy, "andthen we'll go slow enough for Spotty to keep up with us."
And so it was that just as the first moonbeams kissed the Smiling Pool,out of the Laughing Brook swam the merriest party that ever was seen.
"Chugarum!" said Grandfather Frog. "It is good to be home, but I thinkI would travel often, if I could have the tail of Paddy the Beaver for aboat."
CHAPTER XXV: Paddy The Beaver Decides To Stay
"The fair Green Meadows spreading wide, The Smiling Pool and Laughing Brook-- They fill our hearts with joy and pride; We love their every hidden nook."
So said Jerry Muskrat, as he climbed up on the Big Rock in the middle ofthe Smiling Pool, with Paddy the Beaver beside him, and watched the dearSmiling Pool dimpling and smiling in the moonlight, as he had so oftenseen it before the great trouble had come.
"Chugarum!" said Grandfather Frog in his great deep voice from thebulrushes. "One never knows how great their blessings are until theyhave been lost and found again."
The bulrushes nodded, as if they too were thinking of this. You seetheir feet were once more in the cool water. Paddy the Beaver seemed tounderstand just how every one felt, and he smiled to himself as he sawhow happy these new friends of his were.
"It surely is a very nice place here, and I don't wonder that youcouldn't bear to leave it," said he. "I'm sorry that I made you all thattrouble and worry, but you see I didn't know."
"Oh, that's all right," replied Jerry Muskrat, who was now very proud ofhis big cousin. "I hope that now you see how nice it is, you will stayand make your home here."
Paddy the Beaver looked back at the great black shadow which he knew wasthe Green Forest. Way over in the middle of it he heard the hunting-callof Hooty the Owl. Then he looked out over the Green Meadows, and fromway over on the far side of them sounded the bark of Reddy Fox, and itwas answered by the deep voice of Bowser the Hound up in Farmer Brown'sdooryard. For some reason that last sound made Paddy the Beaver shivera little, just as the voice of Hooty the Owl made the smaller people ofthe Green Forest and the Green Meadows shiver when they heard it. Paddywasn't afraid of Hooty or of Reddy Fox, but Bowser's great voice was newto him, and somehow the very sound of it made him afraid. You see, theGreen Meadows were so strange and open that he didn't feel at all athome, for he dearly loves the deepest part of the Green Forest.
"No," said Paddy the Beaver, "I can't possibly live here in the SmilingPool. It is a very nice pool, but it wouldn't do at all for me, CousinJerry. I wouldn't feel safe here a minute. Besides, there is nothing toeat here."
"Oh, yes, there is," Jerry Muskrat interrupted. "There are lily-rootsand the nicest fresh-water clams and--"
"But there are no trees," said Paddy the Beaver, "and you know I have tohave trees."
Jerry stared at Paddy as if he didn't understand. "Do--do you eattrees?" he asked finally.
Paddy laughed. "Just the bark," said he, "and I have to have a greatdeal of it."
Jerry looked as disappointed as he felt. "Of course you can't staythen," said he, "and--and I had thought that we would have such goodtimes together."
Paddy's eyes twinkled. "Perhaps we may yet," said he. "You see I haveabout made up my mind that I will stay a while along the Laughing Brookin the Green Forest, and you can come to see me there. On our way down Isaw a very nice hole in the bank that I think will make me a good housefor the present, and you can come up there to see me. But if I do stay,you and Grandfather Frog and Spotty the Turtle must keep my secret. Noone must know that I am there. Will you?"
"Of course we will!" cried Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog and Spottythe Turtle together.
"Then I'll stay," said Paddy the Beaver, diving into the Smiling Poolwith a great splash.
And so one of Jerry Muskrat's greatest adventures ended in the findingof his biggest cousin, Paddy the Beaver. Now Jerry has a lot of cousins,and one of them lives on the Green Meadows not far from the SmilingPool. His name is Danny Meadow Mouse, and Danny is forever havingadventures too. He has them every day. In the next book you will be toldabout some of these, if you care to read about them.
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