Evening star., 1934-10-12

II was very pcdCGIul IIleTe WIlCTC
Paddy the Beaver was helping
his new friends establish their
Il home-almost too peaceful, Paddy
thought. He said as much.
There are no enemies around here"
replied Broadtail. None Of them
know we are here"
They'll find out soon enough" de-
clared Paddy out of the wisdom of
experience. "You shouldn't take too
much for granted. The greatest dan
ger is not when you know enemies are
around, but when you think they are
not. 1t seems to me you folks are a
little careless In the way you go
about"
"Oh, We keep our eyes open" re-
piled Sharptooth. "As Broadtail says,
We have been here some time now
and not sign of an enemy have we
found. We haven't a thing to worry
about on that score. And a good
thing it Is, too, for we can work with
out having to keep watch every
minute"
Just the same. wouldn't 60 far
from the water" said Paddy. Il
found out a long time ago that some
times there is greatest danger when
all seems safest
Don't you worry about us. Well
look out for ourselves" replied Sharp
tooth carelessly.
Paddy said nothing more He knew,
1t was useless. His friends were young.
self-conf1dent and careless as young
people are apt to be- And the fact
was that not once since he had been
there had there been the least cause
for alarm. He did not wonder that
they had grown careless. Most people
do when all goes smoothly for a long
time. But he himself felt a growing
uneasiness. He didn't know why, un-
less it was the very fact that there
seemed to be nothing to cause it. So
he passed more time keeping watch,
without seeming to do so, than in
working. After all this wasn't his
home and he had already done his
share to help these young folks get
started
1t was in the dusk Of early evening,
few days later, that Paddy was idly
floating in deep shadow near the end
OF the dam. On the dam Sharptail
was sitting eating a root he had dug
up and paying no attention to any
thing else. Not once did he look
around. Why should he? Had he not
sat on that very spot time and time
again to enjoy a tidbit as he was
enjoying this?
Paddy watched him and shook his
head. He isn't using his eyes or his
nose or his ears, just his mouth"
thought he HE thinks because moth
ing ever has happened there nothing
ever will. He has forgotten every
thing but his stomach, and that is
always dangerous thing to do"
Meanwhile, although he seemed to
be doing nothing, Paddy was testing
the air with his sensitive nose, and
his keen ears were wide open for every
faintest sound. At first there were
only the usual woodsy smells. Then
he caught just the faintest of faint
scents, so faint that you or wouldn't
have caught it at all. But faint as it
was, it sent a prickly feeling all over
him. He fixed his eyes on the shadowy
place from which that faint Whit had
come. His ears were as wide open as
he could get them. He lay there in
the water motionlesS. Could you have
seen him, you might have taken him
for a short log floating there.
He looked over at Sharptooth. The
latter was still intent on what he was
doing. He had not noticed that scent.
His nose was filled with the scent of
what he was eating and was not being
used to pick up other scents. Once
more Paddy caught that faint door
and once more he prickled all over.
He searched the Black Shadows that
had settled over and around the end
of the dam. What was that? Was it
just a little blacker Shadow than the
others? 1t moved! Paddy was sure
of it.
Instantly be brought his big fiat tail
down on the water with resounding