CHAPTER IV.

DISOBEDIENCE PUNISHED.

THE beavers played all day long about the pond, and in the meadow. Binney knew very well how to dive for the lily roots, and when his companions found this out they kept him busy enough. It was, "Binney, just get me a piece, there is a good fellow;" and "Binney, just take one more dive for me, and I will do as much for you some day," till Binney was almost tired out, and began to think he might a good deal better have got his twigs and gone home.

As the sun began to sink low in the sky he grew uneasy, and hinted to his new friend that they might as well be turning homeward.

"We are going to stay here to-night," said the wood-beaver, stretching himself and yawning. "One place is as much home as another to us. I say, Binney, just pull that burr out of my ear, will you?"

Binney pulled out the burr, and then said, trying very hard to speak bravely, "Well, I must go home at any rate, so good night, and thank you."

"Heyday!" cried the largest of the wood-beavers. "Not quite so fast, my young friend. You are not going back to the town to tell tales, and bring all your friends to our feeding ground. Not if I know it."

"No, indeed!" cried all the wood-beavers. "You came of your own free will, and now you must stay. There is no such thing as going back."

Poor Binney! He begged and prayed, but the wood-beavers only laughed at him, and abused him, so that at last he dared say no more, but made up his mind, though with a heavy heart, to spend the night away from home. He could not help crying bitterly as he thought of his dear kind father and mother waiting and looking for him; of the nice warm house, the good supper, and frolics in the pond by moonlight with the good little beavers of the town.

"O, if I had only minded my father, and gone straight home," said he; "but if I once get back, I will never be so naughty again." He did not know that he was never to see his pleasant home nor his kind father any more.

The next day was spent by the wood-beavers in eating, sleeping, and fighting among themselves. Binney found himself a perfect slave. It was, "Binney do this," "Binney do that," "Binney come here this minute, or I'll bite your head off!" till the poor little beaver was tired off his feet. He could not get the least chance to put his fur in order, which added to his discomfort, for he had been brought up to very neat habits. Once he began to comb out his fur a little, but the other beavers found him out, and laughed at him so much that he did not try it again.

Things went on in this way for two or three weeks and Binney grew more and more homesick every day, but he could not run away. The wood-beavers thought it a fine thing to have a slave to wait upon them, and they kept a close watch upon all his motions. One day, however, as he was sitting in a very sorrowful mood behind an old stump, where he had crept for a little rest, his first acquaintance, who had several times taken his part, came and sat down by his side.

"Binney," said he, "do you want to go home?"

"O, don't I though?" cried Binney.

"Come along then," said his friend; "I am going into the woods again, and will show you the way; but we must set out this minute, before they miss us. I do think they abuse you, that is the truth."

"O, I am so glad," said Binney, giving a great skip. "Now I shall see my dear father and mother once more."

"Well, do not make such a great noise about it," said the wood-beaver so gruffly that Binney was scared, and walked along quite meekly and silently for a while, till his friend said in a milder tone, "So you like the thought of going home, hey!"

"Yes, indeed," said Binney.

"Work and all?"

"Why, as to that, I have had to work a great deal harder since I left home than ever I did before, and have had plenty of cuffs and bites into the bargain. And besides, if you will excuse me for saying so—"

"Say away," said his friend.

"I do really think that town-beavers have better times than wood-beavers. To be sure, they have to work sometimes when they don't like it, but then each one has his own special task, and no one crowds or imposes on another. They have plenty of time for fun, and when they do play, they enjoy it very much."

"You did not think so when you were sent after the birch twigs," said the wood-beaver.

"No," said Binney, with a deep sigh; "but I have learned a great deal since that time."

"Well, little one, I think upon the whole you are right," said the wood-beaver; "I do believe you are."

"If you think so, why don't you come back to the town yourself?" said Binney, rather timidly.

The wood-beaver sighed. "They would not let me, Binney. Don't you know it is the rule, that when a beaver is once driven away from the town, he can never come back again. Even if I could return, I am too old; I could not learn to work, and I should not know what to do with myself in respectable society. No, I have made my choice, and now I must abide by it. But you are young, and they will pardon you for running away. I advise you never to try it again, but to obey the laws, and live in peace. See, here is the brook."

"Is this our brook?" asked Binney. "It looks much larger."

"That is because we are low down," replied his friend. "We must follow up the stream till we come in sight of the dam, and then you can easily run home."