water where Paddy the Beaver was at work.

"Well, Peter, what do you think of it?" asked Jerry

"What is it?" asked Peter innocently. "Is it another dam?"

Jerry threw back his head and laughed and laughed.

Peter looked at him suspiciously. "I don't see anything to laugh
at," said he.

"Why, it's a house, you stupid. It's Paddy's new house," replied
Jerry, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"I'm not stupid!" retorted Peter. "How was I to know that that
pile of mud and sticks is meant for a house? It certainly doesn't
look it. Where is the door?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't think it is much of a house
myself," replied Jerry. "It has got a door, all right. In fact it
has got three. You can't see them because they are under water,
and there is a passage from each right up through that platform
of mud and sticks, which is the foundation of the house. It
really is a very fine foundation, Peter; it really is. But what
I can't understand is what Paddy is thinking of by building that
great pile of mud right in the middle. When he gets his walls
built, where will his bedroom be? There won't be any room at all.
It won't be a house at all--just a big useless pile of sticks and
mud.