about, you'll have to be smarter than I think you are to catch
me. You certainly will be back here tonight looking for me, so I
think I'll do my cutting right now in the daytime."



CHAPTER XV Sammy Jay Makes Paddy a Call.

Paddy the Beaver was hard at work. He had just cut down a good-
sized aspen tree and now he was gnawing it into short lengths to
put in his food pile in the pond. As he worked, Paddy was doing a
lot of thinking about the footprint of Old Man Coyote in a little
patch of mud, for he knew that meant that Old Man Coyote had
discovered his pond, and would be hanging around, hoping to catch
Paddy off his guard. Paddy knew it just as well as if Old Man
Coyote had told him so. That was why he was at work cutting his food
supply in the daytime. Usually he works at night, and he knew
that Old Man Coyote knew it.

"He'll try to catch me then," thought Paddy, "so I'll do my working
on land now and fool him."

The tree he was cutting began to sway and crack. Paddy cut out
One more big chip, then hurried away to a safe place while the
tree fell with a crash.

"Thief! thief! thief!" screamed a voice just back of Paddy.

"Hello, Sammy Jay! I see you don't feel any better than usual
this morning," said Paddy. "Don't you want to sit up in this tree