worked so hard all day that he was going to sleep now. Usually he
would rather sleep a part of the day and be abroad at night.

Very pleasant dreams had Jerry Muskrat that night, dreams of the
dear Smiling Pool, smiling just as it had as long as Jerry could
remember, before this trouble had come. He was still dreaming when
Spotty the Turtle found him and waked him, for it was broad daylight.
Jerry yawned and stretched, and then he lay still for a minute to
listen to the pleasant murmur of the Laughing Brook. But there
wasn't any pleasant murmur. There wasn't any sound at all. Jerry
began to wonder if he really was awake after all. He looked at
Spotty the Turtle, and he knew then that he was, for Spotty's face
had such a worried look.

"Get up, Jerry Muskrat, and come look at the hole you made yesterday
in the dam. You couldn't have done your work very well, for the hole
has filled up so that the water does not run any more," said Spotty.

"I did do it well!" snapped Jerry crossly. "I did it just as well as
I know how. You lazy folks who just sit and take sun-naps while you
pretend to keep watch had better get busy and do a little work
yourselves, if you don't like the way I work."

"I -- I beg your pardon, Jerry Muskrat. I didn't mean to say just
that," replied Spotty. "You see, we are all worried. We thought last
night that by this morning the Laughing Brook would be full of water
again, and we could go back to the Smiling Pool as soon as we felt
like it, and here it is as bad as ever."

"Perhaps the trouble is just that some sticks and grass drifted down