beavers as could get near him,
managed to roll and push him up on the dam where he lay stretched out.

"Father did not think the poor thing would recover, but I thought he
would, so we went back the next day, but he had disappeared.

"We wished we could find out in some way, whether our friend was
recovering or whether he had died and was buried by his family. So
father decided to creep out on the dam and investigate. I went, too, and
no sooner had we tried to make the same queer sound the Grandfather had
made that day, than a beaver poked his nose out of a hut and sniffed.
Quickly he disappeared again, but in a few moments, he came out and
stood quite close to us making queer sounds at us. He was not afraid, so
we took it that he was reporting on the health of our friend.

"We did not see Grandfather again that Summer, so early last Spring I
went to visit my colony, and there was my friend, bossing things as
usual. But his back was crooked and he had to walk with a lame twist, so
I suppose that lion injured his backbone.

"I made a queer sound and he listened. He recognized me and swam over to
thump his tail on the ground in front of my rock. I was so delighted
that I rushed home and brought father over. Then you should have seen
that beaver! He squirmed, and barked, and thumped his tail. It was like
the meeting of a long-lost friend. Father was so impressed by the
incident that he went to Denver and secured permission from the
Government Land Survey Office to establish a permanent reserve here for
the beavers. Now they have law protection and may rest unmolested by
hunters or trappers."

"Oh, Polly! It's just like a fairy tale, but much more interesting. What
became of the nasty panther?" cried Eleanor.

"He's stretched on our living-room floor--that skin by the fire-place.
We had an awful time lugging the beast home, but I was determined to
walk on his head every chance I got, so we swung him on a pole and
managed to induce the horses to be reasonable about the dead creature."

By the time Polly had concluded her story, the burros reached the bluff
where the girls camped and prepared luncheon. This day of closer
intimacy for the two girls, sealed a life-long friendship between them.
Neither girl had ever had a chum of her own age, and now they found so
much to admire and respect in each other that their companionship
continued without the usual envy, quarrels or jealousies so common in
school life between scho