week, until his visit was done. If he stuck
his head out of the water now and then for a breath of air, he was
careful to let no one see him.

He did not even bid the Beaver family good-by at the end of his visit,
but left in the middle of the day, when everybody was sound asleep.

Grandaddy Beaver said it was no more than one could expect of a person
so rude as Timothy Turtle.

"He was just like that in my great-grandfather's time," the old
gentleman explained.

And all the rest of the villagers remarked that Timothy Turtle was old
enough to have better manners. Certainly, they said, the youngest Beaver
child knew better than to treat people in such a rude fashion.

Brownie Beaver's mother especially announced that she had never in all
her life met a gentleman who had treated her so disrespectfully as old
Mr. Turtle. And she grew red and pale by turns as she recalled how he
had seized her by the tail and held her fast for a whole day.

"I hope," she said, "that by the time he comes here again he will have
learned how to behave himself."

But Grandaddy Beaver shook his head.

"Timothy Turtle," he declared, "will be no different even if he lives to
be a thousand years old."

And everybody said that it was a great pity.

XIII

THE PLOT

Of all the creatures that walked or swam or flew, Timothy Turtle liked
boys the least of all. He said that if they ever did anything except
throw stones he had never caught them at it.

"It's a wonder"--he often remarked--"it's a wonder that there's a stone
left anywhere along this creek. I've lived here a good many years; and
no boy ever spied me sunning myself on a rock in the water without
trying to hit me."

Once in a great while some youngster was skillful enough to bounce a
stone off Mr. Turtle's back. And when the old scamp flopped into the
water he always heard a great whooping from the bank.

At such times as likely as not Timothy had been awakened from a sound
sleep. But when that jeering noise greeted his ears he knew at once what
had struck him.

It was a good thing for him that he had a hard back. Nevertheless it
always made him angry to be disturbed when he was taking a nap. And some
people said that if Timothy Turtle ever grabbed a boy by his great-toe,
when he was in swimming, that youngster would limp for many a day
thereafter.

But the boys went in swimming just the same. Black Creek would have had
to be alive with turtles to keep them out