CHAPTER XV Sammy Jay Makes Paddy a Call.

Paddy the Beaver¹ was hard at work. He had just cut down a good- sized aspen tree and now he was gnawing² 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 while I cut it down?"

 

Sammy grew black in the face with anger, for he knew that Paddy was laughing at him. You remember how only a few days before he had been so intent³ on calling Paddy bad names that he actually hadn't noticed that Paddy was cutting the very tree in which he was sitting, and so when it fell he had had a terrible fright.

 

"You think you are very smart, Mr. Beaver, but you'll think differently one of these fine days!" screamed Sammy. "If you knew what I know, you wouldn't be so well satisfied with yourself."

 

"What do you know?" asked Paddy, pretending to be very much alarmed.

 

"I'm not going to tell you what I know," retorted⁴ Sammy Jay. "You'll find out soon enough. And when you do find out, you'll never steal another tree from our Green Forest. Somebody is going to catch you, and it isn't Farmer Brown's boy either!"

 

Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. "Oh, who is it? Please tell me, Mr. Jay," he begged.

 

Now to be called Mr. Jay made Sammy feel very important. Nearly everybody else called him Sammy. He swelled⁵ himself out trying to look as important as he felt, and his eyes snapped⁶ with pleasure. He was actually making Paddy the Beaver afraid. At least, he thought he was.

 

"No, Sir, I won't tell you," he replied. "I wouldn't be you for a great deal, though! Somebody who is smarter than you are is going to catch you, and when he gets through with you, there won't be anything left but a few bones. No, Sir, nothing but a few bones!"

 

"Oh, Mr. Jay, this is terrible news! Whatever am I to do?" cried

Paddy, all the time keeping on at work cutting another tree.

"There's nothing you can do," replied Sammy, grinning wickedly at Paddy's fright. "There's nothing you can do unless you go right straight back to the North where you came from. You think you are very smart, but—"

 

Sammy didn't finish. Crack! Over fell the tree Paddy had been cutting and the top of it fell straight into the alder⁷ in which Sammy was sitting. "Oh! Oh! Help!" shrieked⁸ Sammy, spreading his wings and flying away just in time.

 

Paddy sat down and laughed until his sides ached. "Come make me another call someday, Sammy!" he said. "And when you do, please bring some real news. I know all about Old Man Coyote. You can tell him for me that when he is planning to catch people he should be careful not to leave footprints to give himself away."

 

Sammy didn't reply. He just sneaked⁹ off through the Green Forest, looking quite as foolish as he felt.

1 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

2 gnawing   

a.痛苦的，折磨人的

参考例句：

• The dog was gnawing a bone. 那狗在啃骨头。
• These doubts had been gnawing at him for some time. 这些疑虑已经折磨他一段时间了。

3 intent   

adj.急切的，专心的，专注的；n.意图，意向

参考例句：

• He was intent on the job he was doing.他专心致志于正在做的工作。
• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。

4 retorted   

反驳( retort的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She retorted upon me, saying I was to blame. 她反驳我，说我才应该受责备。
• She retorted upon him, saying he was to blame. 她反驳他，说他不好。

5 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

6 snapped   

v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 )；（使某物）发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开，关闭]；厉声地说；拍照

参考例句：

• The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 alder   

n.赤杨树

参考例句：

• He gave john some alder bark.他给了约翰一些桤木树皮。
• Several coppice plantations have been seeded with poplar,willow,and alder.好几个灌木林场都种上了白杨、柳树和赤杨。

8 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

9 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。