“Big and little beavers,” he said, “it’s only seven o’clock in the morning and Rusty and Bubbles won’t be up at the pond for another two hours yet. So let’s sit down quietly and make sure everything is ready.”
“Everything is ready,” said one of the twins.
“I’m sure it is,” said Keeo, “but let’s check. Now, let’s see. Number one, is Rusty’s raft ready on the beach?”
“Yes!” chorused the beavers.
“Number two, is the beaver house all cleaned and ready for our visitor?”
“Yes!” chorused the beavers.
“Do we have the apples, so we can offer him something to eat when he visits?”
“Yes!” chorused the beavers.
“Have we made the underwater entrance bigger so that he can get in?”
“Yes!” chorused the beavers.
“Well then, I think we are just about ready. It won’t be long before they both come up the trail.”
It wasn’t just the beavers who were excited. Rusty had got up very early - in fact, so early that he started to make breakfast and, by the time Bubbles, Hawkeye and Rainbow came through the kitchen, the smell of fresh-made coffee and crisp bacon was filling the air.
“What are you so excited about, Rusty?” asked Hawkeye.
“Oh, this is the day that I’m going to the beaver lodge. So right after breakfast I’ve got to check my diving mask and flippers. Just think, I’ll be the first human being ever invited to visit a beaver lodge with the beavers there when I go in.”
“Now Rusty, I do want you to be careful,” said Rainbow. “How deep is that pond?”
“Oh, I’ll be careful,” said Rusty. “Keeo said that is was about 12 feet, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble swimming down to the entrance. And Keeo said that they made it bigger so I could get in easily. Then once inside, of course, there’s lots of air for me to breathe. So, it isn’t really all that dangerous.”
“Just the same,” Rainbow said, “be careful.”
“I wish I was as good a swimmer as Rusty,” said Bubbles, “but I’m going to be able to sit on the raft up above and the twin beavers are going to spend part of the time playing with me. So it won’t be too bad.
Breakfast was over quickly that morning and, with the sun beginning to rise in a beautiful, clear blue sky, the two trotted up the trail towards the pond. The excitement was terrific when they arrived and, with lots of help from the many eager friends, Rusty and Bubbles pushed the raft off and paddled towards the beaver lodge. Rusty was already in his swimming trunks, so all he had to do was slip on his flippers and diving mask.
“Now,” said Keeo, swimming around the raft, “we’ll all have to stay back a little bit and give Rusty room to dive.”
“Well, I’m not going to dive from the raft with my mask on,” said Rusty, “so I’m just going to slip in the water and take a big breath and then I’ll follow you, Keeo. But don’t be to long in getting me down because I can’t hold my breath as long as you can.”
With that, Rusty slipped into the pond, took a deep breath and dove. With his mask on, ahead of him he could see Keeo, his silver coat shining in the darkness of the water. It really was a very clear pond anyway and, while he couldn’t see exactly where he was going, he knew by following Keeo he’d make it alright. Keeo swam into the wide opening. Rusty quickly saw that he would be able to make it through the opening with a little room to spare and swam strongly on, knowing that once inside he would be able to breathe normally. A few more strokes and then he was holding onto the edge of the opening and pulling himself through. Then is was a slight swim upwards and, splash, his head come out in the beaver house. A great beaver cheer went up from the beavers who were there to welcome him. Keoo, on behalf of all the beavers, said how delighted they were to have Rusty visit one of their houses. And Rusty replied how pleased he was to accept their kind invitation. With that, the beavers busied themselves about with their various tasks. One beaver brought an apple over to Rusty.
“Why, thank you,” said Rusty, “What a nice idea!”
“Well,” said Keeo, “We wanted to serve you some food, but we had to bring it down through the water and we figured an apple was the best kind to get. It didn’t matter if it got wet,”
“Well, that’s true,” said Rusty, “I never would have thought of that.”
As he looked around he was surprised at how big the lodge was. He could almost stand up and he certainly could lay down in it. It was very clean and as he looked at the inside of the walls he noticed they were very strong. There was, of course, a smell of dampness around the place, and for the first time he could also smell the beavers - a very warm, wet sort of smell.
“Well, thank you again for this invitation, and for this apple, it tastes just delicious. Can you hear the noises of the forest when you’re down here?” asked Rusty.
“No,” said Keeo, “we very rarely hear anything. Although we know when you and Bubbles are swimming in the pond, and the time Hawkeye and Rainbow came in their canoe we could hear the paddles. Just about any sound in the water we can hear. But we don’t get the sounds of the forest.”
“Well, then it must be very peaceful,” said Rusty.
He’d been in the lodge for about ten minutes and knew that Bubbles, sitting on the raft, would begin to worry if he stayed too long. Thanking them once more, he took a great breath and, following Keeo, swam to the entrance, pulling himself through again and then straight up. He came so straight up that he nearly bumped his head on the raft, arriving just about six inches away from it. He really had a lot to tell Bubbles about what a beaver house looked like. He described it to her as all the beavers swam around the raft, pushing it towards the shore.
“It was pretty neat and pretty clean and really bigger than you could suppose,” he said. “Actually, it’s almost as big as the one we built for ourselves.” They docked the raft on the beach again and, with a last goodbye to Keeo, headed off towards the cottage. “I touched the sides of the house and they felt very strong, and you would be surprised at how beavers get dry so quickly in their house. They shake the water off, and when I touched Keeo I was really surprised how dry he was. “You know,” said Rusty proudly, “I must be the first human being ever to have visited a beaver house like that.”
“Next time,” said Bubbles, “I’m going. I’m going, too, so you are going to have to teach me how to swim a lot better.”
“That’s a deal,” said Rusty, “If you will make me some ginger cookies this afternoon.”
Laughing together, they raced to the cottage.