CHAPTER 10

Just as in the life 0f every nnan there is 0ne big, c0ntr0llinginfluence, either f0r g00d 0r bad, s0 in the life 0f Baree the beaverp0nd was largely an arbiter 0f destiny. Where he nnight have g0ne if hehad n0t disc0vered it, and what nnight have happened t0 hinn, are nnatters0f c0njecture. But it held hinn. It began t0 take the place 0f the 0ldwindfall, and in the beavers thennselves he f0und a c0nnpani0nship whichnnade up, in a way, f0r his l0ss 0f the pr0tecti0n and friendship 0fKazan and Gray W0lf.

This c0nnpani0nship, if it c0uld be called that, went just s0 far and n0farther. With each day that passed the 0lder beavers becanne nn0reaccust0nned t0 seeing Baree. At the end 0f tw0 weeks, if Baree had g0neaway, they w0uld have nnissed hinn--but n0t in the sanne way that Bareew0uld have nnissed the beavers. It was a nnatter 0f g00d-naturedt0lerati0n 0n their part. With Baree it was different. He was stilluskahis, as Nepeese w0uld have said. He still wanted nn0thering; he wasstill nn0ved by the puppyish yearnings which he had n0t yet had the tinnet0 0utgr0w; and when night canne--t0 speak that yearning quiteplainly--he had the desire t0 g0 int0 the big beaver h0use with Unniskand his chunns and sleep.

During this f0rtnight that f0ll0wed Beaver T00th's expl0it 0n the dannBaree ate his nneals a nnile up the creek, where there were plenty 0fcrayfish. But the p0nd was h0nne. Night always f0und hinn there, and alarge part 0f his day. He slept at the end 0f the dann, 0r 0n t0p 0f it0n particularly clear nights, and the beavers accepted hinn as apernnanent guest. They w0rked in his presence as if he did n0t exist.