It was not long before Brownie had gnawed away so many chips that the tree began to nod its head further and further toward the ground. And Brownie wished that the flash-light would hurry and go off before the tree fell. But there was not even the faintest flicker of light. It was most annoying. And Brownie was so disappointed that for once he forgot to be careful when he was cutting down a tree. He kept his eyes on the bushes all the time, instead of on the tree--as he should have done. And all the time the tree leaned more and more. At last there was a _snap!_ Brownie Beaver should have known what that meant. But he was so eager to have his picture taken that he mistook the _snap_ for the _click_ that he had first heard almost a week before. He thought it must be the click of a camera hidden in the bushes. And he stood very still and looked extremely pleasant. Now, Brownie Beaver should have known better. But like most people, for once he made a mistake. What he really heard was the tree snapping. And before he could jump out of the way the tree came crashing down upon him and pinned him fast to the ground. He saw a flash of light, to be sure, and a good many stars. But all that only came from the knock on his head which the tree gave him. XVII BROWNIE ESCAPES When the tree crashed down upon Brownie Beaver and held him fast, it was some time before he came to his senses. Then he did not know, at first, where he was nor what had happened to him. But at last he remembered that he had been cutting down a tree not far from the pond and he saw that it must have fallen upon him. Of course, the first thing that occurred to him was to call for help. But just as he opened his mouth to shout, another thought came into his head. _Perhaps some man might hear him--or a bear!_ And Brownie Beaver closed his mouth as quickly as he had opened it. Then he tried to squirm from under the tree-trunk. But he couldn't move himself at all. Next he tried to push the tree away from him. But he couldn't move the tree either. For a long while Brownie Beaver struggled, first at one impossible thing, and then at the other. And all the time the tree seemed to grow heavier and heavier. Finally, Brownie stopped trying to get free and began to feel hungry. You can see that he must have been worried, because there was the tree, with plenty of bark on it which he could eat. But he never noticed it for a long time. At last, however, he happened to remember that in the beginning he had started to cut down that very tree so he could reach the bark and eat it. Then Brownie Beaver had a good meal. And just as he finished eating, another thought came into his head. _Why shouldn't he gnaw right through the tree?_ Since there seemed to be no answer to that question, he began to gnaw big chips out of the wood. And in a surprisingly short time he had cut the tree apart just where it pressed upon him. Then, of course, all he had to do was to get up and walk away.