[Cover Illustration]
[Endpapers]
Little Joe Otter
Books by
THORNTON W. BURGESS
_Mother West Wind Series_
Old Mother West Wind
Mother West Wind’s Children
Mother West Wind’s Animal Friends
Mother West Wind’s Neighbors
Mother West Wind “Why” Stories
Mother West Wind “How” Stories
Mother West Wind “When” Stories
Mother West Wind “Where” Stories
_Green Meadow Series_
Happy Jack
Mrs. Peter Rabbit
Bowser the Hound
Old Granny Fox
_Green Forest Series_
Lightfoot the Deer
Blacky the Crow
Whitefoot the Wood Mouse
Buster Bear’s Twins
_Smiling Pool Series_
Billy Mink
Little Joe Otter
Jerry Muskrat at Home
Longlegs the Heron
[Illustration: “Come on, children!” cried Mrs. Joe.
_Frontispiece. See page 42._]
=BURGESS TRADE QUADDIES MARK=
=Smiling Pool Series=
=Little=
=Joe Otter=
=By=
=THORNTON W. BURGESS=
=_With Illustrations by_=
=HARRISON CADY=
=[Illustration]=
=Grosset & Dunlap=
=PUBLISHERS NEW YORK=
_Copyright, 1925_,
BY THORNTON W. BURGESS
_All rights reserved_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Little Joe Otter Springs a Surprise. . 1
II Peter Rabbit Goes Looking. . . . . 7
III Little Joe Otter’s Home. . . . . . 13
IV Peter Rabbit Learns by Sitting Still. . 19
V A School in the Green Forest. . . . 25
VI The First Swimming Lesson. . . . . 32
VII Great Fun on a Slippery Slide. . . . 38
VIII Farmer Brown’s Boy Has No Luck. . . . 45
IX A Family Fishing Party. . . . . . 51
X A Young Fisherman is Caught. . . . . 57
XI Sammy Jay Calls Farmer Brown’s Boy. . 64
XII Peter Rabbit Finds a Queer Trail. . . 72
XIII Curiosity Is Satisfied. . . . . . 78
XIV The Coasting Party. . . . . . . . 83
XV Little Joe And Mrs. Joe Reach a Decision 89
XVI The Fun of Traveling. . . . . . . 95
XVII Yowler the Bobcat Follows. . . . . 101
XVIII The Smallest Otter Is Wilful. . . . 106
XIX The Young Otter’s Curiosity Is Satisfied 112
XX A Very Meek Young Otter. . . . . . 118
XXI A Race for Life. . . . . . . . . 124
XXII The Clever Trapper. . . . . . . . 130
XXIII The Setting of the Traps. . . . . . 136
XXIV Little Joe Otter Is Suspicious. . . . 141
XXV The Young Otters Are Warned. . . . . 147
XXVI The Foolish Young Otter. . . . . . 152
XXVII A Suddenly Lost Appetite. . . . . . 158
XXVIII The Price of Freedom. . . . . . . 163
XXIX The Young Otter Pays the Price. . . . 168
XXX The Otters Move On. . . . . . . . 173
XXXI A Fish Disappears. . . . . . . . 178
XXXII The Living Heap of Snow. . . . . . 183
XXXIII Another Fish Disappears. . . . . . 188
XXXIV The Young Otter Learns Where His Fish
Went. . . . . . . . . . . . 193
ILLUSTRATIONS
“Come on, children!” cried Mrs. Joe. _Frontispiece_
One morning he saw Mrs. Joe out with
the two babies. . . . . . . . 25
Gentle Mistress Moon saw a queer
procession. . . . . . . . . 89
“Well, son,” said he, “what did you
see?”. . . . . . . . . . . 184
CHAPTER I
LITTLE JOE OTTER SPRINGS A SURPRISE
Folks aren’t so sure about you when
You spring surprises now and then.
_Little Joe Otter._
Of all the little Quaddies who live in the Green Meadows, the Smiling
Pool and the Green Forest, none is more surprising than Little Joe
Otter. He is full of surprises, is Little Joe. He has a way of suddenly
bobbing up and just as suddenly disappearing, which makes him one of the
hardest of all the little people to get acquainted with. Just when you
think there is no one around, up bobs Little Joe and gives you a
surprise. Just when you are watching him, down he goes and you never see
him again.
And when you are acquainted with him, he is just as surprising. He is
full of pranks and dearly loves to play. He is a wonderful swimmer, as
no one knows better than those who live in the Smiling Pool. At times he
is a great traveler in spite of his short legs, and he knows more of the
Great World than most of his neighbors. In winter he swims under the ice
and makes slippery slides down the snowy banks. In summer he makes
slippery slides on muddy banks.
It is his wonderful swimming power which enables him to do many things
in secret. You see, when he disappears under the water, his neighbors on
land have no way of knowing where he goes or what he does. Billy Mink
and Jerry Muskrat are the only ones who know much about Little Joe
Otter, and even they do not know as much as they might, or as they think
they do.
Peter Rabbit had missed Little Joe Otter in the Smiling Pool this
spring. He had asked Jerry Muskrat and Billy Mink where Little Joe was.
“Oh!” replied Jerry Muskrat. “Probably he is on one of his foolish long
journeys. What any one wants to leave the Smiling Pool for is more than
I can understand. Probably if you go down to the Big River, you will
find him fishing there.”
Just then there was a sudden splash right behind Jerry Muskrat. It was
so sudden that it startled Jerry, and the first thing that Jerry does
when he is startled is to dive. He did this time. When he came up, Peter
Rabbit was still sitting on the bank of the Smiling Pool.
“What was it that frightened me?” asked Jerry.
Peter grinned. “I’m sure I don’t know. All I saw was a splash in the
water.”
“Chuga-rum!” cried Grandfather Frog in his deepest, gruffest voice. “If
I know anything about it, it was Little Joe Otter himself. I think,
Jerry Muskrat, if you go far enough up the Laughing Brook, you will find
that Little Joe is up there and not down at the Big River. I saw
something that looked to me very much like a dark form swimming under
water in that direction.”
“I don’t believe it,” replied Jerry. “Little Joe hasn’t been in the
Smiling Pool in ever and ever so long. It would be a good thing if
Little Joe would settle down. He ought to have a house the same as I
have. I never did believe there was any good in this roaming around.”
Just then there were two splashes right where the Laughing Brook comes
into the Smiling Pool. Peter and Grandfather Frog and Jerry looked
hastily in that direction. Then they stared at each other.
“Did I or didn’t I see double?” Peter demanded. “It looked to me much
like two Little Joe Otters!”
“It looked to me very much the same way,” said Jerry.
Grandfather Frog looked thoughtful. “I have a suspicion,” said he, “that
little Joe Otter is springing a surprise on us. Have any of you heard of
a Mrs. Joe?”
Peter looked at Jerry and Jerry looked at Peter. “Do you suppose it can
be true?” they both exclaimed together.