BILLY OUTWITS THE TRAPPER
As smart and clever as you are,
A Mink may smarter be by far.
_Billy Mink._
This is what Billy Mink said to himself as he uncovered the trap which
had been set for him at the entrance to one of his favorite holes in the
bank of the Laughing Brook. Of course he was thinking of the trapper
when he said it. At first Billy flew into a great rage. It made him
angry clear to the tip of his brown tail just to think that he must now
be always watching for traps where for so long there had been no danger.
At first he had thought to go on at once up the Laughing Brook and see
what more he could discover. But you remember that Billy was hungry and
that there was a piece of perfectly delicious fish back in that hole. He
knew now just how that fish happened to be there. He knew that the
trapper had put that piece of fish in there, hoping that Billy would be
so eager to get it that he would be careless.
The more he smelled it, the more he wanted it. “It will serve that
trapper right if I get that fish,” muttered Billy. “Perhaps it will
teach him that he is not so smart as he thinks he is.”
Billy sat down and studied the trap and the entrance to the hole. The
more he studied, the more sure he became that he would be running a very
foolish risk if he tried to step over that trap just to get a piece of
fish. You see, that trap had been very cunningly placed. But the more he
smelled that fish, the more he wanted it.
Billy stroked his whiskers thoughtfully. Of course that didn’t have
anything to do with it, but just the same while he was stroking them he
remembered something. His eyes snapped and he grinned. Way up on the
bank between the roots of a certain tree was a little hole. It was the
entrance to a little underground tunnel, and that tunnel led right down
to the very hole in front of which the trap was set. It really was a
back door.
Billy turned and in a flash had scrambled up the bank. With his keen
little nose he made sure that there was no scent of the trapper up
there. He felt sure the trapper had not found that little hole between
the roots of a certain tree. But though he was sure of this, he took no
chances. As he approached the hole he took the greatest care to make
sure no trap was in there.
There was none. Once inside the hole, Billy ran along that little
tunnel, chuckling to himself. He knew that now there was no danger. He
could get that fish. He did get it. He got it and ate it right there.
Then he turned and ran out the way he had entered. Somehow that fish had
tasted the best of any fish he ever had eaten. It was because he had
outwitted the trapper.