BILLY HAS THE WANDERING FOOT
If to yourself you would be true,
Use all the talents given you.
_Billy Mink._
When a person becomes uneasy and cannot settle in one place for any
length of time but wants to keep traveling, he is said to be possessed
of the wandering foot. This means that he wants to wander about in
search of new scenes and new adventures. To put it very plainly, he
becomes sort of a tramp.
Billy Mink for some time had felt a desire to go visiting. These traps
gave him a real excuse for so doing. So Billy turned his back on the
Laughing Brook and started for another brook some distance away. He had
not intended to go farther than this brook. But when he got there he
found that the fishing was not as good as he had hoped it would be, so
he decided to keep on moving until he found a place where food was
plentiful and he would be contented for a while.
Now while Billy Mink is a great lover of the water and is almost as much
at home in it as Jerry Muskrat, he is equally at home on land. In fact,
Billy often wanders long distances from water. He likes variety, and
there are times when he would rather hunt than fish. He is a very good
hunter, as many a mouse and bird has found out too late. So, leaving the
brook where the fishing was poor, Billy started off across country for
nowhere in particular. He is one of the most independent of all the
little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows. He never
worries over where the next meal is coming from. He feels quite capable
of taking care of himself, wherever he may be. No one understands the
art of hiding better than does Billy Mink. He is quick as a flash and
the way he can disappear when apparently there is nothing to hide under
is astonishing.
So Billy wandered about aimlessly, just having a good time. He traveled
mostly at night, though occasionally he became restless during the day
and continued his journey then. In the Green Forest he hunted Whitefoot
and Mrs. Grouse. In the open meadow land he hunted Meadow Mice. When he
came to a brook he went fishing. So, at last, his wanderings brought him
to a farmyard. There was a big barn there. Also there was a henhouse
containing many hens. Between the henhouse and the barn was a big
woodpile. At the sight of that woodpile, Billy grinned. That was just
the sort of a place he liked. You know he is so slim that he can slip
through very small places, and he knew that in that woodpile he would be
quite safe.
“This place looks good to me,” said Billy. “I think I’ll stay awhile.”