BILLY MAKES A DISCOVERY
Keep at whate’er you once begin;
It is the only way to win.
_Billy Mink._
When Billy Mink slipped through the hole under the floor of the shed at
the back of the farmer’s house, his one thought was to find a
comfortable place for a nap. He found it without any trouble. You know
Billy is not fussy, and he can curl up and sleep almost anywhere. He had
stuffed himself so with that fish he had found just outside the hole
that he had felt too lazy to explore. So he picked out the first
comfortable-looking place he came to and curled up for a nap.
When Billy awoke, he couldn’t at first remember where he was. Then he
recalled the fish and how he had slipped in under the shed floor.
“Now I am here, I may as well find out all about this place,” thought
Billy, and got to his feet. He yawned and stretched and then began to
run around underneath the floor of the shed, using his nose as he always
does. In no time at all a familiar scent tickled his nose.
“Ah, ha!” exclaimed Billy Mink. “So this is where those Rats came when
they left the big barn. I’m not hungry, but I certainly would enjoy a
good hunt. I haven’t hunted anything bigger than a mouse for ever so
long.”
Away raced Billy, with his nose to the ground, following the scent of a
Rat. It didn’t take him long to find a nest under the shed floor. But
there was no one in that nest. The Rat smell was very strong, and Billy
knew that Rats had been there only a short time before. The fact is, the
Rats who owned that nest had discovered Billy Mink and had promptly
moved into the house. Billy eagerly followed the trail. It led him to
the hole which led in between the walls of the house. Without hesitating
a second, Billy popped through, following that scent. It was a queer
place. He had never been in such a place before. But Billy knew that
where a Rat could go he could go, and so he followed, climbing up
between the walls of the house until at last he reached the attic.
He could hear the scampering of many feet and he could hear squeaks of
fright, so he knew the Rats knew that he was there. Once in the attic,
Billy found the Rat scent everywhere. It was useless to try to follow
with his nose, because the Rats had crossed and recrossed each other’s
paths so often that the trail was all mixed up.
But if Billy couldn’t trust to his nose, he could trust to his ears. The
sound of scampering feet and the frightened squeaks told him where the
Rats were. His eyes blazed with the eager light of the hunter, and
without even a glance at all the queer things in that attic, things such
as he had never seen before, Billy kept on after those Rats.