BILLY MINK IS QUICK
Eyes were given us for use;
For failure there is no excuse.
_Billy Mink._
When Billy Mink decides to do a thing he wastes no time thinking about
it. He does it instantly. Therein he differs from many of his neighbors
of the Green Forest. You see, Billy Mink is very quick. He makes quick
decisions and he acts just as quickly. That is one reason why Billy is
able to go and come as he pleases. There are few he fears.
This doesn’t mean that Billy has no enemies who could kill him easily if
they caught him. He has several, but he isn’t afraid of them simply
because he is so quick that he feels sure of being able to escape, even
though one of these enemies may surprise him. So it is probable that
few, if any, of the little people of the Green Forest and the Green
Meadows are filled with fear as seldom as is Billy Mink.
The night he decided to leave the farm where he had been living so well,
and go back to the Laughing Brook, he slipped out from under the
woodpile almost the instant he had made up his mind. It was a moonlight
night, just the kind of a night to travel. Billy bounded along,
care-free and happy. As is his way, he stopped to investigate whatever
attracted his attention. He looked into every little hole he came to,
and when he reached a hollow log he ran through it just to find out if
anybody else had used it lately.
By and by, he came to the Green Forest. The moonbeams crept through the
branches overhead and there were all sorts of Black Shadows. This was
just the kind of a place to suit Billy. Occasionally he ran across a
bright open place, but for the most part he kept in the Black Shadows.
You see, Billy knows very well that it is difficult for any one to see
him in the Black Shadows. Not that he cared particularly who saw him,
but he long ago learned that if one is unseen it is much easier to see
others.
He was running across one of the bright open places when from the corner
of one of his eyes he caught sight of a moving shadow. Now most folks in
Billy’s place would have stopped, or at least turned to see what that
shadow meant. Billy did nothing of the kind. The very second that he
caught that glimpse of the moving shadow, Billy bounded off to one side.
He didn’t hesitate a fraction of a second. Then he darted under a pile
of brush, from which he peeped out with his little eyes glowing red with
anger. Just over the brush pile Hooty the Owl hovered for an instant,
and his great, yellow eyes glared fiercely down into Billy Mink’s angry
little red ones.
“I almost got you that time,” hissed Hooty. “The next time I _will_ get
you.”
“Almost never got anybody yet,” snapped Billy. “You’ll be an old, old
Owl, Hooty, before ever you dine on me.” With this, Billy actually
darted right out, and before Hooty could turn, was under another pile of
brush, laughing at Hooty and making fun of him.