<div><h1 id='ch22'>CHAPTER XXII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>BILLY MINK’S SURPRISE</span></h1></div>
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<p class='line0'>A cause there is that will explain</p>
<p class='line0'>A mystery, and make it plain.</p>
<p class='line0'>                    <span class='it'>Billy Mink.</span></p>
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<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Billy Mink</span> opened his eyes.
At first he couldn’t think where
he was. Everything about him
was strange. Then, all in a flash,
it came to him where he was. He
was in a dark corner of the haymow
in the big barn where the
Rats lived.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Billy yawned. Then he stretched
one leg and then another. He
yawned again, stretched some more,
then lay quiet for a few minutes,
trying to decide whether to take
another nap or hunt those Rats
again.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“I may as well learn all about
this barn while I am here,” thought
Billy. “One never knows when
such knowledge may come in very
handy. Besides, I want to find
out where all these Rats live.
How they did squeal and squeak,
when they discovered me!” Billy
chuckled at the memory. “It is
great fun to hunt them.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>Billy lazily got to his feet and
arched his back, which was one
way of stretching. Then he started
out to explore the big barn. Of
course he didn’t go far before he
smelled a Rat. That is to say, he
smelled the scent left by the feet
of a Rat. Right away Billy forgot
everything but the fun of hunting,
the game of hide-and-seek in
which death was the price of being
caught. He started out along the
trail of that Rat. By and by, way
down under some boxes, he came
to a nest. It was made of old
rags, torn paper, and other bits of
rubbish. Billy didn’t knock to
find out if any one were at home.
No, indeed, Billy didn’t knock.
He just popped his head right in.
He expected to find some babies
at home if no one else, because he
knew that there are babies most of
the time in the home of a Rat.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Right then, Billy got his first
surprise. That nest was empty!
Yes, sir, it was empty! There
had been babies there, as his nose
told him, but they had been carried
away. Billy hunted about a
bit until he found the trail leading
away from the nest. This he followed.
It led him downstairs to
a hole in the barn floor, through
this to the ground, and straight to
an opening which led out of doors.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“Huh!” muttered Billy. “This
is queer.” He ran about a bit and
it didn’t take him long to discover
that there were many tracks leading
to that opening out of doors.
He could tell by the smell that
those Rats had gone out and not
come back.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“It looks as if my future dinners
have run away,” muttered
Billy, and then he began to explore
that barn in earnest. There
wasn’t a hole or crevice or cranny
in it that he didn’t poke his nose
into. There wasn’t a Rat nest
that he didn’t find. But not a
glimpse of a single Rat did he get,
not the squeak of a single voice
did he hear. There wasn’t a Rat
in the barn! When he had gone
to sleep there had been many.
He had heard them squeaking all
about him. Do you wonder that
he was surprised?</p>
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