<div><h1 id='ch27'>CHAPTER XXVII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>BILLY IS DISCOVERED</span></h1></div>
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<p class='line0'>Before you act be sure you <span class='it'>know</span></p>
<p class='line0'>That what you <span class='it'>think</span> is really so.</p>
<p class='line0'>                      <span class='it'>Billy Mink.</span></p>
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<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>After</span> the Rats left the big
barn, Billy Mink found it less easy
to get plenty to eat. There were
Mice in the big barn, and for several
days Billy managed to catch
enough of these to keep from going
hungry. But Mice can get into
places too small for Billy to follow,
and those that were left soon
learned to keep out of his way.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Then Billy’s thoughts turned to
the hens in the henhouse. He had
not intended to kill any of those
hens, because he knew that as soon
as he did, the farmer who owned
them would hunt for him, and then
he would have to move on. He
was so comfortably located in the
woodpile that he was not anxious
to move on. But one must eat, and
now that the Rats had disappeared
and the Mice had learned to keep
out of his way, Billy’s thoughts
turned to those hens.</p>
<p class='pindent'>It was the very night after the
fire which the Rats had started in
the back shed of the farmhouse that
Billy made up his mind to have a
chicken dinner. He slipped under
the henhouse and up through a
hole in the corner which he already
knew about. All the hens were
roosting high, fast asleep with their
heads under their wings. Had
Reddy Fox been in Billy Mink’s
place, he would have been somewhat
puzzled as to how he might
catch one of those hens. But Billy
wasn’t puzzled. Not a bit of it.
You see, Billy can climb almost
like a Squirrel. Reddy Fox would
have had to jump, and probably
would have awakened and frightened
the whole flock. Billy Mink
simply climbed up to one of the
roosts, stole along it to the nearest
hen, and with one quick snap of his
stout little jaws, he killed that hen
without even waking her.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Now, had Billy’s cousin, Shadow
the Weasel, been in his place, he
would have gone right on killing
those hens from sheer love of killing.
But Billy Mink killed that
hen simply because he must have
something to eat, and one hen was
more than enough to furnish him a
dinner. When he had finished his
dinner, he went back to his snug
bed under the big woodpile.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Of course, when the farmer came
out to feed the hens in the morning
he discovered what had happened.
He didn’t know who had killed
that hen, but he knew that it must
have been some one very small to
have gotten into the henhouse. He
hunted about until he found the
hole in the dark corner. He knew
that that hole had been made by a
Rat, and at first he thought it must
have been Rats who killed that hen
and this increased his anger.</p>
<p class='pindent'>That afternoon he happened to
look out of the barn door towards
the woodpile, and he was just in
time to see a slim, brown form
whisk out of sight under the wood.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“Ha, ha!” exclaimed the farmer.
“Now I know who the thief is.
There is a Mink in that woodpile.
He is the fellow who killed that
hen last night. I think, Mr. Mink,
we’ll make you pay for that hen
with your brown coat.”</p>
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