<div><h1 id='ch34'>CHAPTER XXXIV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>BILLY GOES HOME</span></h1></div>
<div class='poetry-container' style=''>
<div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
<div class='stanza-outer'>
<p class='line0'>You’ll ne’er regret the kindly deed</p>
<p class='line0'>That aids another in his need.</p>
<p class='line0'>                    <span class='it'>Billy Mink.</span></p>
</div>
</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Almost</span> at the heels of the last
frightened Rat fleeing from the
house of Billy Mink’s friend, the
farmer, appeared Billy Mink himself.
The Rat started for the big
barn, but Billy caught him before
he was halfway there.</p>
<p class='pindent'>The farmer who had been watching
knew that was the last Rat.
He knew it because he knew that
Billy would not have shown himself
outside as long as there was a
Rat left inside. At once the farmer
went over and stopped up that
hole, so that no Rat could get
back into the house.</p>
<p class='pindent'>“You killed one of my chickens,
you little brown rascal,” said he,
“but you’ve paid for it ten times
over. I had intended to kill you
for that beautiful, brown coat of
yours, but now I wouldn’t harm a
hair of it. As long as you want to
stay around here, you are welcome.
In fact, the longer you stay around
here, the better I will like it, and I
shall see to it that you have plenty
to eat.”</p>
<p class='pindent'>Billy Mink didn’t hear this, and
he wouldn’t have understood it if
he had. But he had already made
up his mind that the farmer was
his friend and that was sufficient.</p>
<p class='pindent'>After catching that last Rat to
leave the house, Billy went over to
the woodpile where he was making
his home. It didn’t take him long
to discover that some of those Rats
were hiding in the woodpile, and
he promptly hunted them out of
there just as he had hunted them
out of the house. Then, being
tired, he curled up for a nap.</p>
<p class='pindent'>For two or three days after that
Billy Mink hunted Rats. He
hunted them until there was not
one of that robber gang left in the
big barn, the henhouse, or under
the woodpile. In fact, there
wasn’t one of those robber Rats
left on the farm. Where those
who had escaped had gone, the
farmer didn’t know and Billy Mink
didn’t know, and neither of them
cared. The farmer was so happy
at being rid of those robbers that
it seemed as if he couldn’t do
enough for Billy Mink. He kept
Billy supplied with good things to
eat, so that Billy didn’t know what
it was to be really hungry. He
grew as fat as a Mink can be, and
he grew lazy as well.</p>
<p class='pindent'>Now Billy Mink is not naturally
lazy. He is one of the most active
of all the little people of the Green
Forest and the Green Meadows.
Not having to hunt for his food,
Billy found little to do but eat and
sleep, and after a week of this, he
began to get uneasy. He began
to long for excitement and new
scenes.</p>
<p class='pindent'>And so one night Billy left his
comfortable quarters and started
back for the Laughing Brook and
the Smiling Pool, the place he
really called home. He was anxious
to find out if any of his old
friends had been caught in the
traps which had been the cause of
his leaving the Laughing Brook.
The next morning the food put out
for him by the farmer was untouched,
and the farmer knew that
Billy had left, and he was sorry.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.