Читать книгу Billy Mink - Thornton Waldo Burgess - Страница 10

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By him who seeks is knowledge gained,

And thus may wisdom be attained.

Billy Mink.

Bobby Coon and Billy Mink sat on an old log on the bank of the Laughing Brook and talked over the traps Billy Mink had discovered and what should be done about them.

“Of course,” said Billy Mink, “you and I are safe enough. We know exactly where those traps are, and we are not going to be so foolish as to get caught in one of them. But there are others who travel up and down the Laughing Brook who might not discover the traps until too late.”

Bobby Coon nodded his head. “Just what I was thinking,” said he. “But for you, Billy Mink, I would be in that trap down there this very minute. It was stupid of me not to have suspected that the little opening in that fence was left purposely to tempt whoever came along to go through it, instead of taking the trouble to climb that steep bank and go around the fence. There may be others just as stupid. We ought to do something about it, but what can we do?”

“Are you afraid to go near that trap?” demanded Billy.

Bobby scratched his head thoughtfully. “How near?” he asked.

“Near enough to get your paw under it,” replied Billy.

“I don’t know,” replied Bobby. “What good will that do?”

“Well, you see,” replied Billy, “that trap is set right in the middle of that little opening, and it has been covered with wet, dead leaves. Now I know something about traps. I’ve seen a lot of them in my day. If any one should step on those wet leaves, two steel jaws would snap up and grab him by the leg. But those steel jaws always snap up. They can’t snap the other way. If your paw is underneath the trap, there is no danger. By doing this you can lift that trap up so that it will no longer be covered with those dead leaves, and whoever comes along will see it. It isn’t safe to try to pull the leaves off of it, because you might get caught doing it. If you will do that to the trap on this side, I will do the same thing to the trap on the other side of the Laughing Brook. If you’re afraid, just say so, and I’ll take care of both traps.”

Now Bobby Coon was afraid, because, you see, he had never had anything to do with traps. But he wasn’t willing to own up that he was afraid. He knew that if he showed that he was afraid he never would hear the end of it, for Billy Mink would be sure to tell everybody he knew. He thought the matter over for a few minutes and then he grunted, “I guess if you can do it, I can.”

“All right. Let’s get busy,” cried Billy Mink, jumping up. “I don’t want to spend the rest of the night sitting around here.”

So Billy Mink swam across the Laughing Brook and Bobby Coon slowly shuffled along on his side down towards the little fence where the trap was set.