little joe otter was in a terrible rage. it was a bad beginning for a beautiful day and little joe knew it. but who wouldn't be in a rage if his breakfast was taken from him just as he was about to eat it? anyway, that is what little joe told billy mink. perhaps he didn't tell it quite exactly as it was, but you know he was very badly frightened at the time.
"i was sitting on the bank of the laughing brook beside one of the little pools," he told billy mink, "and was just going to eat a fat trout i had[pg 8] caught, when who should come along but that great big bully, buster bear. he took that fat trout away from me and ate it just as if it belonged to him! i hate him! if i live long enough i'm going to get even with him!"
of course that wasn't nice talk and anything but a nice spirit, but little joe otter's temper is sometimes pretty short, especially when he is hungry, and this time he had had no breakfast, you know.
buster bear hadn't actually taken the fish away from little joe. but looking at the matter as little joe did, it amounted to the same thing. you see, buster knew perfectly well when he invited little joe to come back and get it that little joe wouldn't dare do anything of the kind.
"where is he now?" asked billy mink.
[pg 9]"he's somewhere up the laughing brook. i wish he'd fall in and get drowned!" snapped little joe.
billy mink just had to laugh. the idea of great big buster bear getting drowned in the laughing brook was too funny. there wasn't water enough in it anywhere except down in the smiling pool, and that was on the green meadows, where buster had never been known to go. "let's go see what he is doing," said billy mink.
at first little joe didn't want to, but at last his curiosity got the better of his fear, and he agreed. so the two little brown-coated scamps turned down the laughing brook, taking the greatest care to keep out of sight themselves. they had gone only a little way when billy mink whispered: "sh-h! there he is."
sure enough, there was buster bear[pg 10] sitting close beside a little pool and looking into it very intently.
"what's he doing?" asked little joe otter, as buster bear sat for the longest time without moving.
just then one of buster's big paws went into the water as quick as a flash and scooped out a trout that had ventured too near.
"he's fishing!" exclaimed billy mink.
and that is just what buster bear was doing, and it was very plain to see that he was having great fun. when he had eaten the trout he had caught, he moved along to the next little pool.
"they are our fish!" said little joe fiercely. "he has no business catching our fish!"
"i don't see how we are going to stop him," said billy mink.
"i do!" cried little joe, into whose[pg 11] head an idea had just popped. "i'm going to drive all the fish out of the little pools and muddy the water all up. then we'll see how many fish he will get! just you watch me get even with buster bear."
little joe slipped swiftly into the water and swam straight to the little pool that buster bear would try next. he frightened the fish so that they fled in every direction. then he stirred up the mud until the water was so dirty that buster couldn't have seen a fish right under his nose. he did the same thing in the next pool and the next. buster bear's fishing was spoiled for that day.
