Part 6 (2/2)

”It can't be----” he began.

But before he could finish, Benny Badger interrupted him.

”Yes, it is!” he cried. ”It's my teeth!”

And so saying, he seized Mr. Fox on the back of his neck and began to drag him over the gra.s.s.

It became clear, at once, that Mr. Fox did not enjoy the sport.

”Don't do that, friend!” he begged. ”What are you trying to do, anyhow?”

”I'm trying to rub the egg off your mouth,” Benny Badger explained.

”Please don't trouble yourself,” said Mr. Fox.

Then Benny began to shake him.

”Don't do that, friend!” said Mr. Fox again. ”What are you trying to do?”

”I'm only trying to shake the feather off you,” Benny told him.

”Don't trouble yourself,” said Mr. Fox. ”If you'll take those teeth off my neck, that's all I'll ask of you.”

”Not yet!” Benny Badger replied grimly. ”You're a robber. And I'm going to teach you a lesson. . . . You _will_ rob birds' nests, will you?”

To his great surprise, Mr. Fox began to laugh.

”Why, you'd rob them yourself if you weren't so clumsy!” he cried.

”You're really no better than I am.”

Benny Badger hadn't thought of that. And the idea surprised him so much that his mouth fell open. And of course Mr. Fox at once leaped aside and ran off.

XIV

A QUEER DISCOVERY

No one would ever have called Benny Badger a great traveller. He was altogether too heavy to roam far from home upon his short legs. So it often happened that he did not know all that went on in the neighborhood.

Of course, his watchful eyes took in almost everything that was in sight of his den. But as for what was taking place just beyond the next rise, that was an entirely different matter. Unless somebody chanced to stop and gossip with Benny, sometimes several days would pa.s.s before he knew what his neighbors were doing.

Luckily, Benny Badger kept his ears open, when he was awake.

And often he kept them half-open when he lay half-asleep, stretched out in the gra.s.s not too far from his den, enjoying a sun-bath.

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