The Adventures of Buster Bear | Page 3

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 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.

III
BUSTER BEAR IS GREATLY PUZZLED
Buster Bear hadn't enjoyed himself so much since he came to the Green
Forest to live. His fun began when he surprised Little Joe Otter on the
bank of a little pool in the Laughing Brook and Little Joe was so
frightened that he dropped a fat trout he had just caught. It had seemed
like a great joke to Buster Bear, and he had chuckled over it all the time
he was eating the fat trout. When he had finished it, he started on to do
some fishing himself.
Presently he came to another little pool. He stole up to it very, very
softly, so as not to frighten the fish. Then he sat down close to the edge
of it and didn't move. Buster learned a long time ago that a fisherman
must be patient unless, like Little Joe Otter, he is just as much at home
in the water as the fish themselves, and can swim fast enough to catch

them by chasing them. So he didn't move so much as an eye lash. He
was so still that he looked almost like the stump of an old tree. Perhaps
that is what the fish thought he was, for pretty soon, two or three swam
right in close to where he was sitting. Now Buster Bear may be big and
clumsy looking, but there isn't anything that can move much quicker
than one of those big paws of his when he wants it to. One of them
moved now, and quicker than a wink had scooped one of those foolish
fish out on to the bank.
Buster's little eyes twinkled, and he smacked his lips as he moved on to
the next little pool, for he knew that it was of no use to stay longer at
the first one. The fish were so frightened that they wouldn't come back
for a long, long time. At the next little pool the same thing happened.
By this time Buster Bear was in fine spirits. It was fun to catch the fish,
and it was still more fun to eat them. What finer breakfast could any
one have than fresh-caught trout? No wonder he felt good! But it takes
more than three trout to fill Buster Bear's stomach, so he kept on to the
next little pool.
But this little pool, instead of being beautiful and clear so that Buster
could see right to the bottom of it and so tell if there were any fish there,
was so muddy that he couldn't see into it at all. It looked as if some one
had just stirred up all the mud at the bottom.
"Huh!" said Buster Bear. "It's of no use to try to fish here. I would just
waste my time. I'll try the next pool."
So he went on to the next little pool. He found this just as muddy as the
other. Then he went on to another, and this was no better. Buster sat
down and scratched his head. It was puzzling. Yes, Sir, it was puzzling.
He looked this way and he looked that way suspiciously, but there was
no one to be seen. Everything was still save for the laughter of the
Laughing Brook. Somehow, it seemed to Buster as if the Brook were
laughing at him.
"It's very curious," muttered Buster, "very curious indeed. It looks as if
my fishing