The Adventures of Buster Bear | Page 8

could mean,
when he came to a little muddy place on the bank of the Laughing
Brook, and there he saw something that made his eyes look as if they
would pop right out of his head, and it was right then that he felt his
hair rise. Anyway, that is what he said when he told about it afterward.
What was it he saw? What do you think? Why, it was a footprint in the
soft mud. Yes, Sir, that's what it was, and all it was. But it was the
biggest footprint Farmer Brown's boy ever had seen, and it looked as if
it had been made only a few minutes before. It was the footprint of
Buster Bear.
Now Farmer Brown's boy didn't know that Buster Bear had come down
to the Green Forest to live. He never had heard of a Bear being in the
Green Forest. And so he was so surprised that he had hard work to
believe his own eyes, and he had a queer feeling all over,--a little chilly

feeling, although it was a warm day. Somehow, he didn't feel like
meeting Buster Bear. If he had had his terrible gun with him, it might
have been different. But he didn't, and so he suddenly made up his
mind that he didn't want to fish any more that day. He had a funny
feeling, too, that he was being watched, although he couldn't see any
one. He was being watched. Little Joe Otter and Buster Bear were
watching him and taking the greatest care to keep out of his sight.
All the way home through the Green Forest, Farmer Brown's boy kept
looking behind him, and he didn't draw a long breath until he reached
the edge of the Green Forest. He hadn't run, but he had wanted to.
"Huh!" said Buster Bear to Little Joe Otter, "I believe he was afraid!"
And Buster Bear was just exactly right.

IX
LITTLE JOE OTTER HAS GREAT NEWS TO TELL
Little Joe Otter was fairly bursting with excitement. He could hardly
contain himself. He felt that he had the greatest news to tell since Peter
Rabbit had first found the tracks of Buster Bear in the Green Forest. He
couldn't keep it to himself a minute longer than he had to. So he hurried
to the Smiling Pool, where he was sure he would find Billy Mink and
Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog and Spotty the Turtle, and he
hoped that perhaps some of the little people who live in the Green
Forest might be there too. Sure enough, Peter Rabbit was there on one
side of the Smiling Pool, making faces at Reddy Fox, who was on the
other side, which, of course, was not at all nice of Peter. Mr. and Mrs.
Redwing were there, and Blacky the Crow was sitting in the Big
Hickory-tree.
Little Joe Otter swam straight to the Big Rock and climbed up to the
very highest part. He looked so excited, and his eyes sparkled so, that
every one knew right away that something had happened.

"Hi!" cried Billy Mink. "Look at Little Joe Otter! It must be that for
once he has been smarter than Buster Bear."
Little Joe made a good-natured face at Billy Mink and shook his head.
"No, Billy," said he, "you are wrong, altogether wrong. I don't believe
anybody can be smarter than Buster Bear."
[Illustration: Reddy glared across the Smiling Pool at Peter. Page 45.]
Reddy Fox rolled his lips back in an unpleasant grin. "Don't be too sure
of that!" he snapped. "I'm not through with him yet."
"Boaster! Boaster!" cried Peter Rabbit.
Reddy glared across the Smiling Pool at Peter. "I'm not through with
you either, Peter Rabbit!" he snarled. "You'll find it out one of these
fine days!"
"Reddy, Reddy, smart and sly, Couldn't catch a buzzing fly!"
taunted Peter.
"Chug-a-rum!" said Grandfather Frog in his deepest, gruffest voice.
"We know all about that. What we want to know is what Little Joe
Otter has got on his mind."
"It's news--great news!" cried Little Joe.
"We can tell better how great it is when we hear what it is," replied
Grandfather Frog testily. "What is it?"
Little Joe Otter looked around at all the eager faces watching him, and
then in the slowest, most provoking way, he drawled: "Farmer Brown's
boy is afraid of Buster Bear."
For a minute no one said a word. Then Blacky the Crow leaned down
from his perch in the Big Hickory-tree and looked very hard at Little
Joe as he said:

"I don't believe it. I don't believe a word of it. Farmer Brown's boy isn't
afraid of any one who lives in the Green Forest or on the Green
Meadows or in the