The Tale of Benny Badger Part 11

The deer mouse appeared ashamed. Of course he didn't like to seem stupid.

"But why do you dig in so many places?" he faltered.

"That's my way," Benny Badger told him. "As soon as I get one den well started I think I'd rather live somewhere else. But I don't mind beginning again because there's no better exercise than digging."

"No doubt!" the deer mouse agreed. "But I'm sure it would be much too violent for me."

He said no more, but looked on with a puzzled air until at last Benny Badger had actually dug in one place long enough to make a deep den.

When it was quite finished Benny Badger brushed the dirt off himself and turned to Mr. Deer Mouse.

"Come inside and see if my new house isn't the finest one you ever saw!" he said.

For some reason Mr. Deer Mouse did not seem eager to enter. To be sure, he thanked Benny for the invitation, but he backed away a few steps and said that he thought he'd better not look at the new house that morning.

"I--I haven't the time to spare," he mumbled.

Benny Badger couldn't understand that remark. The white-footed gentleman had had plenty of time to spend while watching him dig the den. And Benny said as much, too.

"That's exactly the point," said the deer mouse. "I've spent so much time already that I've used it all up."

Well, Benny Badger couldn't understand that either.

"Used up all the time!" he cried scornfully. "Isn't there plenty more where the other time came from?"

"Oh, to be sure--to be sure!" said the deer mouse, who seemed ready to agree to anything--except to Benny's invitation. "But there is another reason why I mustn't visit your new home this morning: I'm hungry. I haven't had my breakfast yet."

Suddenly Benny Badger remembered that he was hungry himself.

And as he stared at plump Mr. Deer Mouse a certain idea came into his head. And he looked Mr. Deer up and down before he spoke.

"I haven't had my breakfast either," he said at last. "I'm ready for a good meal. Come right in and join me!"

But something made Mr. Deer Mouse say, "No, thank you!" _Joining a badger at breakfast!_ Somehow that had a dangerous sound.

XXIII

MR. DEER MOUSE IS TIMID

Benny Badger began to lose patience with the deer mouse. He was one of the most timid persons Benny had ever seen. And Benny was on the point of telling him that he hadn't even the courage of a prairie dog.

But suddenly a new idea flashed into his head. He thought he knew what was troubling Mr. Deer Mouse.

"When I asked you to join me at breakfast I didn't mean what you thought I did," Benny announced. "You thought--didn't you?--that I meant to breakfast on _you_."

Mr. Deer Mouse admitted faintly that he had had some such notion.

"How ridiculous!" Benny Badger cried. "Why, you're so quick that I could chase you all day--and all night, too--without catching you. You're too spry for me. So we might as well put such an idea out of our minds."

Benny Badger sighed as he spoke. And he couldn't help noticing, once more, how very, very plump Mr. Deer Mouse was.

"What I meant by your joining me at a good meal was simply this," he continued: "If you'll only stay with me, and follow me quietly wherever I go, there's a good chance that you'll have a bone to gnaw before a great while."

All that seemed very pleasant to the deer mouse.

"Thank you ever so much!" he murmured. "I'll be glad to accept your invitation, so long as we aren't going to breakfast inside your new home."

So they set out. And for a time Mr. Deer Mouse followed Benny Badger all around the neighborhood.

Though Benny kept a sharp watch on all sides, he couldn't see anything--or anybody--that promised a meal. And he decided at last that he would have to make a change of some sort in his plans.

So he sat down and beckoned to Mr. Deer Mouse to move nearer.

"You go ahead of me, and I'll follow you," he said. "You're smaller than I am, and perhaps you won't frighten the game the way I do."

Mr. Deer Mouse did not seem to care for the suggestion.

"You might make a mistake," he objected. "If I went ahead of you, you might think that I was the game. And there might be a terrible accident."

Benny Badger sniffed.

"Nonsense!" he cried. "If I did make such a mistake, I promise you that I wouldn't let it happen more than once."

But the deer mouse proved to be a stubborn chap. He declined flatly to do as Benny wanted.

"Very well!" said Benny Badger gruffly. "I'm sorry that you don't care to make things as pleasant as possible for a newcomer. Where I used to live, people couldn't do enough for me."

"I believe you," Mr. Deer Mouse retorted. "In fact, I've heard that a man even set a trap for you, right in your own doorway."

Of course, that news came to Benny Badger as a great surprise. He had had no idea that Mr. Deer Mouse knew anything about him.

"Somebody has been gossiping!" Benny Badger growled angrily. "Who told you that?"

"Goodness me! Everybody has heard about it," Mr. Deer Mouse replied.

"Don't you know that news travels fast over the plains?"

"Does it travel as fast as I do?" Benny Badger asked him suddenly.

Before the words were out of his mouth he leaped at Mr. Deer Mouse. And for one as heavy as he was, Benny leaped with surprising swiftness.

But quick as he was, he was too slow to catch Mr. Deer Mouse napping.

That nimble fellow seemed to melt away right beneath Benny Badger's paws.

For one moment Benny was sure he had him. And the next moment he was sure he hadn't.

He couldn't see his small neighbor anywhere. In fact, it was a whole week before Benny Badger set his eyes on him again. And to Benny's amazement, Mr. Deer Mouse was just as polite as ever. He asked Benny how he liked his new home, and if he had found the people in the neighborhood as pleasant as he had expected.