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BURGESS Trade QUADDIES Mark

The Bedtime Story-Books

THE ADVENTURES OF
BUSTER BEAR

BY

THORNTON W. BURGESS

Author of “The Adventures of Reddy Fox,” “Old Mother
West Wind,” “Mother West Wind ‘Why’ Stories,” etc.

With Illustrations by

HARRISON CADY

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1920

Copyright, 1916,
By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved

Illus


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Buster blinked his greedy little eyes rapidly and
looked again. Frontispiece.

[Pg v]CONTENTS

[Pg vii]LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[Pg 1]THE ADVENTURES
OF BUSTER BEAR

I

BUSTER BEAR GOES FISHING

Buster Bear yawned as he lay
on his comfortable bed of leaves
and watched the first early morning
sunbeams creeping through the
Green Forest to chase out the Black
Shadows. Once more he yawned, and
slowly got to his feet and shook himself.
Then he walked over to a big pine-tree,
stood up on his hind legs, reached as
high up on the trunk of the tree as he
could, and scratched the bark with his
great claws. After that he yawned until
it seemed as if his jaws would crack,[Pg 2]
and then sat down to think what he
wanted for breakfast.

While he sat there, trying to make up
his mind what would taste best, he was
listening to the sounds that told of the
waking of all the little people who live
in the Green Forest. He heard Sammy
Jay way off in the distance screaming,
“Thief! Thief!” and grinned. “I
wonder,” thought Buster, “if some one
has stolen Sammy’s breakfast, or if he
has stolen the breakfast of some one
else. Probably he is the thief himself.”

He heard Chatterer the Red Squirrel
scolding as fast as he could make his
tongue go and working himself into a
terrible rage. “Must be that Chatterer
got out of bed the wrong way this morning,”
thought he.

He heard Blacky the Crow cawing at
the top of his lungs, and he knew by
the sound that Blacky was getting into[Pg 3]
mischief of some kind. He heard the
sweet voices of happy little singers, and
they were good to hear. But most of
all he listened to a merry, low, silvery
laugh that never stopped but went on
and on, until he just felt as if he must
laugh too. It was the voice of the
Laughing Brook. And as Buster listened
it suddenly came to him just what
he wanted for breakfast.

“I’m going fishing,” said he in his
deep grumbly-rumbly voice to no one
in particular. “Yes, Sir, I’m going
fishing. I want some fat trout for my
breakfast.”

He shuffled along over to the Laughing
Brook, and straight to a little pool
of which he knew, and as he drew near
he took the greatest care not to make
the teeniest, weeniest bit of noise. Now
it just happened that early as he was,
some one was before Buster Bear.[Pg 4]
When he came in sight of the little pool,
who should he see but another fisherman
there, who had already caught a
fine fat trout. Who was it? Why,
Little Joe Otter to be sure. He was
just climbing up the bank with the fat
trout in his mouth. Buster Bear’s own
mouth watered as he saw it. Little Joe
sat down on the bank and prepared to
enjoy his breakfast. He hadn’t seen
Buster Bear, and he didn’t know that
he or any one else was anywhere near.

Buster Bear tiptoed up very softly
until he was right behind Little Joe
Otter. “Woof, woof!” said he in his
deepest, most grumbly-rumbly voice.
“That’s a very fine looking trout. I
wouldn’t mind if I had it myself.”

Little Joe Otter gave a frightened
squeal and without even turning to see
who was speaking dropped his fish and
dived headfirst into the Laughing[Pg 5]
Brook. Buster Bear sprang forward
and with one of his big paws caught the
fat trout just as it was slipping back
into the water.

“Here’s your trout, Mr. Otter,” said
he, as Little Joe put his head out of
water to see who had frightened him so.
“Come and get it.”

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Here’s your trout, Mr. Otter, said he.
Page 5.

But Little Joe wouldn’t. The fact
is, he was afraid to. He snarled at
Buster Bear and called him a thief and
everything bad he could think of. Buster
didn’t seem to mind. He chuckled
as if he thought it all a great joke and
repeated his invitation to Little Joe to
come and get his fish. But Little Joe
just turned his back and went off down
the Laughing Brook in a great rage.

“It’s too bad to waste such a fine
fish,” said Buster thoughtfully. “I
wonder what I’d better do with it.”
And while he was wondering, he ate it[Pg 6]
all up. Then he started down the
Laughing Brook to try to catch some
for himself.

[Pg 7]II

LITTLE JOE OTTER GETS EVEN WITH
BUSTER BEAR

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.

[Pg 12]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.[Pg 13]
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[Pg 14]
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.

[Pg 15]“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 is spoiled for to-day. I
don’t understand it at all. It’s lucky
I caught what I did. It looks as if
somebody is trying to—ha!” A sudden
thought had popped into his head.[Pg 16]
Then he began to chuckle and finally to
laugh. “I do believe that scamp Joe
Otter is trying to get even with me for
eating that fat trout!”

And then, because Buster Bear always
enjoys a good joke even when it
is on himself, he laughed until he had
to hold his sides, which is a whole lot
better than going off in a rage as Little
Joe Otter had done. “You’re pretty
smart, Mr. Otter! You’re pretty
smart, but there are other people who
are smart too,” said Buster Bear, and
still chuckling, he went off to think up
a plan to get the best of Little Joe Otter.

[Pg 17]IV

LITTLE JOE OTTER SUPPLIES BUSTER
BEAR WITH A BREAKFAST

That is just how it came about
that Little Joe Otter furnished
Buster Bear with the best breakfast
he had had for a long time. He
didn’t mean to do it. Oh, my, no! The
truth is, he thought all the time that he
was preventing Buster Bear from getting
a breakfast. You see he wasn’t
well enough acquainted with Buster to
know that Buster is quite as smart as
he is, and perhaps a little bit smarter.
Spite and selfishness were at the bottom[Pg 18]
of it. You see Little Joe and Billy
Mink had had all the fishing in the
Laughing Brook to themselves so long
that they thought no one else had any
right to fish there. To be sure Bobby
Coon caught a few little fish there, but
they didn’t mind Bobby. Farmer
Brown’s boy fished there too, sometimes,
and this always made Little Joe
and Billy Mink very angry, but they
were so afraid of him that they didn’t
dare do anything about it. But when
they discovered that Buster Bear was a
fisherman, they made up their minds
that something had got to be done. At
least, Little Joe did.

“He’ll try it again to-morrow morning,”
said Little Joe. “I’ll keep
watch, and as soon as I see him coming,
I’ll drive out all the fish, just as I did
to-day. I guess that’ll teach him to let
our fish alone.”[Pg 19]

So the next morning Little Joe hid
before daylight close by the little pool
where Buster Bear had given him such
a fright. Sure enough, just as the
Jolly Sunbeams began to creep through
the Green Forest, he saw Buster Bear
coming straight over to the little pool.
Little Joe slipped into the water and
chased all the fish out of the little pool,
and stirred up the mud on the bottom
so that the water was so muddy that the
bottom couldn’t be seen at all. Then he
hurried down to the next little pool and
did the same thing.

Now Buster Bear is very smart.
You know he had guessed the day before
who had spoiled his fishing. So
this morning he only went far enough
to make sure that if Little Joe were
watching for him, as he was sure he
would be, he would see him coming.
Then, instead of keeping on to the little[Pg 20]
pool, he hurried to a place way down the
Laughing Brook, where the water was
very shallow, hardly over his feet, and
there he sat chuckling to himself.
Things happened just as he had expected.
The frightened fish Little Joe
chased out of the little pools up above
swam down the Laughing Brook, because,
you know, Little Joe was behind
them, and there was nowhere else for
them to go. When they came to the
place where Buster was waiting, all he
had to do was to scoop them out on to
the bank. It was great fun. It didn’t
take Buster long to catch all the fish he
could eat. Then he saved a nice fat
trout and waited.

By and by along came Little Joe Otter,
chuckling to think how he had
spoiled Buster Bear’s fishing. He was
so intent on looking behind him to see
if Buster was coming that he didn’t see[Pg 21]
Buster waiting there until he spoke.

“I’m much obliged for the fine breakfast
you have given me,” said Buster in
his deepest, most grumbly-rumbly
voice. “I’ve saved a fat trout for you
to make up for the one I ate yesterday.
I hope we’ll go fishing together often.”

Then he went off laughing fit to kill
himself. Little Joe couldn’t find a
word to say. He was so surprised and
angry that he went off by himself and
sulked. And Billy Mink, who had been
watching, ate the fat trout.

[Pg 22]V

GRANDFATHER FROG’S COMMON-SENSE

There is nothing quite like common
sense to smooth out
troubles. People who have
plenty of just plain common sense
are often thought to be very wise.
Their neighbors look up to them and
are forever running to them for advice,
and they are very much respected.
That is the way with Grandfather
Frog. He is very old and very wise.
Anyway, that is what his neighbors
think. The truth is, he simply has a
lot of common sense, which after all is
the very best kind of wisdom.

Now when Little Joe Otter found
that Buster Bear had been too smart[Pg 23]
for him and that instead of spoiling
Buster’s fishing in the Laughing Brook
he had really made it easier for Buster
to catch all the fish he wanted, Little
Joe went off down to the Smiling Pool
in a great rage.

Billy Mink stopped long enough to
eat the fat fish Buster had left on the
bank and then he too went down to the
Smiling Pool.

When Little Joe Otter and Billy
Mink reached the Smiling Pool, they
climbed up on the Big Rock, and there
Little Joe sulked and sulked, until
finally Grandfather Frog asked what
the matter was. Little Joe wouldn’t
tell, but Billy Mink told the whole story.
When he told how Buster had been too
smart for Little Joe, it tickled him so
that Billy had to laugh in spite of himself.
So did Grandfather Frog. So
did Jerry Muskrat, who had been listen[Pg 24]ing.
Of course this made Little Joe
angrier than ever. He said a lot of unkind
things about Buster Bear and
about Billy Mink and Grandfather
Frog and Jerry Muskrat, because they
had laughed at the smartness of Buster.

“He’s nothing but a great big bully
and thief!” declared Little Joe.

“Chug-a-rum! He may be a bully,
because great big people are very apt
to be bullies, and though I haven’t seen
him, I guess Buster Bear is big enough
from all I have heard, but I don’t see
how he is a thief,” said Grandfather
Frog.

“Didn’t he catch my fish and eat
them?” snapped Little Joe. “Doesn’t
that make him a thief?”

“They were no more your fish than
mine,” protested Billy Mink.

“Well, our fish, then! He stole our
fish, if you like that any better. That[Pg 25]
makes him just as much a thief, doesn’t
it?” growled Little Joe.

Grandfather Frog looked up at jolly,
round, bright Mr. Sun and slowly
winked one of his great, goggly eyes.
“There comes a foolish green fly,” said
he. “Who does he belong to?”

“Nobody!” snapped Little Joe.
“What have foolish green flies got to
do with my—I mean our fish?”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” replied
Grandfather Frog mildly. “I was just
hoping that he would come near enough
for me to snap him up; then he would
belong to me. As long as he doesn’t,
he doesn’t belong to any one. I suppose
that if Buster Bear should happen
along and catch him, he would be stealing
from me, according to Little Joe.”

“Of course not! What a silly idea!
You’re getting foolish in your old age,”
retorted Little Joe.[Pg 26]

“Can you tell me the difference between
the fish that you haven’t caught
and the foolish green flies that I haven’t
caught?” asked Grandfather Frog.

Little Joe couldn’t find a word to
say.

“You take my advice, Little Joe Otter,”
continued Grandfather Frog,
“and always make friends with those
who are bigger and stronger and
smarter than you are. You’ll find it
pays.”

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You take my advice, Little Joe Otter, continued
Grandfather Frog. Page 26.

[Pg 27]VI

LITTLE JOE OTTER TAKES GRANDFATHER
FROG’S ADVICE

Little Joe Otter found that
out when he took Grandfather
Frog’s advice. He wouldn’t
have admitted that he was afraid of
Buster Bear. No one ever likes to admit
being afraid, least of all Little Joe
Otter. And really Little Joe has a
great deal of courage. Very few of the
little people of the Green Forest or the
Green Meadows would willingly quarrel
with him, for Little Joe is a great
fighter when he has to fight. As for all
those who live in or along the Laughing[Pg 28]
Brook or in the Smiling Pool, they let
Little Joe have his own way in everything.

Now having one’s own way too much
is a bad thing. It is apt to make one
selfish and thoughtless of other people
and very hard to get along with. Little
Joe Otter had his way too much.
Grandfather Frog knew it and shook
his head very soberly when Little Joe
had been disrespectful to him.

“Too bad. Too bad! Too bad!
Chug-a-rum! It is too bad that such a
fine young fellow as Little Joe should
spoil a good disposition by such selfish
heedlessness. Too bad,” said he.

So, though he didn’t let on that it was
so, Grandfather Frog really was delighted
when he heard how Buster Bear
had been too smart for Little Joe Otter.
It tickled him so that he had hard work
to keep a straight face. But he did and[Pg 29]
was as grave and solemn as you please
as he advised Little Joe always to make
friends with any one who was bigger
and stronger and smarter than he.
That was good common sense advice,
but Little Joe just sniffed and went off
declaring that he would get even with
Buster Bear yet. Now Little Joe is
good-natured and full of fun as a rule,
and after he had reached home and his
temper had cooled off a little, he began
to see the joke on himself,—how when
he had worked so hard to frighten the
fish in the little pools of the Laughing
Brook so that Buster Bear should not
catch any, he had all the time been driving
them right into Buster’s paws. By
and by he grinned. It was a little
sheepish grin at first, but at last it grew
into a laugh.

“I believe,” said Little Joe as he
wiped tears of laughter from his eyes,[Pg 30]
“that Grandfather Frog is right, and
that the best thing I can do is to make
friends with Buster Bear. I’ll try it
to-morrow morning.”

So very early the next morning Little
Joe Otter went to the best fishing pool
he knew of in the Laughing Brook, and
there he caught the biggest trout he
could find. It was so big and fat that
it made Little Joe’s mouth water, for
you know fat trout are his favorite
food. But he didn’t take so much as one
bite. Instead he carefully laid it on an
old log where Buster Bear would be
sure to see it if he should come along
that way. Then he hid near by, where
he could watch. Buster was late that
morning. It seemed to Little Joe that
he never would come. Once he nearly
lost the fish. He had turned his head
for just a minute, and when he looked
back again, the trout was nowhere to[Pg 31]
be seen. Buster couldn’t have stolen
up and taken it, because such a big fellow
couldn’t possibly have gotten out
of sight again.

Little Joe darted over to the log and
looked on the other side. There was
the fat trout, and there also was Little
Joe’s smallest cousin, Shadow the
Weasel, who is a great thief and altogether
bad. Little Joe sprang at him
angrily, but Shadow was too quick and
darted away. Little Joe put the fish
back on the log and waited. This time
he didn’t take his eyes off it. At last,
when he was almost ready to give up,
he saw Buster Bear shuffling along towards
the Laughing Brook. Suddenly
Buster stopped and sniffed. One
of the Merry Little Breezes had carried
the scent of that fat trout over to
him. Then he came straight over to
where the fish lay, his nose wrinkling,[Pg 32]
and his eyes twinkling with pleasure.

“Now I wonder who was so thoughtful
as to leave this fine breakfast ready
for me,” said he out loud.

“Me,” said Little Joe in a rather
faint voice. “I caught it especially for
you.”

“Thank you,” replied Buster, and
his eyes twinkled more than ever. “I
think we are going to be friends.”

“I—I hope so,” replied Little Joe.

[Pg 33]VII

FARMER BROWN’S BOY HAS NO LUCK
AT ALL

Farmer Brown’s boy
tramped through the Green Forest,
whistling merrily. He always
whistles when he feels light-hearted,
and he always feels light-hearted
when he goes fishing. You see,
he is just as fond of fishing as is Little
Joe Otter or Billy Mink or Buster Bear.
And now he was making his way
through the Green Forest to the Laughing
Brook, sure that by the time he had
followed it down to the Smiling Pool he
would have a fine lot of trout to take
home. He knew every pool in the
Laughing Brook where the trout love[Pg 34]
to hide, did Farmer Brown’s boy, and it
was just the kind of a morning when the
trout should be hungry. So he whistled
as he tramped along, and his whistle was
good to hear.

When he reached the first little pool
he baited his hook very carefully and
then, taking the greatest care to keep
out of sight of any trout that might be
in the little pool, he began to fish. Now
Farmer Brown’s boy learned a long
time ago that to be a successful fisherman
one must have a great deal of
patience, so though he didn’t get a bite
right away as he had expected to, he
wasn’t the least bit discouraged. He
kept very quiet and fished and fished,
patiently waiting for a foolish trout to
take his hook. But he didn’t get so
much as a nibble. “Either the trout
have lost their appetite or they have
grown very wise,” muttered Farmer[Pg 35]
Brown’s boy, as after a long time he
moved on to the next little pool.

There the same thing happened. He
was very patient, very, very patient, but
his patience brought no reward, not so
much as the faintest kind of a nibble.
Farmer Brown’s boy trudged on to the
next pool, and there was a puzzled
frown on his freckled face. Such a
thing never had happened before. He
didn’t know what to make of it. All
the night before he had dreamed about
the delicious dinner of fried trout he
would have the next day, and now—well,
if he didn’t catch some trout
pretty soon, that splendid dinner would
never be anything but a dream.

“If I didn’t know that nobody else
comes fishing here, I should think that
somebody had been here this very morning
and caught all the fish or else frightened
them so that they are all in[Pg 36]
hiding,” said he, as he trudged on to
the next little pool. “I never had
such bad luck in all my life before.
Hello! What’s this?”

There, on the bank beside the little
pool, were the heads of three trout.
Farmer Brown’s boy scowled down at
them more puzzled than ever. “Somebody
has been fishing here, and they
have had better luck than I have,”
thought he. He looked up the Laughing
Brook and down the Laughing
Brook and this way and that way, but
no one was to be seen. Then he picked
up one of the little heads and looked at
it sharply. “It wasn’t cut off with a
knife; it was bitten off!” he exclaimed.
“I wonder now if Billy Mink is the
scamp who has spoiled my fun.”

Thereafter he kept a sharp lookout
for signs of Billy Mink, but though he
found two or three more trout heads,[Pg 37]
he saw no other signs and he caught no
fish. This puzzled him more than ever.
It didn’t seem possible that such a little
fellow as Billy Mink could have
caught or frightened all the fish or have
eaten so many. Besides, he didn’t remember
ever having known Billy to
leave heads around that way. Billy
sometimes catches more fish than he
can eat, but then he usually hides them.
The farther he went down the Laughing
Brook, the more puzzled Farmer
Brown’s boy grew. It made him feel
very queer. He would have felt still
more queer if he had known that all the
time two other fishermen who had been
before him were watching him and
chuckling to themselves. They were
Little Joe Otter and Buster Bear.

[Pg 38]VIII

FARMER BROWN’S BOY FEELS HIS
HAIR RISE

That’s a funny thing for hair to
do—rise up all of a sudden—isn’t
it? But that is just what
the hair on Farmer Brown’s boy’s
head did the day he went fishing in
the Laughing Brook and had no luck
at all. There are just two things
that make hair rise—anger and fear.
Anger sometimes makes the hair on the
back and neck of Bowser the Hound
and of some other little people bristle
and stand up, and you know the hair
on the tail of Black Pussy stands on[Pg 39]
end until her tail looks twice as big as
it really is. Both anger and fear make
it do that. But there is only one thing
that can make the hair on the head of
Farmer Brown’s boy rise, and as it
isn’t anger, of course it must be fear.

It never had happened before. You
see, there isn’t much of anything that
Farmer Brown’s boy is really afraid
of. Perhaps he wouldn’t have been
afraid this time if it hadn’t been for the
surprise of what he found. You see
when he had found the heads of those
trout on the bank he knew right away
that some one else had been fishing, and
that was why he couldn’t catch any;
but it didn’t seem possible that little
Billy Mink could have eaten all those
trout, and Farmer Brown’s boy didn’t
once think of Little Joe Otter, and so
he was very, very much puzzled.

He was turning it all over in his mind[Pg 40]
and studying what it 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[Pg 41]
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[Pg 42]
Joe Otter, “I believe he was afraid!”

And Buster Bear was just exactly
right.

[Pg 43]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[Pg 44]
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.”

Illus


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Reddy glared across the Smiling Pool at Peter.
Page 45.

[Pg 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!”

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.

[Pg 46]“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 Smiling Pool, and you know it.
We are all afraid of him.”

Little Joe glared back at Blacky.
“I don’t care whether you believe it or[Pg 47]
not; it’s true,” he retorted. Then he
told how early that very morning he
and Buster Bear had been fishing together
in the Laughing Brook, and how
Farmer Brown’s boy had been fishing
there too, and hadn’t caught a single
trout because they had all been caught
or frightened before he got there.
Then he told how Farmer Brown’s boy
had found a footprint of Buster Bear
in the soft mud, and how he had stopped
fishing right away and started for
home, looking behind him with fear in
his eyes all the way.

“Now tell me that he isn’t afraid!”
concluded Little Joe. “For once he
knows just how we feel when he comes
prowling around where we are. Isn’t
that great news? Now we’ll get even
with him!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it for myself!”
snapped Blacky the Crow.

[Pg 48]X

BUSTER BEAR BECOMES A HERO

The news that Little Joe Otter
told at the Smiling Pool,—how
Farmer Brown’s boy had run
away from Buster Bear without even
seeing him,—soon spread all over the
Green Meadows and through the Green
Forest, until every one who lives there
knew about it. Of course, Peter Rabbit
helped spread it. Trust Peter for
that! But everybody else helped too.
You see, they had all been afraid of
Farmer Brown’s boy for so long that
they were tickled almost to pieces at
the very thought of having some one
in the Green Forest who could make
Farmer Brown’s boy feel fear as they[Pg 49]
had felt it. And so it was that Buster
Bear became a hero right away to most
of them.

A few doubted Little Joe’s story.
One of them was Blacky the Crow.
Another was Reddy Fox. Blacky
doubted because he knew Farmer
Brown’s boy so well that he couldn’t
imagine him afraid. Reddy doubted
because he didn’t want to believe.
You see, he was jealous of Buster Bear,
and at the same time he was afraid of
him. So Reddy pretended not to believe
a word of what Little Joe Otter
had said, and he agreed with Blacky
that only by seeing Farmer Brown’s
boy afraid could he ever be made to believe
it. But nearly everybody else
believed it, and there was great rejoicing.
Most of them were afraid of
Buster, very much afraid of him, because
he was so big and strong. But[Pg 50]
they were still more afraid of Farmer
Brown’s boy, because they didn’t know
him or understand him, and because in
the past he had tried to catch some of
them in traps and had hunted some of
them with his terrible gun.

So now they were very proud to
think that one of their own number actually
had frightened him, and they
began to look on Buster Bear as a real
hero. They tried in ever so many ways
to show him how friendly they felt and
went quite out of their way to do him
favors. Whenever they met one another,
all they could talk about was the
smartness and the greatness of Buster
Bear.

“Now I guess Farmer Brown’s boy
will keep away from the Green Forest,
and we won’t have to be all the time
watching out for him,” said Bobby[Pg 51]
Coon, as he washed his dinner in the
Laughing Brook, for you know he is
very neat and particular.

“And he won’t dare set any more
traps for me,” gloated Billy Mink.

“Ah wish Brer Bear would go up to
Farmer Brown’s henhouse and scare
Farmer Brown’s boy so that he would
keep away from there. It would be a
favor to me which Ah cert’nly would
appreciate,” said Unc’ Billy Possum
when he heard the news.

“Let’s all go together and tell Buster
Bear how much obliged we are for what
he has done,” proposed Jerry Muskrat.

“That’s a splendid idea!” cried Little
Joe Otter. “We’ll do it right
away.”

“Caw, caw caw!” broke in Blacky
the Crow. “I say, let’s wait and see for
ourselves if it is all true.”

[Pg 52]“Of course it’s true!” snapped Little
Joe Otter. “Don’t you believe I’m
telling the truth?”

“Certainly, certainly. Of course no
one doubts your word,” replied Blacky,
with the utmost politeness. “But you
say yourself that Farmer Brown’s boy
didn’t see Buster Bear, but only his
footprint. Perhaps he didn’t know
whose it was, and if he had he wouldn’t
have been afraid. Now I’ve got a plan
by which we can see for ourselves if he
really is afraid of Buster Bear.”

“What is it?” asked Sammy Jay
eagerly.

Blacky the Crow shook his head
and winked. “That’s telling,” said he.
“I want to think it over. If you meet
me at the Big Hickory-tree at sun-up
to-morrow morning, and get everybody
else to come that you can, perhaps I
will tell you.”

[Pg 53]XI

BLACKY THE CROW TELLS HIS PLAN

It’s a fact. Blacky the Crow is forever
dreaming and scheming and
almost always it is of mischief.
He is one of the smartest and cleverest
of all the little people of the Green
Meadows and the Green Forest, and all
the others know it. Blacky likes excitement.
He wants something going
on. The more exciting it is, the better
he likes it. Then he has a chance to use
that harsh voice of his, and how he does
use it!

[Pg 54]

So now, as he sat in the top of the Big
Hickory-tree beside the Smiling Pool
and looked down on all the little people
gathered there, he was very happy. In
the first place he felt very important,
and you know Blacky dearly loves to
feel important. They had all come at
his invitation to listen to a plan for seeing
for themselves if it were really true
that Farmer Brown’s boy was afraid of
Buster Bear.

On the Big Rock in the Smiling Pool
sat Little Joe Otter, Billy Mink, and
Jerry Muskrat. On his big, green lily-pad
sat Grandfather Frog. On another
lily-pad sat Spotty the Turtle.
On the bank on one side of the Smiling
Pool were Peter Rabbit, Jumper the
Hare, Danny Meadow Mouse, Johnny
Chuck, Jimmy Skunk, Unc’ Billy Possum,
Striped Chipmunk and Old Mr.
Toad. On the other side of the Smil[Pg 55]ing
Pool were Reddy Fox, Digger the
Badger, and Bobby Coon. In the Big
Hickory-tree were Chatterer the Red
Squirrel, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel,
and Sammy Jay.

Blacky waited until he was sure
that no one else was coming. Then he
cleared his throat very loudly and began
to speak. “Friends,” said he.

Everybody grinned, for Blacky has
played so many sharp tricks that no
one is really his friend unless it is that
other mischief-maker, Sammy Jay,
who, you know, is Blacky’s cousin.
But no one said anything, and Blacky
went on.

“Little Joe Otter has told us how he
saw Farmer Brown’s boy hurry home
when he found the footprint of Buster
Bear on the edge of the Laughing
Brook, and how all the way he kept
looking behind him, as if he were[Pg 56]
afraid. Perhaps he was, and then
again perhaps he wasn’t. Perhaps he
had something else on his mind. You
have made a hero of Buster Bear, because
you believe Little Joe’s story.
Now I don’t say that I don’t believe it,
but I do say that I will be a lot more
sure that Farmer Brown’s boy is afraid
of Buster when I see him run away myself.
Now here is my plan:

“To-morrow morning, very early,
Sammy Jay and I will make a great
fuss near the edge of the Green Forest.
Farmer Brown’s boy has a lot of curiosity,
and he will be sure to come over
to see what it is all about. Then we
will lead him to where Buster Bear is.
If he runs away, I will be the first to
admit that Buster Bear is as great a
hero as some of you seem to think he is.
It is a very simple plan, and if you will
all hide where you can watch, you will[Pg 57]
be able to see for yourselves if Little
Joe Otter is right. Now what do you
say?”

Right away everybody began to talk
at the same time. It was such a simple
plan that everybody agreed to it. And
it promised to be so exciting that everybody
promised to be there, that is,
everybody but Grandfather Frog and
Spotty the Turtle, who didn’t care to go
so far away from the Smiling Pool. So
it was agreed that Blacky should try
his plan the very next morning.

[Pg 58]XII

FARMER BROWN’S BOY AND BUSTER
BEAR GROW CURIOUS

Ever since it was light enough to
see at all, Blacky the Crow had
been sitting in the top of the tallest
tree on the edge of the Green Forest
nearest to Farmer Brown’s house, and
never for an instant had he taken his
eyes from Farmer Brown’s back door.
What was he watching for? Why, for
Farmer Brown’s boy to come out on
his way to milk the cows. Meanwhile,
Sammy Jay was slipping silently
through the Green Forest, looking for
Buster Bear, so that when the time
came he could let his cousin, Blacky
the Crow, know just where Buster was.

[Pg 59]By and by the back door of Farmer
Brown’s house opened, and out stepped
Farmer Brown’s boy. In each hand
he carried a milk pail. Right away
Blacky began to scream at the top of
his lungs. “Caw, caw, caw!” shouted
Blacky. “Caw, caw, caw!” And all
the time he flew about among the trees
near the edge of the Green Forest as if
so excited that he couldn’t keep still.
Farmer Brown’s boy looked over there
as if he wondered what all that fuss was
about, as indeed he did, but he didn’t
start to go over and see. No, Sir, he
started straight for the barn.

Blacky didn’t know what to make of
it. You see, smart as he is and shrewd
as he is, Blacky doesn’t know anything
about the meaning of duty, for he never
has to work excepting to get enough to
eat. So, when Farmer Brown’s boy
started for the barn instead of for the[Pg 60]
Green Forest, Blacky didn’t know what
to make of it. He screamed harder
and louder than ever, until his voice
grew so hoarse he couldn’t scream any
more, but Farmer Brown’s boy kept
right on to the barn.

“I’d like to know what you’re making
such a fuss about, Mr. Crow, but
I’ve got to feed the cows and milk them
first,” said he.

Now all this time the other little people
of the Green Forest and the Green
Meadows had been hiding where they
could see all that went on. When
Farmer Brown’s boy disappeared in
the barn, Chatterer the Red Squirrel
snickered right out loud. “Ha, ha,
ha! This is a great plan of yours,
Blacky! Ha, ha, ha!” he shouted.
Blacky couldn’t find a word to say.
He just hung his head, which is something
Blacky seldom does.

[Pg 61]“Perhaps if we wait until he comes
out again, he will come over here,” said
Sammy Jay, who had joined Blacky.
So it was decided to wait. It seemed
as if Farmer Brown’s boy never would
come out, but at last he did. Blacky
and Sammy Jay at once began to
scream and make all the fuss they
could. Farmer Brown’s boy took the
two pails of milk into the house, then
out he came and started straight for
the Green Forest. He was so curious
to know what it all meant that he
couldn’t wait another minute.

Now there was some one else with a
great deal of curiosity also. He had
heard the screaming of Blacky the
Crow and Sammy Jay, and he had listened
until he couldn’t stand it another
minute. He just had to know what it
was all about. So at the same time
Farmer Brown’s boy started for the[Pg 62]
Green Forest, this other listener started
towards the place where Blacky and
Sammy were making such a racket.
He walked very softly so as not to make
a sound. It was Buster Bear.

[Pg 63]XIII

FARMER BROWN’S BOY AND BUSTER
BEAR MEET

That is what Farmer Brown’s
boy did when he met Buster
Bear, and a lot of the little people
of the Green Forest and some from
the Green Meadows saw him. When
Farmer Brown’s boy came hurrying
home from the Laughing Brook without
any fish one day and told about the
great footprint he had seen in a muddy
place on the bank deep in the Green
Forest, and had said his was sure that it
was the footprint of a Bear, he had[Pg 64]
been laughed at. Farmer Brown had
laughed and laughed.

“Why,” said he, “there hasn’t been
a Bear in the Green Forest for years
and years and years, not since my own
grandfather was a little boy, and that,
you know, was a long, long, long time
ago. If you want to find Mr. Bear, you
will have to go to the Great Woods. I
don’t know who made that footprint,
but it certainly couldn’t have been a
Bear. I think you must have imagined
it.”

Then he had laughed some more, all of
which goes to show how easy it is to be
mistaken, and how foolish it is to laugh
at things you really don’t know about.
Buster Bear had come to live in the
Green Forest, and Farmer Brown’s boy
had seen his footprint. But Farmer
Brown laughed so much and made fun
of him so much, that at last his boy be[Pg 65]gan
to think that he must have been
mistaken after all. So when he heard
Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay making
a great fuss near the edge of the
Green Forest, he never once thought of
Buster Bear, as he started over to see
what was going on.

When Blacky and Sammy saw him
coming, they moved a little farther in
to the Green Forest, still screaming
in the most excited way. They felt
sure that Farmer Brown’s boy would
follow them, and they meant to lead
him to where Sammy had seen Buster
Bear that morning. Then they would
find out for sure if what Little Joe
Otter had said was true,—that Farmer
Brown’s boy really was afraid of Buster
Bear.

Now all around, behind trees and
stumps, and under thick branches, and
even in tree tops, were other little peo[Pg 66]ple
watching with round, wide-open
eyes to see what would happen. It
was very exciting, the most exciting
thing they could remember. You see,
they had come to believe that Farmer
Brown’s boy wasn’t afraid of anybody
or anything, and as most of them were
very much afraid of him, they had hard
work to believe that he would really be
afraid of even such a great, big, strong
fellow as Buster Bear. Every one was
so busy watching Farmer Brown’s boy
that no one saw Buster coming from
the other direction.

You see, Buster walked very softly.
Big as he is, he can walk without making
the teeniest, weeniest sound. And
that is how it happened that no one saw
him or heard him until just as Farmer
Brown’s boy stepped out from behind
one side of a thick little hemlock-tree,
Buster Bear stepped out from behind[Pg 67]
the other side of that same little tree,
and there they were face to face!
Then everybody held their breath, even
Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay.
For just a little minute it was so still
there in the Green Forest that not the
least little sound could be heard. What
was going to happen?

[Pg 68]XIV

A SURPRISING THING HAPPENS

Blacky the Crow and
Sammy Jay, looking down from
the top of a tall tree, held their
breath. Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel
and his cousin, Chatterer the Red
Squirrel, looking down from another
tree, held their breath. Unc’ Billy
Possum, sticking his head out from a
hollow tree, held his breath. Bobby
Coon, looking through a hole in a hollow
stump in which he was hiding,
held his breath. Reddy Fox, lying flat
down behind a heap of brush, held his
breath. Peter Rabbit, sitting bolt upright
under a thick hemlock branch,
with eyes and ears wide open, held his[Pg 69]
breath. And all the other little people
who happened to be where they could
see did the same thing.

You see, it was the most exciting moment
ever was in the Green Forest.
Farmer Brown’s boy had just stepped
out from behind one side of a little
hemlock-tree and Buster Bear had just
stepped out from behind the opposite
side of the little hemlock-tree and
neither had known that the other was
anywhere near. For a whole minute
they stood there face to face, gazing
into each other’s eyes, while everybody
watched and waited, and it seemed as
if the whole Green Forest was holding
its breath.

Then something happened. Yes,
Sir, something happened. Farmer
Brown’s boy opened his mouth and
yelled! It was such a sudden yell and
such a loud yell that it startled Chat[Pg 70]terer
so that he nearly fell from his
place in the tree, and it made Reddy Fox
jump to his feet ready to run. And
that yell was a yell of fright. There
was no doubt about it, for with the yell
Farmer Brown’s boy turned and ran
for home, as no one ever had seen him
run before. He ran just as Peter Rabbit
runs when he has got to reach the
dear Old Briar-patch before Reddy
Fox can catch him, which, you know, is
as fast as he can run. Once he stumbled
and fell, but he scrambled to his
feet in a twinkling, and away he went
without once turning his head to see if
Buster Bear was after him. There
wasn’t any doubt that he was afraid,
very much afraid.

Everybody leaned forward to watch
him. “What did I tell you? Didn’t I
say that he was afraid of Buster Bear?”[Pg 71]
cried Little Joe Otter, dancing about
with excitement.

“You were right, Little Joe! I’m
sorry that I doubted it. See him go!
Caw, caw, caw!” shrieked Blacky the
Crow.

For a minute or two everybody forgot
about Buster Bear. Then there
was a great crash which made everybody
turn to look the other way.
What do you think they saw? Why,
Buster Bear was running away too,
and he was running twice as fast
as Farmer Brown’s boy! He bumped
into trees and crashed through bushes
and jumped over logs, and in almost no
time at all he was out of sight. Altogether
it was the most surprising thing
that the little people of the Green Forest
ever had seen.

Illus


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Buster Bear was running away, too.
Page 71.

Sammy Jay looked at Blacky the[Pg 72]
Crow, and Blacky looked at Chatterer, and
Chatterer looked at Happy Jack,
and Happy Jack looked at Peter Rabbit,
and Peter looked at Unc’ Billy
Possum, and Unc’ Billy looked at
Bobby Coon, and Bobby looked at
Johnny Chuck, and Johnny looked at
Reddy Fox, and Reddy looked at
Jimmy Skunk, and Jimmy looked at
Billy Mink, and Billy looked at Little
Joe Otter, and for a minute nobody
could say a word. Then Little Joe
gave a funny little gasp.

“Why, why-e-e!” said he, “I believe
Buster Bear is afraid too!” Unc’ Billy
Possum chuckled. “Ah believe yo’ are
right again, Brer Otter,” said he. “It
cert’nly does look so. If Brer Bear
isn’t scared, he must have remembered
something impo’tant and has gone to
attend to it in a powerful hurry.”

Then everybody began to laugh.

[Pg 73]XV

BUSTER BEAR IS A FALLEN HERO

A fallen hero is some one to
whom every one has looked up
as very brave and then proves to
be less brave than he was supposed to
be. That was the way with Buster
Bear. When Little Joe Otter had told
how Farmer Brown’s boy had been
afraid at the mere sight of one of Buster
Bear’s big footprints, they had at
once made a hero of Buster. At least
some of them had. As this was the first
time, the very first time, that they had
ever known any one who lives in the
Green Forest to make Farmer Brown’s
boy run away, they looked on Buster[Pg 74]
Bear with a great deal of respect and
were very proud of him.

But now they had seen Buster Bear
and Farmer Brown’s boy meet face to
face; and while it was true that Farmer
Brown’s boy had run away as fast as
ever he could, it was also true that Buster
Bear had done the same thing.
He had run even faster than Farmer
Brown’s boy, and had hidden in the
most lonely place he could find in the
very deepest part of the Green Forest.
It was hard to believe, but it was true.
And right away everybody lost a great
deal of the respect for Buster which
they had felt. It is always that way.
They began to say unkind things about
him. They said them among themselves,
and some of them even said them
to Buster when they met him, or said
them so that he would hear them.

Of course Blacky the Crow and[Pg 75]
Sammy Jay, who, because they can fly,
have nothing to fear from Buster,
and who always delight in making
other people uncomfortable, never let a
chance go by to tell Buster and everybody
else within hearing what they
thought of him. They delighted in flying
about through the Green Forest
until they had found Buster Bear and
then from the safety of the tree tops
screaming at him.

A dozen times a day Buster would
hear them screaming this. He would
grind his teeth and glare up at them,
but that was all he could do. He
couldn’t get at them. He just had to
stand it and do nothing. But when impudent
little Chatterer the Red Squir[Pg 76]rel
shouted the same thing from a place
just out of reach in a big pine-tree,
Buster could stand it no longer. He
gave a deep, angry growl that made little
shivers run over Chatterer, and then
suddenly he started up that tree after
Chatterer. With a frightened little
shriek Chatterer scampered to the top
of the tree. He hadn’t known that
Buster could climb. But Buster is a
splendid climber, especially when the
tree is big and stout as this one was,
and now he went up after Chatterer,
growling angrily.

How Chatterer did wish that he had
kept his tongue still! He ran to the
very top of the tree, so frightened that
his teeth chattered, and when he looked
down and saw Buster’s great mouth
coming nearer and nearer, he nearly
tumbled down with terror. The worst
of it was there wasn’t another tree near[Pg 77]
enough for him to jump to. He was in
trouble this time, was Chatterer, sure
enough! And there was no one to help
him.

[Pg 78]XVI

CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL JUMPS
FOR HIS LIFE

It isn’t very often that Chatterer the
Red Squirrel knows fear. That is
one reason that he is so often impudent
and saucy. But once in a while
a great fear takes possession of him, as
when he knows that Shadow the Weasel
is looking for him. You see, he knows
that Shadow can go wherever he can go.
There are very few of the little people
of the Green Forest and the Green
Meadows who do not know fear at some
time or other, but it comes to Chatterer
as seldom as to any one, because he is
very sure of himself and his ability to
hide or run away from danger.

[Pg 79]But now as he clung to a little branch
near the top of a tall pine-tree in the
Green Forest and looked down at the
big sharp teeth of Buster Bear drawing
nearer and nearer, and listened to
the deep, angry growls that made his
hair stand on end, Chatterer was too
frightened to think. If only he had
kept his tongue still instead of saying
hateful things to Buster Bear! If only
he had known that Buster could climb a
tree! If only he had chosen a tree
near enough to other trees for him to
jump across! But he had said hateful
things, he had chosen to sit in a tree
which stood quite by itself, and Buster
Bear could climb! Chatterer was in
the worst kind of trouble, and there was
no one to blame but himself. That is
usually the case with those who get into
trouble.

Nearer and nearer came Buster[Pg 80]
Bear, and deeper and angrier sounded
his voice. Chatterer gave a little
frightened gasp and looked this way
and looked that way. What should he
do? What could he do! The ground
seemed a terrible distance below. If
only he had wings like Sammy Jay!
But he hadn’t.

“Gr-r-r-r!” growled Buster Bear.
“I’ll teach you manners! I’ll teach
you to treat your betters with respect!
I’ll swallow you whole, that’s what I’ll
do. Gr-r-r-r!”

“Oh!” cried Chatterer.

“Gr-r-r-r! I’ll eat you all up to the
last hair on your tail!” growled Buster,
scrambling a little nearer.

“Oh! Oh!” cried Chatterer, and ran
out to the very tip of the little branch
to which he had been clinging. Now if
Chatterer had only known it, Buster
Bear couldn’t reach him way up there,[Pg 81]
because the tree was too small at the
top for such a big fellow as Buster.
But Chatterer didn’t think of that.
He gave one more frightened look down
at those big teeth, then he shut his eyes
and jumped—jumped straight out for
the far-away ground.

It was a long, long, long way down to
the ground, and it certainly looked as
if such a little fellow as Chatterer must
be killed. But Chatterer had learned
from Old Mother Nature that she had
given him certain things to help him at
just such times, and one of them is the
power to spread himself very flat. He
did it now. He spread his arms and
legs out just as far as he could, and that
kept him from falling as fast and as
hard as he otherwise would have done,
because being spread out so flat that
way, the air held him up a little. And
then there was his tail, that funny little[Pg 82]
tail he is so fond of jerking when
he scolds. This helped him too. It
helped him keep his balance and keep
from turning over and over.

Down, down, down he sailed and
landed on his feet. Of course, he hit
the ground pretty hard, and for just a
second he quite lost his breath. But it
was only for a second, and then he was
scurrying off as fast as a frightened
Squirrel could. Buster Bear watched
him and grinned.

“I didn’t catch him that time,” he
growled, “but I guess I gave him a good
fright and taught him a lesson.”

[Pg 83]XVII

BUSTER BEAR GOES BERRYING

Buster Bear is a great hand to
talk to himself when he thinks
no one is around to overhear.
It’s a habit. However, it isn’t a bad
habit unless it is carried too far. Any
habit becomes bad, if it is carried too
far. Suppose you had a secret, a real
secret, something that nobody else
knew and that you didn’t want anybody
else to know. And suppose you had
the habit of talking to yourself. You
might, without thinking, you know, tell
that secret out loud to yourself, and
some one might, just might happen to
overhear! Then there wouldn’t be any
secret. That is the way that a habit[Pg 84]
which isn’t bad in itself can become bad
when it is carried too far.

Now Buster Bear had lived by himself
in the Great Woods so long that
this habit of talking to himself had
grown and grown. He did it just to
keep from being lonesome. Of course,
when he came down to the Green Forest
to live, he brought all his habits with
him. That is one thing about habits,—you
always take them with you wherever
you go. So Buster brought this
habit of talking to himself down to the
Green Forest, where he had many more
neighbors than he had in the Great
Woods.

“Let me see, let me see, what is there
to tempt my appetite?” said Buster in
his deep, grumbly-rumbly voice. “I
find my appetite isn’t what it ought to
be. I need a change. Yes, Sir, I need
a change. There is something I ought[Pg 85]
to have at this time of year, and I
haven’t got it. There is something that
I used to have and don’t have now.
Ha! I know! I need some fresh
fruit. That’s it—fresh fruit! It must
be about berry time now, and I’d forgotten
all about it. My, my, my, how
good some berries would taste! Now
if I were back up there in the Great
Woods I could have all I could eat.
Um-m-m-m! Makes my mouth water
just to think of it. There ought to be
some up in the Old Pasture. There
ought to be a lot of ’em up there. If I
wasn’t afraid that some one would see
me, I’d go up there.”

Buster sighed. Then he sighed
again. The more he thought about
those berries he felt sure were growing
in the Old Pasture, the more he wanted
some. It seemed to him that never in
all his life had he wanted berries as he[Pg 86]
did now. He wandered about uneasily.
He was hungry—hungry for berries
and nothing else. By and by he began
talking to himself again.

“If I wasn’t afraid of being seen, I’d
go up to the Old Pasture this very minute.
Seems as if I could taste those
berries.” He licked his lips hungrily
as he spoke. Then his face brightened.
“I know what I’ll do! I’ll go up there
at the very first peep of day to-morrow.
I can eat all I want and get back to the
Green Forest before there is any danger
that Farmer Brown’s boy or any
one else I’m afraid of will see me.
That’s just what I’ll do. My, I wish
to-morrow morning would hurry up
and come.”

Now though Buster didn’t know it,
some one had been listening, and that
some one was none other than Sammy
Jay. When at last Buster lay down[Pg 87]
for a nap, Sammy flew away, chuckling
to himself. “I believe I’ll visit the Old
Pasture to-morrow morning myself,”
thought he. “I have an idea that something
interesting may happen if Buster
doesn’t change his mind.”

Sammy was on the lookout very early
the next morning. The first Jolly Little
Sunbeams had only reached the
Green Meadows and had not started to
creep into the Green Forest, when he
saw a big, dark form steal out of the
Green Forest where it joins the Old
Pasture. It moved very swiftly and
silently, as if in a great hurry. Sammy
knew who it was: it was Buster Bear,
and he was going berrying. Sammy
waited a little until he could see better.
Then he too started for the Old Pasture.

[Pg 88]XVIII

SOMEBODY ELSE GOES BERRYING

Isn’t it funny how two people will
often think of the same thing at
the same time, and neither one
know that the other is thinking of it?
That is just what happened the day
that Buster Bear first thought of going
berrying. While he was walking
around in the Green Forest, talking to
himself about how hungry he was for
some berries and how sure he was that
there must be some up in the Old Pasture,
some one else was thinking about
berries and about the Old Pasture too.

“Will you make me a berry pie if I
will get the berries to-morrow?” asked
Farmer Brown’s boy of his mother.

[Pg 89]Of course Mrs. Brown promised
that she would, and so that night
Farmer Brown’s boy went to bed very
early that he might get up early in the
morning, and all night long he dreamed
of berries and berry pies. He was
awake even before jolly, round, red
Mr. Sun thought it was time to get up,
and he was all ready to start for the
Old Pasture when the first Jolly Little
Sunbeams came dancing across the
Green Meadows. He carried a big tin
pail, and in the bottom of it, wrapped up
in a piece of paper, was a lunch, for he
meant to stay until he filled that pail, if
it took all day.

Now the Old Pasture is very large.
It lies at the foot of the Big Mountain,
and even extends a little way up on the
Big Mountain. There is room in it for
many people to pick berries all day
without even seeing each other, unless[Pg 90]
they roam about a great deal. You see,
the bushes grow very thick there, and
you cannot see very far in any direction.
Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had
climbed a little way up in the sky by the
time Farmer Brown’s boy reached the
Old Pasture, and was smiling down on
all the Great World, and all the Great
World seemed to be smiling back.
Farmer Brown’s boy started to whistle,
and then he stopped.

“If I whistle,” thought he, “everybody
will know just where I am, and
will keep out of sight, and I never can
get acquainted with folks if they keep
out of sight.”

You see, Farmer Brown’s boy was
just beginning to understand something
that Peter Rabbit and the other little
people of the Green Meadows and the
Green Forest learned almost as soon as
they learned to walk,—that if you don’t[Pg 91]
want to be seen, you mustn’t be heard.
So he didn’t whistle as he felt like doing,
and he tried not to make a bit of
noise as he followed an old cow-path
towards a place where he knew the berries
grew thick and oh, so big, and all
the time he kept his eyes wide open, and
he kept his ears open too.

That is how he happened to hear a
little cry, a very faint little cry. If he
had been whistling, he wouldn’t have
heard it at all. He stopped to listen.
He never had heard a cry just like it
before. At first he couldn’t make out
just what it was or where it came from.
But one thing he was sure of, and that
was that it was a cry of fright. He
stood perfectly still and listened with
all his might. There it was again—”Help!
Help! Help”—and it was very
faint and sounded terribly frightened.
He waited a minute or two, but heard[Pg 92]
nothing more. Then he put down his
pail and began a hurried look here,
there, and everywhere. He was sure
that it had come from somewhere on
the ground, so he peered behind bushes
and peeped behind logs and stones, and
then just as he had about given up hope
of finding where it came from, he went
around a little turn in the old cow-path,
and there right in front of him was little
Mr. Gartersnake, and what do you
think he was doing? Well, I don’t like
to tell you, but he was trying to swallow
one of the children of Stickytoes the
Tree Toad. Of course Farmer Brown’s
Boy didn’t let him. He made little Mr.
Gartersnake set Master Stickytoes free
and held Mr. Gartersnake until Master
Stickytoes was safely out of reach.

[Pg 93]XIX

BUSTER BEAR HAS A FINE TIME

Buster Bear was having the
finest time he had had since he
came down from the Great
Woods to live in the Green Forest. To
be sure, he wasn’t in the Green Forest
now, but he wasn’t far from it. He
was in the Old Pasture, one edge of
which touches one edge of the Green
Forest. And where do you think he
was, in the Old Pasture? Why, right
in the middle of the biggest patch of the
biggest blueberries he ever had seen in
all his life! Now if there is any one
thing that Buster Bear had rather have
above another, it is all the berries he
can eat, unless it be honey. Nothing[Pg 94]
can quite equal honey in Buster’s mind.
But next to honey give him berries.
He isn’t particular what kind of berries.
Raspberries, blackberries, or
blueberries, either kind, will make him
perfectly happy.

“Um-m-m, my, my, but these are
good!” he mumbled in his deep grumbly-rumbly
voice, as he sat on his
haunches stripping off the berries
greedily. His little eyes twinkled with
enjoyment, and he didn’t mind at all if
now and then he got leaves, and some
green berries in his mouth with the big
ripe berries. He didn’t try to get them
out. Oh, my, no! He just chomped
them all up together and patted his
stomach from sheer delight. Now Buster
had reached the Old Pasture just
as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had crept
out of bed, and he had fully made up
his mind that he would be back in the[Pg 95]
Green Forest before Mr. Sun had
climbed very far up in the blue, blue
sky. You see, big as he is and strong
as he is, Buster Bear is very shy and
bashful, and he has no desire to meet
Farmer Brown, or Farmer Brown’s
boy, or any other of those two-legged
creatures called men. It seems funny
but he actually is afraid of them. And
he had a feeling that he was a great deal
more likely to meet one of them in the
Old Pasture than deep in the Green
Forest.

So when he started to look for berries,
he made up his mind that he would
eat what he could in a great hurry and
get back to the Green Forest before
Farmer Brown’s boy was more than out
of bed. But when he found those berries
he was so hungry that he forgot his
fears and everything else. They tasted
so good that he just had to eat and eat[Pg 96]
and eat. Now you know that Buster
is a very big fellow, and it takes a lot
to fill him up. He kept eating and eating
and eating, and the more he ate the
more he wanted. You know how it is.
So he wandered from one patch of berries
to another in the Old Pasture, and
never once thought of the time. Somehow,
time is the hardest thing in the
world to remember, when you are having
a good time.

Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun climbed
higher and higher in the blue, blue sky.
He looked down on all the Great World
and saw all that was going on. He saw
Buster Bear in the Old Pasture, and
smiled as he saw what a perfectly glorious
time Buster was having. And he
saw something else in the Old Pasture
that made his smile still broader. He
saw Farmer Brown’s boy filling a great
tin pail with blueberries, and he knew[Pg 97]
that Farmer Brown’s boy didn’t know
that Buster Bear was anywhere about,
and he knew that Buster Bear didn’t
know that Farmer Brown’s boy was
anywhere about, and somehow he felt
very sure that he would see something
funny happen if they should chance to
meet.

“Um-m-m, um-m-m,” mumbled Buster
Bear with his mouth full, as he
moved along to another patch of berries.
And then he gave a little gasp of
surprise and delight. Right in front
of him was a shiny thing just full
of the finest, biggest, bluest berries!
There were no leaves or green ones
there. Buster blinked his greedy little
eyes rapidly and looked again. No, he
wasn’t dreaming. They were real berries,
and all he had got to do was to
help himself. Buster looked sharply
at the shiny thing that held the berries.[Pg 98]
It seemed perfectly harmless. He
reached out a big paw and pushed it
gently. It tipped over and spilled out
a lot of the berries. Yes, it was perfectly
harmless. Buster gave a little
sigh of pure happiness. He would eat
those berries to the last one, and then
he would go home to the Green Forest.

[Pg 99]XX

BUSTER BEAR CARRIES OFF THE PAIL
OF FARMER BROWN’S BOY

The question is, did Buster Bear
steal Farmer Brown’s boy’s
pail? To steal is to take something
which belongs to some one else.
There is no doubt that he stole the berries
that were in the pail when he found
it, for he deliberately ate them. He
knew well enough that some one must
have picked them—for whoever heard
of blueberries growing in tin pails? So
there is no doubt that when Buster took
them, he stole them. But with the pail
it was different. He took the pail, but
he didn’t mean to take it. In fact, he
didn’t want that pail at all.

[Pg 100]You see it was this way: When Buster
found that big tin pail brimming
full of delicious berries in the shade of
that big bush in the Old Pasture, he
didn’t stop to think whether or not he
had a right to them. Buster is so fond
of berries that from the very second
that his greedy little eyes saw that pailful,
he forgot everything but the feast
that was waiting for him right under
his very nose. He didn’t think anything
about the right or wrong of helping
himself. There before him were
more berries than he had ever seen together
at one time in all his life, and
all he had to do was to eat and eat and
eat. And that is just what he did do.
Of course he upset the pail, but he
didn’t mind a little thing like that.
When he had gobbled up all the berries
that rolled out, he thrust his nose into
the pail to get all that were left in it.[Pg 101]
Just then he heard a little noise, as if
some one were coming. He threw up
his head to listen, and somehow, he
never did know just how, the handle of
the pail slipped back over his ears and
caught there.

This was bad enough, but to make
matters worse, just at that very minute
he heard a shrill, angry voice shout,
“Hi, there! Get out of there!” He
didn’t need to be told whose voice that
was. It was the voice of Farmer
Brown’s boy. Right then and there
Buster Bear nearly had a fit. There
was that awful pail fast over his head
so that he couldn’t see a thing. Of
course, that meant that he couldn’t run
away, which was the thing of all things
he most wanted to do, for big as he is
and strong as he is, Buster is very shy
and bashful when human beings are
around. He growled and whined and[Pg 102]
squealed. He tried to back out of the
pail and couldn’t. He tried to shake it
off and couldn’t. He tried to pull it
off, but somehow he couldn’t get hold of
it. Then there was another yell. If
Buster hadn’t been so frightened himself,
he might have recognized that second
yell as one of fright, for that is
what it was. You see Farmer Brown’s
boy had just discovered Buster Bear.
When he had yelled the first time, he
had supposed that it was one of the
young cattle who live in the Old Pasture
all summer, but when he saw Buster,
he was just as badly frightened as Buster
himself. In fact, he was too surprised
and frightened even to run.
After that second yell he just stood still
and stared.

Buster clawed at that awful thing on
his head more frantically than ever.
Suddenly it slipped off, so that he could[Pg 103]
see. He gave one frightened look at
Farmer Brown’s boy, and then with a
mighty “Woof!” he started for the
Green Forest as fast as his legs could
take him, and this was very fast indeed,
let me tell you. He didn’t stop to pick
out a path, but just crashed through the
bushes as if they were nothing at all,
just nothing at all. But the funniest
thing of all is this—he took that pail
with him! Yes, Sir, Buster Bear ran
away with the big tin pail of Farmer
Brown’s boy! You see when it slipped
off his head, the handle was still around
his neck, and there he was running away
with a pail hanging from his neck! He
didn’t want it. He would have given
anything to get rid of it. But he took
it because he couldn’t help it. And
that brings us back to the question, did
Buster steal Farmer Brown’s boy’s
pail? What do you think?

[Pg 104]XXI

SAMMY JAY MAKES THINGS WORSE
FOR BUSTER BEAR

“Thief, thief, thief! Thief,
thief, thief!” Sammy Jay was
screaming at the top of his
lungs, as he followed Buster Bear
across the Old Pasture towards the
Green Forest. Never had he screamed
so loud, and never had his voice sounded
so excited. The little people of the
Green Forest, the Green Meadows, and
the Smiling Pool are so used to hearing
Sammy cry thief that usually they think
very little about it. But every blessed
one who heard Sammy this morning
stopped whatever he was doing and
pricked up his ears to listen.

[Pg 105]Sammy’s cousin, Blacky the Crow,
just happened to be flying along the
edge of the Old Pasture, and the minute
he heard Sammy’s voice, he turned
and flew over to see what it was all
about. Just as soon as he caught sight
of Buster Bear running for the Green
Forest as hard as ever he could, he understood
what had excited Sammy so.
He was so surprised that he almost forgot
to keep his wings moving. Buster
Bear had what looked to Blacky very
much like a tin pail hanging from his
neck! No wonder Sammy was excited.
Blacky beat his wings fiercely and
started after Sammy.

And so they reached the edge of the
Green Forest, Buster Bear running as
hard as ever he could, Sammy Jay flying
just behind him and screaming, “Thief,
thief, thief!” at the top of his lungs,
and behind him Blacky the Crow, trying[Pg 106]
to catch up and yelling as loud as he
could, “Caw, caw, caw! Come on,
everybody! Come on! Come on!”

Poor Buster! It was bad enough to
be frightened almost to death as he had
been up in the Old Pasture when the
pail had caught over his head just as
Farmer Brown’s boy had yelled at him.
Then to have the handle of the pail slip
down around his neck so that he
couldn’t get rid of the pail but had to
take it with him as he ran, was making
a bad matter worse. Now to have all
his neighbors of the Green Forest see
him in such a fix and make fun of him,
was more than he could stand. He
felt humiliated. That is just another
way of saying shamed. Yes, Sir,
Buster felt that he was shamed in
the eyes of his neighbors, and he wanted
nothing so much as to get away by himself,
where no one could see him, and[Pg 107]
try to get rid of that dreadful pail.
But Buster is so big that it is not easy
for him to find a hiding place. So,
when he reached the Green Forest, he
kept right on to the deepest, darkest,
most lonesome part and crept under the
thickest hemlock-tree he could find.

But it was of no use. The sharp eyes
of Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow
saw him. They actually flew into the
very tree under which he was hiding,
and how they did scream! Pretty soon
Ol’ Mistah Buzzard came dropping
down out of the blue, blue sky and took
a seat on a convenient dead tree, where
he could see all that went on. Ol’ Mistah
Buzzard began to grin as soon as he
saw that tin pail on Buster’s neck.
Then came others,—Redtail the Hawk,
Scrapper the Kingbird, Redwing the
Blackbird, Drummer the Woodpecker,
Welcome Robin, Tommy Tit the Chick[Pg 108]adee,
Jenny Wren, Redeye the Vireo,
and ever so many more. They came
from the Old Orchard, the Green Meadows,
and even down by the Smiling
Pool, for the voices of Sammy Jay and
Blacky the Crow carried far, and at the
sound of them everybody hurried over,
sure that something exciting was going
on.

Presently Buster heard light footsteps,
and peeping out, he saw Billy
Mink and Peter Rabbit and Jumper
the Hare and Prickly Porky and Reddy
Fox and Jimmy Skunk. Even timid
little Whitefoot the Wood Mouse was
where he could peer out and see without
being seen. Of course, Chatterer
the Red Squirrel and Happy Jack the
Gray Squirrel were there. There they
all sat in a great circle around him, each
where he felt safe, but where he could[Pg 109]
see, and every one of them laughing and
making fun of Buster.

“Thief, thief, thief!” screamed
Sammy until his throat was sore. The
worst of it was Buster knew that everybody
knew that it was true. That awful
pail was proof of it.

“I wish I never had thought of berries,”
growled Buster to himself.

[Pg 110]XXII

BUSTER BEAR HAS A FIT OF TEMPER

Buster Bear was in a terrible
temper. Yes, Sir, Buster Bear
was having the worst fit of
temper ever seen in the Green Forest.
And the worst part of it all was that all
his neighbors of the Green Forest and
a whole lot from the Green Meadows
and the Smiling Pool were also there to
see it. It is bad enough to give way to
temper when you are all alone, and
there is no one to watch you, but when
you let temper get the best of you right[Pg 111]
where others see you, oh, dear, dear, it
certainly is a sorry sight.

Now ordinarily Buster is one of the
most good-natured persons in the
world. It takes a great deal to rouse
his temper. He isn’t one tenth so
quick tempered as Chatterer the Red
Squirrel, or Sammy Jay, or Reddy
Fox. But when his temper is aroused
and gets away from him, then watch
out! It seemed to Buster that he had
had all that he could stand that day and
a little more. First had come the fright
back there in the Old Pasture. Then
the pail had slipped down behind his
ears and held fast, so he had run all the
way to the Green Forest with it hanging
about his neck. This was bad
enough, for he knew just how funny he
must look, and besides, it was very uncomfortable.
But to have Sammy Jay
call everybody within hearing to come[Pg 112]
and see him was more than he could
stand. It seemed to Buster as if everybody
who lives in the Green Forest, on
the Green Meadows, or around the
Smiling Brook, was sitting around his
hiding place, laughing and making fun
of him. It was more than any self-respecting
Bear could stand.

With a roar of anger Buster Bear
charged out of his hiding place. He
rushed this way and that way! He
roared with all his might! He was
very terrible to see. Those who could
fly, flew. Those who could climb,
climbed. And those who were swift of
foot, ran. A few who could neither fly
nor climb nor run fast, hid and lay shaking
and trembling for fear that Buster
would find them. In less time than it
takes to tell about it, Buster was alone.
At least, he couldn’t see any one.

Illus


View larger image

Those who could fly, flew. Those who could
climb, climbed. Page 112.

[Pg 113]Then he vented his temper on the tin
pail. He cuffed at it and pulled at it,
all the time growling angrily. He lay
down and clawed at it with his hind
feet. At last the handle broke, and he
was free! He shook himself. Then he
jumped on the helpless pail. With a
blow of a big paw he sent it clattering
against a tree. He tried to bite it.
Then he once more fell to knocking it
this way and that way, until it was
pounded flat, and no one would ever
have guessed that it had once been a
pail.

Then, and not till then, did Buster
recover his usual good nature. Little
by little, as he thought it all over, a
look of shame crept into his face. “I—I
guess it wasn’t the fault of that
thing. I ought to have known enough
to keep my head out of it,” he said
slowly and thoughtfully.

“You got no more than you deserve[Pg 114]
for stealing Farmer Brown’s boy’s berries,”
said Sammy Jay, who had come
back and was looking on from the top
of a tree. “You ought to know by this
time that no good comes of stealing.”

Buster Bear looked up and grinned,
and there was a twinkle in his eyes.
“You ought to know, Sammy Jay,”
said he. “I hope you’ll always remember
it.”

“Thief, thief, thief!” screamed
Sammy, and flew away.

[Pg 115]XXIII

FARMER BROWN’S BOY LUNCHES ON
BERRIES

When things go wrong in spite of you
To smile’s the best thing you can do—
To smile and say, “I’m mighty glad
They are no worse; they’re not so bad!”

That is what Farmer Brown’s
boy said when he found that
Buster Bear had stolen the berries
he had worked so hard to pick and
then had run off with the pail. You
see, Farmer Brown’s boy is learning to
be something of a philosopher, one of
those people who accept bad things
cheerfully and right away see how they
are better than they might have been.
When he had first heard some one in[Pg 116]
the bushes where he had hidden his pail
of berries, he had been very sure that
it was one of the cows or young cattle
who live in the Old Pasture during the
summer. He had been afraid that they
might stupidly kick over the pail and
spill the berries, and he had hurried
to drive whoever it was away. It
hadn’t entered his head that it could
be anybody who would eat those
berries.

When he had yelled and Buster Bear
had suddenly appeared, struggling to
get off the pail which had caught over
his head, Farmer Brown’s boy had
been too frightened to even move.
Then he had seen Buster tear away
through the brush even more frightened
than he was, and right away his courage
had begun to come back.

“If he is so afraid of me, I guess I
needn’t be afraid of him,” said he.[Pg 117]
“I’ve lost my berries, but it is worth it
to find out that he is afraid of me.
There are plenty more on the bushes,
and all I’ve got to do is to pick them.
It might be worse.”

He walked over to the place where the
pail had been, and then he remembered
that when Buster ran away he had carried
the pail with him, hanging about
his neck. He whistled. It was a
comical little whistle of chagrin as he
realized that he had nothing in which
to put more berries, even if he picked
them. “It’s worse than I thought,”
cried he. “That bear has cheated me
out of that berry pie my mother promised
me.” Then he began to laugh, as
he thought of how funny Buster Bear
had looked with the pail about his neck,
and then because, you know he is learning
to be a philosopher, he once more
repeated, “It might have been worse.[Pg 118]
Yes, indeed, it might have been worse.
That bear might have tried to eat me
instead of the berries. I guess I’ll go
eat that lunch I left back by the spring,
and then I’ll go home. I can pick berries
some other day.”

Chuckling happily over Buster
Bear’s great fright, Farmer Brown’s
boy tramped back to the spring where
he had left two thick sandwiches on a
flat stone when he started to save his
pail of berries. “My, but those sandwiches
will taste good,” thought he.
“I’m glad they are big and thick. I
never was hungrier in my life.
Hello!” This he exclaimed right out
loud, for he had just come in sight of
the flat stone where the sandwiches
should have been, and they were not
there. No, Sir, there wasn’t so much
as a crumb left of those two thick sandwiches.
You see, Old Man Coyote had[Pg 119]
found them and gobbled them up while
Farmer Brown’s boy was away.

But Farmer Brown’s boy didn’t
know anything about Old Man Coyote.
He rubbed his eyes and stared everywhere,
even up in the trees, as if he
thought those sandwiches might be
hanging up there. They had disappeared
as completely as if they never
had been, and Old Man Coyote had taken
care to leave no trace of his visit.
Farmer Brown’s boy gaped foolishly
this way and that way. Then, instead
of growing angry, a slow smile stole
over his freckled face. “I guess some
one else was hungry too,” he muttered.
“Wonder who it was? Guess this Old
Pasture is no place for me to-day. I’ll
fill up on berries and then I’ll go home.”

So Farmer Brown’s boy made his
lunch on blueberries and then rather
sheepishly he started for home to tell[Pg 120]
of all the strange things that had happened
to him in the Old Pasture. Two
or three times, as he trudged along, he
stopped to scratch his head thoughtfully.
“I guess,” said he at last, “that
I’m not so smart as I thought I was,
and I’ve got a lot to learn yet.”

This is the end of the adventures of
Buster Bear in this book because—guess
why. Because Old Mr. Toad insists
that I must write a book about his
adventures, and Old Mr. Toad is such a
good friend of all of us that I am going
to do it.

THE END