ishing for Mice

MASTER MEADOW MOUSE peeped out of the end of his tunnel and gave a faint
squeak. As he watched, he saw Peter Mink's head, on its long neck, flash
out from beneath the overhanging bank of the brook.

"What are you doing up there?" Master Meadow Mouse called.

"Fishing!" said Peter Mink promptly.

"Aren't you a long way from the water?" Master Meadow Mouse inquired.

"With a pole, one doesn't need to stand right at the water's edge," said
Peter Mink.

"But you haven't a pole," Master Meadow Mouse pointed out. "At least, I
can't see that you have one."

Peter was greatly surprised--or seemed to be.

"I declare!" he said. "I forgot to bring my pole with me. And if you
hadn't reminded me of it I shouldn't have known what was the trouble. I
was wondering why I didn't get any bites." As he spoke he slid down the
lower part of the bank and stretched himself like a cat. But all the
time he was looking at Master Meadow Mouse out of the corner of his eye.
"What are _you_ doing here?" Peter Mink asked pleasantly.

"I came to take a swim," Master Meadow Mouse explained.

"Have you had it?"

"Not yet!" Master Meadow Mouse told him. "And I believe I'll wait till
to-morrow."

"The water's fine to-day," said Peter Mink. "I've been in and out of it
forty times."

But Master Meadow Mouse wasn't to be persuaded so easily.

"I might spoil your fishing if I went in now," he remarked.

"I don't care if you do," said Peter Mink. "The pleasure of seeing you
enjoy a swim would more than repay me for the loss of the biggest fish
in this brook."

Now, such speeches sounded very strange, coming from the mouth of a
surly rascal like Peter Mink, who was never known to do anybody a good
turn. Master Meadow Mouse pondered over this last statement. There
seemed to be a catch in it somewhere. And he decided, finally, that he
had discovered it.

"I didn't know there were any fish in this brook worth catching," he
piped. "They say there were trout here once. But now there's nothing
bigger than a minnow."

Peter Mink nodded. "That's the truth," he said. "If this brook has a
fish that's as meaty as you are, I've never seen him."

"Ah!" cried Master Meadow Mouse. "You'd far rather catch me than catch a
fish in this pool."

Peter Mink grinned at him brazenly.

"I won't deny it," he replied.

"But you tried to deceive me," Master Meadow Mouse told him. "You
said--when I asked you what you were doing here--you said