the deer mouse exclaimed. "There's a water-hole right
over there!" And he pointed over his shoulder, without taking his eyes
off Benny Badger. He knew it was safer to keep a close watch of
strangers.

Benny sat down. He had journeyed a long way and he was tired.

"I'll go and have a drink as soon as I'm rested," he said. "I'm glad
there's good water here. This seems to be a pleasant place. . . . Are
there any good Gophers and Prairie Dogs in the neighborhood?"

"Oh, yes!" the deer mouse answered. "But you needn't worry about them.
They won't harm you if you mind your own affairs. I've lived here a long
time; and they haven't touched me."

"What about Owls?" Benny Badger wanted to know.

The deer mouse looked solemn all at once.

"There are a few," he admitted. "If you're thinking of settling here,
you'll have to watch sharp for them. I've had several narrow escapes."

Benny Badger smiled.

"I'd like to see the Owl that could hurt me!" he cried. "And as for
Gophers and Prairie Dogs, _I like them_. . . . This is the very place
I've been looking for. And as soon as I have rested a little longer and
had a drink of that good water I'm going to dig myself a den right where
I'm sitting now."

The deer mouse pricked up his long ears at that. To the best of his
belief, no badger had ever lived in the neighborhood before. And if the
stranger was going to dig a hole, he intended to watch him while he
worked.

"If you feel rested enough now, I'll show you the way to the
water-hole," the deer mouse said presently. He was impatient for the fun
to begin.

Benny Badger stood up.

"Lead on!" he commanded. "I'll follow." And then he yawned--for it was
already long past his usual bedtime.

The deer mouse trembled slightly as he looked into Benny's great mouth.
And he took care to keep well ahead of the stranger all the way to the
water-hole, and back again, too. But he soon forgot his fear when Benny
Badger began to dig the new den. The dirt flew in such showers as the
deer mouse had never seen in all his life--except during a cyclone.

Benny had begun to dig--as he said he should--in the exact spot where he
had sat and rested. But for one reason or another he soon changed his
mind, and started to dig a different hole a short distance from the
first one.

Soon he moved again. And after he had begun no less than five holes,
only to leave each one unfinished, the deer mouse interrupted him with a
sharp cry.

"Stop! St