Chapter I: Front Matter

[Cover Illustration]
[Endpapers]

Billy Mink

Books by

THORNTON W. BURGESS

_Mother West Wind Series_
Old Mother West Wind
Mother West Wind’s Children
Mother West Wind’s Animal Friends
Mother West Wind’s Neighbors
Mother West Wind “Why” Stories
Mother West Wind “How” Stories
Mother West Wind “When” Stories
Mother West Wind “Where” Stories

_Green Meadow Series_
Happy Jack
Mrs. Peter Rabbit
Bowser the Hound
Old Granny Fox

_Green Forest Series_
Lightfoot the Deer
Blacky the Crow
Whitefoot the Wood Mouse
Buster Bear’s Twins

_Smiling Pool Series_
Billy Mink
Little Joe Otter
Jerry Muskrat at Home
Longlegs the Heron

=BURGESS TRADE QUADDIES MARK=

=Smiling Pool Series=

=Billy Mink=

=By=
=THORNTON W. BURGESS=

=_With Illustrations by_=
=HARRISON CADY=

==

=Grosset & Dunlap=

=PUBLISHERS NEW YORK=

_Copyright, 1919, 1920, 1924_,
BY THORNTON W. BURGESS

_All rights reserved_

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BY ARRANGEMENT WITH LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I Billy Mink Becomes Suspicious. . . . 1
II Billy Finds a Trap. . . . . . . . 6
III Billy Outwits the Trapper. . . . . 11
IV Billy Finds Some Queer Fences. . . . 16
V A Moonlight Visit. . . . . . . . 21
VI Billy Warns Bobby Coon. . . . . . 26
VII Bobby and Billy Put Their Heads Together 31
VIII What Bobby Coon and Billy Mink Did. . 36
IX Bobby Coon Gets a Fright. . . . . . 41
X Billy and Bobby Warn Their Friends. . 46
XI Billy and Little Joe Decide to Go
Visiting. . . . . . . . . . 51
XII Billy Has the Wandering Foot. . . . 56
XIII Billy Makes Himself at Home. . . . . 61
XIV Billy Has Good Hunting. . . . . . 66
XV A Den of Robbers. . . . . . . . 71
XVI A Robber Meeting. . . . . . . . 76
XVII The Robbers Decide to Fight. . . . . 81
XVIII The Rats Plan to Kill Billy Mink. . . 86
XIX The Danger Signal. . . . . . . . 91
XX Why the Plans of the Rats Failed. . . 96
XXI The Rats Leave the Big Barn. . . . . 101
XXII Billy Mink’s Surprise. . . . . . . 106
XXIII Billy Hunts in Vain. . . . . . . 111
XXIV Where the Rats Were. . . . . . . 116
XXV The Farmer and His Wife Are in Despair. 120
XXVI The Rats Start a Fire. . . . . . . 124
XXVII Billy Is Discovered. . . . . . . 129
XXVIII The Farmer Guesses the Truth. . . . 134
XXIX The Farmer Makes Friends with Billy. . 139
XXX Billy Lives High. . . . . . . . 144
XXXI Billy Trails His Breakfast. . . . . 148
XXXII Billy Makes a Discovery. . . . . . 153
XXXIII The Farmer Sees a Strange Sight. . . 158
XXXIV Billy Goes Home. . . . . . . . . 162
XXXV Billy Mink Is Quick. . . . . . . 167
XXXVI A Heap of Snow Comes to Life. . . . 172
XXXVII Jumper the Hare Has a Bad Hour. . . . 177
XXXVIII Jumper Is in a Dreadful State of Mind. 182
XXXIX An Enemy Proves a Friend. . . . . . 186
XL Something Billy Mink Didn’t Know. . . 191

ILLUSTRATIONS

“Of course,” said Billy Mink, “you and
I are safe enough.”. . . . . . _Frontispiece_

Jerry Muskrat was swimming over
towards his house. . . . . . . 49

The Rats leave the big barn. . . . 105

It was plain to see that those Rats
were in a terrible fright. . . . 160