“That would be fun,” muttered the Babe.

“And then,” continued Uncle Andy, “they smelt a faint, musky scent.  I don’t think it would be fun if we had such noses as that.  We’d smell so many smells we did not want to.  Eh?  And I tell you, the youngsters did not want to smell that smell.  It was a fox.  They couldn’t fight a fox.  Not yet.  With their hearts in their throats they backed softly down to the front door, and waited, ready to slip into the water.

“But fortunately the fox was cunning, and proud of it.  He had heard a rumor that the old otters were dead.  But he was much too cunning to believe all he heard.  It would be just like them, he thought, to pretend they were dead, so that he might come in and get caught.  Assuredly there was a good, strong, live otter smell coming up out of that hole.  He poked his nose down and gave a very loud sniff, then cocked his ear sharply and listened.  Nothing stirred.  Had it been only the little ones, down there all by themselves, he thought, they would have been frightened enough to jump.  So, it was plainly a trap.  Waving his great bushy tail complaisantly, he tiptoed off to hunt rabbits, pleased with the notion that somebody else was going to get taken in.

“The youngsters stayed where they were, close beside the water.  The first glimmer of dawn, striking on the misty surface of the pool outside, struggled up into the den.  The youngsters turned to greet it, with the thought, perhaps, that it was time to go fishing.  Just at this moment the mink, who had been looking for the remnants of his trout where he had left them on the bank (he was a fool, of course, ever to have left them there), came diving into the deep front door of the den to avenge himself on the unprotected little ones.  His slim black form was visible as it rose through the greying water.  As the pointed head popped above the surface, it was confronted by two grinning heads which snarled savagely in its face and snapped at it in fearless defiance.  The mink was surprised and pained.  He had expected to find those two youngsters huddled together and already half frightened to death just at being alone.  He had not expected to find them half so big.  In fact, there at home, and guarding their own domain, they looked to him much bigger than they really were.  A very small man, you know, may look about seven feet high when he stands in his own door and tells you to keep out.  Eh, what?  Well, the mink suddenly felt sort of bashful about intruding.  He discreetly withdrew, without thinking to make inquiry about the fish.  And his sudden diffidence was very fortunate for the two Little Furry Ones.  For the mink, let me tell you, would have been a tough proposition for them to tackle.