"I haven't had my breakfast either," he said at last. "I'm ready for a good meal. Come right in and join me!"
But something made Mr. Deer Mouse say, "No, thank you!" Joining a badger at breakfast! Somehow that had a dangerous sound.
XXIII
MR. DEER MOUSE IS TIMID
Benny Badger began to lose patience with the deer mouse. He was one of the most timid persons Benny had ever seen. And Benny was on the point of telling him that he hadn't even the courage of a prairie dog.
But suddenly a new idea flashed into his head. He thought he knew what was troubling Mr. Deer Mouse.
"When I asked you to join me at breakfast I didn't mean what you thought I did," Benny announced. "You thought—didn't you?—that I meant to breakfast on you."
Mr. Deer Mouse admitted faintly that he had had some such notion.
"How ridiculous!" Benny Badger cried. "Why, you're so quick that I could chase you all day—and all night, too—without catching you. You're too spry for me. So we might as well put such an idea out of our minds."