At first Little Joe didn't want to, but at last his curiosity got the better of his fear, and he agreed. So the two little brown-coated scamps turned down the Laughing Brook, taking the greatest care to keep out of sight themselves. They had gone only a little way when Billy Mink whispered: "Sh-h! There he is."
Sure enough, there was Buster Bear sitting close beside a little pool and looking into it very intently.
"What's he doing?" asked Little Joe Otter, as Buster Bear sat for the longest time without moving.
Just then one of Buster's big paws went into the water as quick as a flash and scooped out a trout that had ventured too near.
"He's fishing!" exclaimed Billy Mink.
And that is just what Buster Bear was doing, and it was very plain to see that he was having great fun. When he had eaten the trout he had caught, he moved along to the next little pool.
"They are our fish!" said Little Joe fiercely. "He has no business catching our fish!"
"I don't see how we are going to stop him," said Billy Mink.
"I do!" cried Little Joe, into whose head an idea had just popped. "I'm going to drive all the fish out of the little pools and muddy the water all up. Then we'll see how many fish he will get! Just you watch me get even with Buster Bear."
Little Joe slipped swiftly into the water and swam straight to the little pool that Buster Bear would try next. He frightened the fish so that they fled in every direction. Then he stirred up the mud until the water was so dirty that Buster couldn't have seen a fish right under his nose. He did the same thing in the next pool and the next. Buster Bear's fishing was spoiled for that day.