"I should say I can. If I couldn't, I guess I would go hungry most
of the time," replied Little Joe.
"Why should you go hungry? Paddy doesn't," retorted Peter.
"Paddy doesn't live on fish," replied Little Joe. "I do and that's
the difference. I can catch a fish in a tail-end race, and that's
going some."
"You might show us how you can swim," suggested Old Mother Nature.
Little Joe slipped into the water. The Smiling Pool was very still
and the little people sitting on the bank could look right down and
see nearly to the bottom. They saw Little Joe as he entered the
water and then saw little more than a brown streak. A second later
his head popped out on the other side of the Smiling Pool.
"Phew, I'm glad I'm not a fish!" exclaimed Peter and everybody laughed.
"You may well be glad," said Old Mother Nature. "You wouldn't stand
much chance with Little Joe around. Like Billy Mink, Little Joe is
a great traveler, especially up and down the Laughing Brook and the
Big River. Sometimes he travels over land, but he is so heavy and
his legs are so short that traveling on land is slow work. When he
does cross from one stream or pond to another, he always picks out
the smoothest going. Sometimes in winter he travels quite a bit.
Then when he comes to a smooth hill, he slides down it on his
stomach. By the way, Little Joe, haven't you a slippery slide
somewhere around here?"
Little Joe nodded.
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