when old granny fox found that old man coyote was not at his usual napping-place, she was sure that reddy fox must have been very stupid and thought that he saw him there when he didn't. she hurried to the laughing brook and waded in it for a little way in order to destroy her scent so that bowser the hound would not know in which direction she had gone. you know water is always the friend of little animals who leave scent in their footsteps. bowser came baying up to the edge of the laughing brook, and there he stopped, for his wonderful nose could not follow granny in the water and he could not tell whether she had gone up or down or across the brook.

but bowser is not one to give up easily. no, indeed! he had learned many of granny's tricks, and now he knew well enough what granny had done. at least, bowser thought that he knew.

“she'll wade a little way, and then she will come out of the water, so all i have to do is to find the place where she has come out, and there i will find her tracks again,” said he, and with his nose to the ground he hurried down one bank of the laughing brook.

he went as far as he thought granny could have waded, but there was no trace of her. then he crossed the brook, and with his nose still to the ground, ran back to the starting place along the other bank.

“she didn't go down the brook, so she must have gone up,” said bowser, and started up the brook as eagerly as he had gone down. after running as far as he thought granny could possibly have waded, bowser crossed over and ran back along the other bank to the starting place without finding any trace of granny fox. at last, with a foolish and ashamed air, bowser gave it up and started for home, and all the time granny fox was lying in plain sight, watching him. yes, sir, she was watching him and laughing to herself. you see, she knew perfectly well that bowser depends more on his nose than on his eyes, and that when he is running with his nose to the ground, he can see very little about him. so she had simply waded down the laughing brook to a flat rock in the middle of it, and on this she had stretched herself out and kept perfectly still. twice bowser had gone right past without seeing her. she enjoyed seeing him fooled so much that for the time being she quite forgot about old man coyote and the failure of her clever plan to make trouble for him.

but when bowser the hound had gone, granny remembered. she stopped laughing, and a look of angry disappointment crossed her face as she trotted towards home. but as she trotted along, her face cleared a little. “any way, reddy and i will have a good dinner on that fat hen i caught in farmer brown's dooryard,” she muttered.

when she reached home, there sat reddy on the doorstep, but there was no sign of the fat hen, and reddy looked very uneasy and frightened.

“where's that fat hen i caught?” demanded granny crossly.

“i—i—i'm sorry, granny, but i haven't got it,” said reddy.

“haven't got it!” snapped granny. “what's the matter with you, reddy fox? didn't you see me throw it in the grass when i ran past the place where you were hiding, and didn't you know enough to go and get it?”

“yes,” replied reddy, “i saw you throw it in the grass, and i went out and got it, but on my way home i met some one who took it away from me.”

“took it away from you!” exclaimed granny. “who was it? tell me this instant! who was it?”

“old man coyote,” replied reddy in a low, frightened voice.

old granny fox simply stared at reddy. she couldn't find a word to say. instead of making trouble for old man coyote, she had furnished him with a good dinner. he was smarter than she. she decided then and there that she could not drive old man coyote out of the green forest and that she would either have to leave herself or accept him and make the best of it.

but that's what old man coyote had thought all along, for he quite liked his new home and took a good deal of interest in his new neighbors.

one of these whom he found most interesting was paddy the beaver. paddy really is a very wonderful fellow and i will tell you about him in the next book.

该作者其它作品

《thornton w. burgess》