stopping often to listen, benny badger did not reach the ground squirrel's chamber half as quickly as he could have had he done nothing but dig.

and when he thrust his nose into the underground bedroom he found nobody at home. the ground squirrel had fled, leaving his nest so warm that benny badger knew he could not have been gone long.

benny turned away. but he was not so disappointed as he might have been, for he remembered that mr. coyote was watching the back door. and certainly[43] no ground squirrel could escape his sharp eyes.

hurrying as fast as his short legs would carry him, benny joined mr. coyote, who still sat comfortably on his haunches.

to benny's surprise, his helper's eyes were closed, instead of being fixed on the ground squirrel's back door.

"have you seen anything of the ground squirrel?" benny demanded anxiously.

mr. coyote started, and opened his eyes.

"somebody came out a few moments ago," he replied. "but he disappeared in no time."

"that's too bad!" benny badger wailed. "he got away!"

"are you sure?" mr. coyote inquired.

"why, yes!" benny cried. "it's as plain as the nose on your face."

"i won't dispute you," said mr. coyote.[44]

"you'd better not!" benny badger snapped. "you have been very careless. i don't believe you watched carefully enough. when i came up just now you had your eyes shut."

"i won't dispute you," said mr. coyote again. he was most polite—so polite, in fact, that benny badger was ashamed to appear rude or quarrelsome.

but benny couldn't help being disappointed over losing the ground squirrel. and when, after he had dug to the end of three more tunnels that night, the same accident happened three times more, he decided that something would have to be done. it was clear that mr. coyote's eyes were not sharp enough. he was not nearly so helpful as benny had expected him to be. "we'll have to change about," benny announced at last. "you must dig, while i watch."[45]

but mr. coyote promptly made a number of objections to that plan. he said, with something quite like a sneer, that he had much sharper eyes than any member of the badger family that ever lived, and that he was quicker than a hundred badgers put together. and as if he hadn't given reasons enough for disagreeing with benny, he declared that he simply couldn't do any digging that night because he had a sore paw.

to prove his statement, mr. coyote held up one of his paws for benny to see.

benny looked at it. he couldn't discover that it was any different from mr. coyote's three remaining paws. and he had just started to say so, too, when mr. coyote interrupted him with an enormous yawn.

"i'm getting sleepy," mr. coyote remarked. "it will be daylight before we[46] know it. and i'm going home to take a nap."

so saying, he sprang up and stretched himself. and then he trotted off. but he stopped before he had gone far and looked back at benny badger.

"i'll be on hand to help you again after sunset," he said.