FullReads

Digger had been so intent on his own affairs that he hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but when Old Man Coyote mentioned the matter he remembered that Blacky the Crow headed straight for the Green Forest every morning. Several times he had seen Sammy Jay flying in the same direction as if in a great hurry to get somewhere.

Old Man Coyote grinned. “That’s all I need to know, friend Digger,” said he. “When Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay visit a place more than once, something interesting is going on there. I think I’ll take a stroll up through the Green Forest and have a look around.”

With that, off Old Man Coyote started. But he was too sly and crafty to go straight to the Green Forest. He pretended to hunt around over the Green Meadows just as he usually did, all the time working nearer and nearer to the Green Forest. When he reached the edge of it, he slipped in among the trees, and when he felt that no one was likely to see him, he began to run this way and that way with his nose to the ground.

“Ha!” he exclaimed presently, “Reddy Fox has been this way lately.”

Pretty soon he found another trail. “So,” said he, “Peter Rabbit has been over here a good deal of late, and his trail goes in the same direction as that of Reddy Fox. I guess all I have to do now is to follow Peter’s trail, and it will lead me to what I want to find out.”

So Old Man Coyote followed Peter’s trail, and he presently came to the pond of Paddy the Beaver. “Ha!” said he, as he looked out and saw Paddy’s new house. “So there is a newcomer to the Green Forest! I have always heard that Beaver is very good eating. My stomach begins to feel empty this very minute.” His mouth began to water, and a fierce, hungry look shone in his eyes.

It was just then that Sammy Jay saw him and began to scream at the top of his lungs so that Paddy the Beaver over in his house heard him. Old Man Coyote knew that it was of no use to stay longer with Sammy Jay about, so he took a hasty look at the pond and found where Paddy came ashore to cut his food. Then, shaking his fist at Sammy Jay, he started straight back for the Green Meadows. “I’ll just pay a visit here in the night,” said he, “and give Mr. Beaver a surprise while he is at work.”

But with all his craft, Old Man Coyote didn’t notice that he left a footprint in the mud.

CHAPTER XVII. Old Man Coyote is Disappointed.

Old Man Coyote lay stretched out in his favorite napping place on the Green Meadows. He was thinking of what he had found out up in the Green Forest that morning–that Paddy the Beaver was living there. Old Man Coyote’s thoughts seemed very pleasant to himself, though really they were very dreadful thoughts. You see, he was thinking how easy it was going to be to catch Paddy the Beaver, and what a splendid meal he would make. He licked his chops at the thought.

“He doesn’t know I know he’s here,” thought Old Man Coyote. “In fact, I don’t believe heaven knows that I am anywhere around. Of course he won’t be watching for me. He cuts his trees at night, so all I will have to do is to hide right close by where he is at work, and he’ll walk right into my mouth. Sammy Jay knows I was up there this morning, but Sammy sleeps at night, so he will not give the alarm. My, my, how good that Beaver will taste!” He licked his chops once more, then yawned and closed his eyes for a nap.

Old Man Coyote waited until jolly, round red Mr. Sun had gone to bed behind the Purple Hills, and the Black Shadows had crept out across the Green Meadows. Then, keeping in the blackest of them, and looking very much like a shadow of himself, he slipped into the Green Forest. It was dark in there, and he made straight for Paddy’s new pond, trotting along swiftly without making a sound. When he was near the aspen trees which he knew Paddy was planning to cut, he crept forward very slowly and carefully. Everything was still as still could be.