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 sure 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 yellow 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 had left a
footprint in the mud.

[Illustration]

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 Padd