etting that dinner that she almost backed into Old Man
Coyote without suspecting that he was anywhere about.
"Thank you, Granny. You needn't bother about it any longer; I'll take it
now," growled Old Man Coyote in Granny's ear.
Granny let go of that dinner as if it burned her tongue, and with a
frightened little yelp leaped to one side. A minute later Reddy came
racing around from behind the barn eager for his share. What he saw was
Old Man Coyote bolting down that twice-stolen dinner while Granny Fox
fairly danced with rage.
CHAPTER XXI: Granny And Reddy Talk Things Over.
You'll find as on through life you go
The thing you want may prove to be
The very thing you shouldn't have.
Then seeming loss is gain, you see.
--Old Granny Fox.
If ever two folks were mad away through, those two were Granny and Reddy
Fox as they watched Old Man Coyote gobble up the dinner they had so
cleverly stolen from Bowser the Hound. It was bad enough to lose the
dinner, but it was worse to see some one else eat it after they had
worked so hard to get it. "Robber!" snarled Granny. Old Man Coyote
stopped eating long enough to grin.
"Thief! Sneak! Coward!" snarled Reddy. Once more Old Man Coyote grinned.
When that dinner had disappeared down his throat to the last and
smallest crumb, he licked his chops and turned to Granny and Reddy.
"I'm very much obliged for that dinner," said he pleasantly, his eyes
twinkling with mischief. "It was the best dinner I have had for a long
time. Allow me to say that that trick of yours was as smart a trick as
ever I have seen. It was quite worthy of a Coyote. You are a very clever
old lady, Granny Fox. Now I hear some one coming, and I would suggest
that it will be better for all concerned if we are not seen about here."
He darted off behind the barn like a gray streak, and Granny and Reddy
followed, for it was true that some one was coming. You see Bowser the
Hound had discovered that something was going on around the corner of
the shed, and he made such a racket that Mrs. Brown had come out of the
house to see what it was all about. By the time she got around there,
all she saw was the empty pan which had held Bowser's dinner. She was
puzzled. How that pan could be where it was she couldn't understand, and
Bowser couldn't tell her, although he tried his very best. She had been
puzzled about that pan two or three times before.
Old Man Coyote lost no time in getting back ho
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