r. Fox began to laugh.

"Why, you'd rob them yourself if you weren't so clumsy!" he cried.
"You're really no better than I am."

Benny Badger hadn't thought of that. And the idea surprised him so much
that his mouth fell open. And of course Mr. Fox at once leaped aside and
ran off.

XIV

A QUEER DISCOVERY

No one would ever have called Benny Badger a great traveller. He was
altogether too heavy to roam far from home upon his short legs. So it
often happened that he did not know all that went on in the
neighborhood.

Of course, his watchful eyes took in almost everything that was in sight
of his den. But as for what was taking place just beyond the next rise,
that was an entirely different matter. Unless somebody chanced to stop
and gossip with Benny, sometimes several days would pass before he knew
what his neighbors were doing.

Luckily, Benny Badger kept his ears open, when he was awake.

And often he kept them half-open when he lay half-asleep, stretched out
in the grass not too far from his den, enjoying a sun-bath.

One day when he was sunning himself the sound of voices snatched him out
of his drowsiness. And he kept quite still, to see what he could see,
and hear what he could hear.

Soon three coyotes came sneaking through the grass, talking in hushed
voices--a thing they seldom did. Benny could hardly believe his own
ears, because he had supposed that if the coyote family spoke at all,
they always howled.

But if the quietness of the coyotes surprised Benny, what they said
astonished him a great deal more. For Benny Badger learned that the
three cronies were headed for a prairie dog village just beyond the
next rise.

That was most amazing news. Benny Badger hadn't known that there was a
prairie dog village so near his den. And for a moment he was tempted to
call to the coyotes and ask them if what they said was really true or if
they were only fooling.

But he didn't think the three prowlers had seen him. So there seemed to
be no reason for their saying what wasn't so.

Well, the moment they disappeared, Benny Badger jumped up and hurried
into his den. He would have followed the coyotes, but he decided it
would be better to wait. The prairie dogs would be too wary, with those
coyotes in their village.

But later, after the coyotes had left--ah! then he would pay a visit to
the village himself.

Towards evening Benny Badger crept out of his den and followed the trail
of the three