The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-11-26
Little Stories for Bedtime u
OLD MAN COYOTE TRIES ANorH.
Err PLAN.
BY THORNTON ". BURGESS. e.
Copyright, 1913, by ]. g. Lloyd.)

For three nights Old Man Coyote
had stolen up through the Green For
est with the coming of the black shad-
ows and had hidden among the aspen
trees where Paddy the Beaver had cut
his food, and for three nights Paddy
a failed to come ashore. Each
night he had seemed to have enough
food logs in the water to keep him
busy without cutting more. Old Man
Coyote lay there and the hungry look
in his eyes changed to one of doubt
and then to suspicion. Could it be
that Paddy the Beaver was smarter
than he thought? It began to look
very much as if Paddy knew perfectly
we'll that he was hiding there each
night. Yes. sir, that's the way it look
ed. For three nights Paddy hadn't
cut a single tree and yet each night
he had plenty of food logs ready to
take to his storehouse out there in the
pond.
THAT lee that he comes ashore
In the daytime and cuts his trees"
thought Old Man Coyote as. tired and
with black anger in his heart. he trot-
ted home the third night. "He couldn't
have found out about me himself: he
isn't smart enough. 1t must be that
some one has told him. And nobody
knows that 1 have been over there
but Sammy Jay. 1t must be he who
has been the tattle-tale. I think I'll
visit Paddy by daylight tomorrow and
then Well see.."
Now the trouble with some smart
people is that they are able to
believe that others may be as smart
that the first tim che had visited Pad
dy's pond he had left behind him a
footprint in a little patch of soft mud.
If he had known it he wouldn't have
believed that Paddy would be smart
enough to guess what that footprint
meant. But that is exactly what Pad
dy did do, as you and I know. So. Old
Man Coyote laid all the blame at the
door Of Sammy jay, and that very
morning when Sammy came flying
over the Green Meadows Old Man
Coyote accused him Of being a tattle-
tale and threatened the most dread
full things to Sammy If ever he caught
him.
Now Sammy had flown down TO the
Green Meadows to tell Old Man Coy
ote how Paddy was doing all his work
that the first time he had visited Pad
dy had twice given Sammy a terrible
fright. once by cutting the very tree
Sammy was sitting in, and nee by
cutting another tree SO that 1t almost
fell on Sammy. So he had made UP
Man Coyote about PaddS's work by
day. But when Old Man Coyote be-
gan to call him a tattle-tale and ac-
cuse him of having warned Paddy
and to threaten dreadful things. he
straightway forgot all his anger at
Paddy and turned It all on Old Mar
Coyote. He called him everything he
could think of. and this was a great
deal, for Sammy has a wicked tongue.
When he hadn't any breath left he
few over to the Green Forest and
all that was going on.
That afternoon Old Man Coyote
tried his new plan. He slipped into
the Green Forest. looking this way and
that way to be sure that no n saw
him. Then very, very softly he crept
up through the Green Forest toward
the pond of Paddy the Beaver. AS he
drew near he heard a crash and it
made him smile. He knew what it
meant. 1t meant that Paddy was at
work cutting down trees. With his
crept forward little by little. little by
little, taking the greatest care not to
rustic so much rs q leaf. Presently
he reached a place where he could
see the aspn trees. and there sure
enough was Paddy sitting up on his
hind legs and hard at work cutting
another tree.
Old Man Coyote lay down for a few
minutes to watch. Then he wriggled
a little a Slowly and carefully
he drew his legs under him and made
ready for a rush . Paddy the Beaver
was his at last: At just that very
minute a harsh scream rang out right
over his head-"Thief. thief! thief!"
1t was Sammy Jay who had silently
followed him all the way. Paddy the
Beaver didn't. stop to even look
around. He knew what that scream
meant and he scrambled down his lit
tie path to the water as he never had
scrambled before. And as he dived
with a great splash Old Man Coyote
landed with a great jump on the very
edge of the pond.
Next Story-Paddy the Beaver and