would follow, and he and his friend with
the long tail and the sharp eyes, for of course you have guessed that is
who it was, would put their heads together and laugh and chuckle as if they
were enjoying the best joke ever was. Then they would whisper and sometimes
talk right out loud, when they felt sure that no one was near to hear.

What were they talking about? Why, about the trouble on the Green Meadows
and in the Green Forest, and what a joke it all was, and what was the best
way to keep it up. You see, the reason that no one heard Unc' Billy saying
mean things or heard any mean things said about Unc' Billy was because it
was Unc' Billy himself and his friend with the long tail and the sharp eyes
who were making all the trouble. Yes, Sir, they were the mischief-makers.
It was great fun to fool everybody so. They never once stopped to think how
very, very uncomfortable it kept everybody feeling.

XIX

BOBBY COON MAKES A DISCOVERY

Bobby Coon had overslept. Usually Bobby is astir shortly after jolly,
round, red Mr. Sun has gone to bed behind the Purple Hills. But Bobby is
very irregular in his habits. He is very fond of traveling about in the
night, is Bobby Coon, and when he does that, he sleeps the greater part of
the day. But once in a while he takes a notion to travel about by daylight,
and when he does that, why of course he has to sleep part of the night,
anyway. Bobby Coon is a very lucky chap, very lucky indeed, for he can see
in the dark, and yet, unlike Hooty the Owl, he has no trouble in seeing in
the broad daylight as well.

This night Bobby Coon had overslept because he had not gone to bed until
the middle of the day. He had been prowling about and getting into mischief
all of the night before and had not started for home until jolly, round Mr.
Sun was smiling down from right overhead. By this time Bobby Coon had
sticks in his eyes. He was so sleepy that it seemed to him that he never,
never could get home. He was stumbling along through the Green Forest when
he came to a hollow log. What do you think he did? Why, he crawled in
there, and in two minutes was fast asleep, just as comfortable as if he had
been in his own hollow tree.

There Bobby slept all the rest of the day and until long after Mr. Sun had
pulled on his rosy nightcap. Perhaps he would have slept there all night,
if he hadn't been waked up. It was the cry of "Thief! thief! thief!" that
waked him. It seemed to come from right