is brother heard this doleful story he laughed at it, and
said:

"'Why, that cannot be possible. No bushes could grow up in such a short
time.'

"However his brother declared it was the case, and so the other one said,
'Well, let me go, and see if I can find some water.'

"When the tricky raccoon heard this he hurried back and at once untied the
rope from the bushes and refastened it to the post near the water. When the
second brother came along he easily found the water, and filling the kettle
he returned to the wigwam where he vigorously accused his brother of lying.
He, poor fellow, could not understand it and was much perplexed.

"The preparation of their dinner went on, and soon it was ready. There was,
however, another one present that the blind men had no suspicion of, and
that was the raccoon, who had now noiselessly come into the wigwam and
greedily sat watching the preparations. This dinner consisted of eight
pieces of meat which, when cooked, were placed in their _rogan_, or wooden
bowl. When ready they sat down with this bowl between them and began to
eat. Each took a piece of meat, and they talked of various things while
they ate.

"The raccoon now noiselessly took four of the pieces of meat out of the
bowl and began eating them. Soon one of the men reached into the bowl, to
get another piece of meat, and finding only two pieces left, he said:

"'My brother, you must be very hungry, to eat so fast. I have only had one
piece of meat, and there are only two left.'

"'I have not taken them,' was the reply, 'but I suspect that you are the
greedy one who has eaten them.'

"This made the other brother very angry, and as they thus went on arguing,
the raccoon, to make matters worse, and to have, as he told Nanahboozhoo,
some more sport with the old blind fellows, hit each of them a smart blow
on the face. The poor old men, each believing that the other had struck
him, began to fight; and so they upset the _rogan_ and lost the rest of
their dinner and nearly set the wigwam on fire.

"The raccoon then seized the two remaining pieces of meat and the bowl,
and, with shouts of laughter, rushed out of the wigwam. The old men,
hearing this, perceived that they had been fooled, and they at once stopped
fighting and apologized to each other.

"The raccoon's rascally trick made Nanahboozhoo very angry. Indeed he had
had a good deal of trouble to keep from letting the raccoon know who he
was. So just as soon as th