pect that he was doing
it. All one night he followed them through the Green Forest and over the
Green Meadows, and when at last he saw them go home, appearing not at
all worried because they had caught nothing, he trotted off to his own
home to do some more thinking.

"They are getting food somewhere, that is sure," he muttered, as he
scratched first one ear and then the other. Somehow he could think
better when he was scratching his ears. "If they don't get it in the
night, and they certainly didn't get anything this night, they must get
it in the daytime. I've done considerable hunting myself in the daytime,
and I haven't once met them in the Green Forest or seen them on the
Green Meadows or up in the Old Pasture. I wonder if they are stealing
Farmer Brown's hens and haven't been found out yet. I've kept away from
there myself, but if they can steal hens and not be caught, I certainly
can. There never was a Fox yet smart enough to do a thing that a Coyote
cannot do if he tries. I think I'll slip up where I can watch Farmer
Brown's and see what is going on up there. Yes, Sir, that's what I'll
do."

With this, Old Man Coyote grinned and then curled himself up for a short
nap, for he was tired.

CHAPTER XX: A Twice Stolen Dinner

No one ever is so smart that some one else
may not prove to be smarter still.
--Old Granny Fox.

Listen and you shall hear all about three rogues. Two were in red and
were Granny and Reddy Fox. And one was in gray and was Old Man Coyote.
They were the slyest, smartest rogues on all the Green Meadows or in all
the Green Forest. All three had started out to steal the same dinner,
but the funny part is they didn't intend to steal it from the same
person. And still funnier is it that one of them didn't even know where
that dinner was or what kind of a dinner it would be.

True to his resolve to know what Granny and Reddy Fox were getting to
eat, and where they were getting it, Old Man Coyote hid where he could
see what was going on about Farmer Brown's, for it was there he felt
sure that Granny and Reddy were getting food. He had waited only a
little while when along came Granny and Reddy Fox past the place where
Old Man Coyote was hiding. They didn't see him. Of course not. He took
care that they should have no chance. But anyway, they were not thinking
of him. Their thoughts were all of that dinner they intended to have,
and the smart trick by which they would get it.

So