with their thoughts all on that dinner they slipped up behind the
barn and prepared to work the trick which had been so successful before.
Old Man Coyote crept after them. He saw Reddy Fox lie down where he
could peep around the corner of the barn to watch Bowser the Hound and
to see that no one else was about. He saw Granny leave Reddy there and
hurry away. Old Man Coyote's wits worked fast.

"I can't be in two places at once," thought he, "so I can't watch both
Granny and Reddy. As I can watch but one, which one shall it be? Granny,
of course. Granny is the smartest of the two, and whatever they are up
to, she is at the bottom of it. Granny is the one to follow."

So, like a gray shadow, crafty Old Man Coyote stole after Granny Fox and
saw her hide behind the corner of the shed at the end of which was the
little house of Bowser the Hound. He crept as near as he dared and then
lay flat down behind a little bunch of dead grass close to the shed. For
some time nothing happened, and Old Man Coyote was puzzled. Every once
in a while Granny Fox would look behind and all about to be sure that no
danger was near, but she didn't see Old Man Coyote. After what seemed to
him a long time, he heard a door open on the other side of the shed. It
was Mrs. Brown carrying Bowser's dinner out to him. Of course, Old Man
Coyote didn't know this. He knew by the sounds that some one had come
out of the house, and it made him nervous. He didn't like being so
close to Farmer Brown's house in broad daylight. But he kept his eyes
on Granny Fox, and he saw her ears prick up in a way that he knew meant
that those sounds were just what she had been waiting for.

"If she isn't afraid, I don't need to be," thought he craftily. After a
few minutes he heard a door close and knew that whoever had come out had
gone back into the house. Almost at once Bowser the Hound began to yelp
and whine. Swiftly Granny Fox disappeared around the corner of the shed.
Just as swiftly Old Man Coyote ran forward and peeped around the corner.
There was Bowser the Hound tugging at his chain, and just beyond his
reach was Reddy Fox, grinning in the most provoking manner. And there
was Granny Fox, backing and dragging after her Bowser's dinner. In a
flash Old Man Coyote understood the plan, and he almost chuckled aloud
at the cleverness of it. Then he hastily backed behind the shed and
waited. In a minute Granny Fox appeared, dragging Bowser's dinner. She
was so intent on g