adger said that he didn't.

"Then you'd better hunt for one at once," Mr. Coyote declared, sitting
down on his haunches as if he hadn't the slightest notion of doing any
of the searching himself. "While you're looking, I'll sing a little
song," he announced.

"You needn't trouble yourself to do that," Benny Badger told him
hastily.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, I assure you," Mr. Coyote replied.

"Well--don't you do it, anyhow," Benny warned him. "If you sing, you'll
spoil everything, because I shall not be able to look for any hole."

"I see," said Mr. Coyote, looking more than pleased. "You'd want to stop
and listen to me, of course."

"It's not that," Benny Badger corrected him. "I may as well tell you
that I don't like your songs at all."

"I have some that you've never heard," Mr. Coyote explained.

"I don't want to hear them," Benny Badger informed him. "I may as well
tell you that your songs drive me almost crazy."

It would not have been surprising if Mr. Coyote had flown into a great
rage. But he did not. Instead, he pretended to wipe a tear away from
each of his eyes. "It's a pity"--he sighed--"it's a pity that you don't
understand music. Some time I will teach you to sing--with the help of
my six brothers."

Benny Badger showed no joy over that promise. But he felt relieved when
Mr. Coyote agreed not to sing that night. And then Benny set out alone
to look for a fresh Ground Squirrel's hole, leaving Mr. Coyote with his
face hidden in his pocket-handkerchief.

VIII

A WATCHER AND A WORKER

Benny Badger searched for some time before he found a Ground Squirrel's
hole that looked as if its owner had finished it only a day or two
before.

The place was so far from the spot where Benny had left Mr. Coyote that
he did not believe he could call loudly enough for his helper to hear
him.

For a few moments Benny thought that perhaps he ought to go back and
tell Mr. Coyote that he had found a good place to dig. But he soon
changed his mind.

"I'll just begin digging and say nothing," he remarked to himself. "And
perhaps I can catch this Ground Squirrel without Mr. Coyote's help."

So he set to work. But he hadn't dug very far into the hole before he
heard Mr. Coyote's voice close behind him. That sly fellow had been
following him all the time.

"I hope the owner of this hole is at home," Mr. Coyote ventured.

At those words Benny Badger backed out of the hole and turned around.

"I'll