all prairie chickens slept at night, he waited until dark before he
began his search, for he wanted to find Mrs. Prairie Chicken at home
when he called on her.

So when night came once more, Benny Badger left his den and went forth
on his errand.

He had gone only a short distance when he met his old friend Mr. Fox,
who had told him a little--and very little, too--about eggs. "Are you
having any luck to-night?" Benny Badger inquired.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Fox asked him.

"Have you found any eggs?" Benny questioned.

Mr. Fox said something that might have been either "Yes" or "No." Benny
was not quite sure which it was. But since Mr. Fox shook his head, he
decided that it must be "No."

"I think we're too late," Mr. Fox remarked. "The eggs must have all
hatched by this time."

Benny Badger hastened to set Mr. Fox right.

"That can't be possible," he replied. "I met Mrs. Prairie Chicken this
morning and she told me she had a baker's dozen of eggs in her nest."

"You must be mistaken about that," Mr. Fox assured him. "Where did you
say her nest is?"

"I didn't say," Benny answered.

"No, of course not!" Mr. Fox corrected himself. "What I meant was, where
did Mrs. Prairie Chicken say it is?"

"She didn't say," replied Benny Badger.

"That's unfortunate," Mr. Fox told him. "It would have saved us a good
deal of trouble if she had explained where she lives."

Then he told Benny Badger to go home, and not to trouble himself any
more. "_I_ will hunt for the old lady's nest," Mr. Fox declared.

Benny Badger couldn't help thinking that Mr. Fox was a very kind person.
And he went away feeling that it was very fine to have a friend like
him.

But after a while he began to wonder if he wasn't mistaken; for he
happened to remember that Mr. Fox hadn't said a single word about
letting him know when he had found the nest with the thirteen eggs in
it.

XIII

DON'T DO THAT!

Benny Badger turned in his tracks and went straight back to the place
where he had left Mr. Fox.

But Mr. Fox was nowhere to be seen.

So Benny began asking everybody he met if he had caught a glimpse of Mr.
Fox that night. First he asked a white-footed deer mouse, who pointed
behind him and said that he had just seen Mr. Fox "over there." Then
Benny put his question to a frightened prairie dog, who claimed that he
had noticed Mr. Fox "over there," as he pointed in a direction exactly
opposite. And still another reported that h