Bowser the Hound | Page 2

any other time Old Man Coyote wouldn't have been so annoyed.
But to have Bowser appear just then made him angry clear through.
You see he had just started out to get his dinner.
"What business has that good-for-nothing dog over here anyway, I'd
like to know," he muttered, as he ran swiftly through the Green Forest.
"What right has he to meddle in other folks' business? I'll just teach that

fellow a lesson; that's what I'll do! I'll teach him that he can't interfere
with me not be sorry for it."
So Old Man Coyote ran and ran and ran, and never once did he try to
break his trail. In fact, he took pains to leave a trail that Bowser could
follow easily. After him Bowser ran and ran and ran, and all the time
his great voice rang out joyously. This was the kind of a hunt he loved.
Out of the Green Forest into the Old Pasture, Old Man Coyote led
Bowser the Hound. Across the Old Pasture and out on the other side
they raced. Farther and farther away from home Old Man Coyote led
Bowser the Hound. Instead of circling back as usual, he kept on.
Bowser kept on after him. By and by he was in strange country,
country he had never visited before. He didn't notice this. He didn't
notice anything but the splendid trail Old Man Coyote was making. He
didn't even realize that he was getting tired. Always in his nose was the
tantalizing scent of Old Man Coyote. Bowser was sure that this time he
would catch this fellow who had fooled him so often before.
CHAPTER II
OLD MAN COYOTE PLAYS A TRICK
Of people who play tricks beware, Lest they may get you in a snare.
You cannot trust them, so watch out Whenever one may be about.
_Bowser the Hound._
There is such a thing as being too much interested in the thing you are
doing. That is the way accidents very often happen. A person will get
so interested in something that he will be blind and deaf to everything
else, and so will walk straight into danger or trouble of some kind.
Now just take the case of Bowser the Hound. Bowser was so interested
in the chase of Old Man Coyote that he paid no attention whatever to
anything but the warm scent of Old Man Coyote which the latter was
taking pains to leave. Bowser ran with his nose in Old Man Coyote's
tracks and never looked either to left or right. He would lift his head
only to look straight ahead in the hope of seeing Old Man Coyote. Then

down would go his nose again to follow that scent.
So Bowser didn't notice that Old Man Coyote was leading him far, far
away from home into country with which he was quite unacquainted.
Bowser has a great, deep, wonderful voice which can be heard a very
long distance when he bays on the tracks of some one he is hunting. It
can be heard a very long distance indeed. But far as it can be heard,
Bowser was far, far beyond hearing distance from Farmer Brown's
house before Old Man Coyote began to even think of playing one of his
clever tricks in order to make Bowser lose his scent. You see, Old Man
Coyote intended to lead Bowser into strange country and there lose him,
hoping that he would not be able to find the way home.
Old Man Coyote is himself a tireless runner. He is not so heavy as is
Bowser, so does not tire as easily. Then, too, he had not wasted his
breath as had Bowser with his steady baying. Old Man Coyote could
tell by the sound of Bowser's voice when the latter was beginning to
grow tired, and he could tell by the fact that he often had a moment or
two to sit down and rest before Bowser got dangerously near.
So at last Old Man Coyote decided that the time had come to play a
trick. By and by he came to a river. At that point there was a high,
overhanging bank. On the very edge of this bank Old Man Coyote
made a long leap to one side. Then he made another long leap to the big
trunk of a fallen tree. He ran along this and from the end of it made still
another long leap, as long a leap as he could. Then he hid in a little
thicket to see what would happen.
CHAPTER III
WHAT HAPPENED TO BOWSER
When a Coyote seems most honest, watch him closest.
_Bowser the Hound._
Bowser was very, very tired. He wouldn't admit it even to himself, for
when he is hunting