Bowser the Hound | Page 7

taking
note of where he was going. You can't lose Old Man Coyote. No, Sir,
you can't lose Old Man Coyote, and it is of no use to try.
So, stopping two or three times to hunt a little by the way, Old Man
Coyote trotted back. He managed to pick up a good meal on the way,
and when at last he reached his home in the Old Pasture he was feeling
very well satisfied with the Great World in general and himself in
particular.
He grinned as only Old Man Coyote can grin. "I don't think any of us
will be bothered by that meddlesome Bowser very soon again," said he,

as he crept into his house for a nap. "If he had drowned in that river, I
shouldn't have cried over it. But even as it is, I don't think he will get
back here in a hurry. I must pass the word along."
So a day or so later, when Sammy Jay happened along, Old Man
Coyote asked him, in quite a matter-of-fact way, if he had seen
anything of Bowser the Hound for a day or two.
"Why do you ask?" said Sammy sharply.
Old Man Coyote grinned slyly. "For no reason at all, Sammy. For no
reason at all," he replied. "It just popped into my head that I hadn't
heard Bowser's voice for two or three days. It set me to wondering if he
is sick, or if anything has happened to him."
That was enough to start Sammy Jay straight for Farmer Brown's
dooryard. Of course Bowser wasn't to be seen. Sammy hung around
and watched. Twice he saw Farmer Brown's boy come to the door with
a worried look on his face and heard him whistle and call for Bowser.
Then there wasn't the slightest doubt in Sammy's mind that something
had happened to Bowser.
"Old Man Coyote knows something about it, too," muttered Sammy, as
he turned his head on one side and scratched his pointed cap
thoughtfully. "He can't fool me. That old rascal knows where Bowser is,
or what has happened to him, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he had
something to do with it. I almost know he did from the way he
grinned."
The day was not half over before all through the Green Forest and over
the Green Meadows had spread the report that Bowser the Hound was
no more.
CHAPTER X
HOW REDDY FOX INVESTIGATED
In-vest-i-gate if you would know That something is or isn't so.

_Bowser the Hound._
To in-vest-i-gate something means to try to find out about it. Reddy
Fox had heard from so many different ones about the disappearance of
Bowser that he finally made up his mind that he would in-vest-i-gate
and find out for himself if it were true that Bowser was no longer at
home in Farmer Brown's dooryard. If it were true,--well, Reddy had
certain plans of his own in regard to Farmer Brown's henhouse.
Reddy had begun by doubting that story because it seemed to have
come first from Old Man Coyote. Reddy would doubt anything with
which Old Man Coyote was concerned. But Reddy had finally come to
believe that something certainly had happened because half a dozen
times during the day he had heard Farmer Brown's boy whistle and
whistle and call and call.
Just as soon as the Black Shadows came creeping out from the Purple
Hills, Reddy started up towards Farmer Brown's. He didn't go directly
there, because he never goes directly anywhere if there is the least
chance in the world that any one may be watching him. But as he
slipped along in the blackest of the Black Shadows, he was all the time
working nearer and nearer to Farmer Brown's dooryard. Although he
was inclined to think it was true that Bowser was not there, he was far
too wise to take any unnecessary risk. He approached Farmer Brown's
dooryard just as carefully as if he knew Bowser to be in his little house
as usual. He kept in the Black Shadows. He crouched so low that he
seemed hardly more than a Black Shadow himself. Every two or three
steps he stopped to look, listen, and test the air with his keen nose.
As he drew near Bowser's own little house, Reddy circled out around it
until he could see the doorway. Then he sat down where he could peek
around from behind a tree and watch. He had been there only a few
moments when the back door of Farmer Brown's house opened and
Farmer Brown's boy stepped out. Reddy didn't run. He knew that
Farmer Brown's boy would never dream that he would dare come so
near. Besides, it was very clear that Farmer Brown's