WHEN Old Man Coyote, chuckling¹ to himself, left Peter Rabbit and the Old Briar-patch, he went straight over to look around the place where he took his sun-nap every day. His sharp eyes soon saw the place where Reddy Fox had been lying in the grass to watch him, for of course the grass was pressed down by the weight of Reddy's body.

 

“Peter Rabbit told me the truth, sure enough, and I guess I owe him a good turn,” muttered Old Man Coyote, as he studied and studied to see why Reddy was watching him every day. You see, he is so sharp and clever himself that he was sure right away that Reddy had some plan in mind to bring him to the same place every day.

 

But he didn't let on that he knew anything about what was going on. Oh, my, no! The next day he curled up for his sun-nap just as usual, only this time he took care to lie in such a way that he would be looking towards Reddy's hiding place. Then he pretended to go to sleep, but if you had been there and looked into his eyes, you would have found no sleepy-winks there. No, Sir, you wouldn't have found one single sleepy-wink! Instead, his eyes were as bright as if there were no such thing as sleep. He saw Reddy steal out of the Green Forest. Then he closed his eyes all but just a tiny little crack, through which he could see Reddy's hiding place, but all the time he looked as if his eyes were shut tight.

 

Reddy crept softly as he could, which is very softly indeed, to his hiding place and lay down to watch. Old Man Coyote pretended to be very fast asleep, and every once in a while he would make believe snore. But all the time he was watching Reddy. After a little while Reddy tiptoed away until he felt sure that it was safe to run. Then he hurried as fast as he could go to report to old Granny Fox in the Green Forest. Old Man Coyote chuckled² as he watched Reddy disappear.

 

“I don't know what it all means,” said he, “but if he and old Granny Fox think that they are going to catch me napping, they are making one of the biggest mistakes of their lives.”

 

The next day and the next the same thing happened, but the day after that Reddy only stopped long enough to make sure that Old Man Coyote was there just as usual, and then he hurried away to the top of the Crooked³ Little Path that comes down the hill. There he barked three times. Old Man Coyote watched him go and heard him bark.

 

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