<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" /><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39" />CHAPTER IX</h2>
<h3>OLD MAN COYOTE GIVES OUT DARK HINTS</h3>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span>A little hint dropped there or here,<br/></span>
<span>Is like a seed in spring of year;<br/></span>
<span>It sprouts and grows, and none may say<br/></span>
<span>How big 'twill be some future day.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span><i>Bowser the Hound.</i><br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>After leading Bowser the Hound far, far away and getting him lost in
strange country, Old Man Coyote trotted back to the Old Pasture, the
Green Forest, and the Green Meadows near Farmer Brown's. He didn't have
any trouble at all in finding his way back. You see, all the time he was
leading Bowser away, he himself was using his eyes and taking note of
where he <SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40" />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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41" />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."</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"Why do you ask?" said Sammy sharply.</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42" />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.</p>
<p>"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 <SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43" />surprised if he had something
to do with it. I almost know he did from the way he grinned."</p>
<p>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.</p>
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