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Show V -w5''.' u ' thenard-'work mm a ii ) people are at the mercy of cunning folks without a conscience. You are no better than these fellows, fel-lows, Howler. You let someone do the hard work and then you rush in to enjoy en-joy the benefits. "There ore lots of cunning follows, though, who get fooled Just as you did this morning. They grab off something they know nothing about and the first thing they know they get their fingers burnt. One of my neighbors neigh-bors went rabbit hunting the other day. After working pretty hard In the woods and swamps, his dog got a trail and followed It to a hole. When he got up to the dog he found a very cunning fellow there who told him the hole was very deep and it was more than the rabbit was worth to dig him out. As a matter of fact, it was not a deep hole and as the soil was chiefly sand the bottom could be reached in a few minutes with a stick. My neighbor neigh-bor said all right, took his hound and went away. Our cunning fellow was so pleased at the Idea of getting a rabbit so cheaply for ids supper that he patted himself on the buck and laughed merrily at the other fellow's lack of good, hard business sense. He got a stick and soon scooped enough dirt away so that the end of the hole was only an arm's length away. He reached In, chuckling to himself, and pulled out a skunk I "The awful odor readied the hunter with the hound nnd he came back to see how his smart friend had fared. "'I'd no idea,' he said, 'that you wore going to dig that tiling out, because be-cause you seemed to think It was a long, deep hole. I knew it was a shallow hole and I might have told you what was In It. I left It because I knew from my dog's bark that he had holed a skunk.' 'iAnd you think I'm as mean as one of them kind of folks, do you, ')oc? Perhaps I am; anyway I ain't any worse." "In Hie long run, Howler, It don't pay to loaf around trying to get the benefit of some one else's hard work. It Is easy graft sometimes, but take It year In nnd year out the fellow that relies on himself and keeps on l-ustllng Is the fellow that succeeds." "I 'spose that goes for me, too, seeing see-ing as we dogs are pretty much like some folks. I guess I'll take your tip. Doc, and learn to he a strike dog. I'm young and ought to have little trouble in reforming. I'll be laid up In the kennel for a while where I will think the matter over and try to map out a new course for myself." |