Show THE SILENT WATCHER I ITHE I 8 By Thornton W Burgess Surges I I Till ough silence secrets oft oCt are U I LAnd And knowledge thus Is often olten earned o Old Old Mother ther Nature Farmer Browns Brown's bo boy knows the truth of o this Long ago he learn learn- learned learned i ed it St through experience So when he be Is In the Green Forest he has hasa I Ia a way of ot standing or sitting sIlting quiet quietly ly h for tor long periods Things will willI I come to you OU that you ou cannot go goI goto goto goto I to says saya he be and In this he be Is right He lIe knows that often when ou cannot seo or hear heal any of the little people of ot the Green For Forest est or the Green Meado Meadows some of them ma may be very near If It they seen you 1 0 the he surest way of oC seeing them Is to keep perfectly still Then unless they happen to get your scent to smell you ou they are almost sure to show themselves them themselves selves Even when they know you OU art are about they hey often otten will forget or think you have moved on pro providing viding you OU keep perfectly still All 11 this Farmer Browns Brown's boy knows It Is one reason he knows so much about his furred and andI feathered red friends For a long I long time he has haa been a silent lIe He has found that it III'S So It was that after leav leaving ling I tag ing the Doer Deer yard where Light Light- Lightfoot Light fool foot and his family were wore doing nicey despite the crust on tho snow ho stopped every little w way y and stood motionless and and hilo he looked and listened and t ailed alted At last ho be reached a clump of oC young oung hemlock trees and as he peered out from the midst of these he saw or thought he be saw Baw a brownish bi form sneak out of sight I I believe that was the Dab Bob Cat thought Farmer Browns Brown's boy Yes ies sir I do believe It It It Isn't often orten I have as nas as a chance to see him In broad day day- I I II I I 1 believe that was the Bob Cat thought Farmer Browns Brown's Boy light I dont don't think he saw me 11 He didn't act that way Ill I'll watch hero bere a while and see what hap hap- happens happens pens Nothing happened for a long longtime longtime time lime It If fact Farmer Browns Brown's boy had about decided that waiting there was wasting time timo and that hI hd would move on But before ho he moved he looked carefully as far faras faras faras as he could see between the trees There was returning Browns Brown's boy chuckled silently si sl silently as os he noted how sneaked along when there was no noone noone noi one about to see him so far as ashe I asI he know lie He Is a natural bornI born I sneak though Farmer Browns Brown's boy I 1 wonder what he Is up to I re hE-re came sneaking along until un until til e 1 little way In front of o where farmer Browns Brown's boy was standing Then Ihen he be stopped and crouched his hise e ces es fixed on a 8 certain spot His stub of ot a tall tail which Is hardly enough of a tall tail to be called a atoll atoil atall toll toil twitched Once in a while he would turn his head to glare all around Then ho he would fix hIs eyes ens on that particular spot again Finally very soW softly he stol slob forward and began to scratch I the tho crust at that point But Dut he didn't scratch long Then he reo re resumed Burned his watching That is queer thought Farmer Blown's Biown's boy Why Is he so In in- in In tel tei ested In that particular place Presently he saw Reddy Beddy Fox com corn cornin coming in ing along through the Green For Forest est Very handsome Reddy looked for his coat never was finer and his tall never bigger had ills dis disappeared appeared just before Reddy Heddy came In In sight As Reddy neddy drew near the place had been watching he be stopped so suddenly that one black paw was held up In the air lie cocked his head to one side and listened his black ears prick prick- pricked pricked ed forward It was plain that he heard and as he was looking l str-I str straight h at the he spot where yo er had been scratching It usa as a safe sate guess that whatever he heard was under the snow right there He was still standing there when returned and snarled at him Reddy waited only long ellough to make sure that what he said Then with a aIn agrin grin In Reddy Heddy started start 4 on straight to toward ward eard Farmer Browns Brown's boy Just before he be reached those hemlock a Merry Little Breeze hap hap- happened happened alan along alone and carried the scent ot of Farmer Browns Brown's boy straight to Heddy's little black nose Without seeming to hurry Reddy appeared to melt away so quickly did he disappear and he be was still grin grin- grinning grinning ning Copyright 1926 by T W Bur Bur Bur- Bur gess The next stor story Grateful and 00 |