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Show KKII' COUNTS THE DUCKS Dy Thornton AV. Burgos W ho patience puts to wrongful uso Can offer not the. least m. use. Old Granny Fox. Patience is a viry good thing whon it is rightly used. Of course, it. Is a very bad thing when It Is wrongly used. Some of the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows have a great deal of pa- tlence Some of them have no pa-j pa-j tlence at all. Chatterer the Red j !ilrrei is one of those with little I patience. He cannot keep still long enough to be patient. But th:s isn t the case with Reddy Fox No one can be more patlen; than Reddy when he thinks there is anj thing to be gained by it. Hiding under Farmer Brown's barn, Reddy felt quite s.ife. He felt sure no one. hnd seen him go under there He was certain that no orfe else was likely like-ly to come poking about under there ! He felt sure that ho could stay thero las long as he plo-isci So he settled himself comfortably and prepared to be patient He would wait until the wray was clear for him to steal out where he could count those Ducks back of Farmer Brown's house. N'ow, being under tliei barn, of course. Reddy could sen nothing of tvha.1 was going on outside. But 1 isn't always necessary to see In order or-der to learn whnt 13 going on. Red" dy's ears those hharp. black little earp, often tell him quite as much aa his eyes. He heard Farmer Brown inter the barn, and a few minutes later he heard farmer Browns Bo enter the barn. Ho know It was Farmer Browns Boy because he was hlstllng. Then he heard the .stamping of hoofs and the clatter of harnesses. Presently he heard those thumping hopfs leave the barn and tbe footsteps foot-steps of Farmer Brown and Farmer Brown's Boy as tney followed. Th?n he heard the sound of wheels and ne knew that Farmer Brown und Farmer Brown's Boy had driven off down to the hay fields. Still he didn't move. He could hear the faint sounds of Mrs. Brown at work In her kitchen He could hear Sammy Jay crlng 'Thief thief! thief!" over In 'the Old Orchard lie could hear Welcome Wel-come Robin crying "Choer up! cheer u' cheer up!" He could hear th henl In the henyard cackling and making a great fuss about nothing And every oneo in a while .he heard I that best of all sounds the "Quack' j quack' quack." of the Ducks Justi back of Farmer Brown's house. For a long, long time Reddy didn'r move. He knew that jolly, round,, bright Mr Sun was climbing higher and higher in the blue. blue sky. I Gradually the irious sounds ceased until at last it was very quiet. Thn' Reddy got to his feet and crept ojt from under the barn Very cautious-i ly he peeked around the corner. Thol Way was clear. Swiftly, hut silently, crouching very low.. Reddy stole; around behind some bushes until he was where he could peep through the! grajo and sec those Ducks. "One. two. three, four five, sLx, sevi n e'ght, nlno, ten. eleven"' count-' ed Reddy They wtre young Ducks but my! how big thev were: They j w ere squatting :own, for it was toe hot to be moving about, and they were I dozing j Reddy counted them all over a;?al.) Then he did It a third time Each time he counted nls mouth watered ,i Mttle more They were in a little yard, but the wire fence around them f Hach time he counted his mouth watered a little more. was very low He could lump over It without the pat difficulty. He. know that he could Jump over It with one of those Ducks In his mouth. Never In all his life had he wanted anything more than he wanted one of those Ducks (Copyright, 1922. by T W. Burgess) The m ixi story Temptation Overcomes Over-comes Prudence." oo |