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Show .ThorntonW Burcfess i ifTfi".flitfi---irTi--i-" "Oh, come on!" begged another voice. "You know you are the youngest young-est and spryest and the best climber. climb-er. Just try this one. We'll get him this time." "He doesn't dare to. He's afraid!" another voice interrupted, and the sound of that voice was not at all pleasant. It had the sound of a sneer, and you know nothing is more unpleasant sounding than a sneer. "I do dare to! I dare to climb any tree in the Green Forest!" The voice of Farmer Brown's Boy sounded sound-ed angry. It sounded very angry. BOBBY COON LISTENS TO A DISPUTE You cannot always believe your eyes; You cannot always believe your ears; The truth quite often you will find Is not at all as it appears. UP IN the top of a big pine tree in the Green Forest Bobby Coon was doing his best to keep out of sight and at the same time to see what the hunters who were after him were doing. It was very necessary neces-sary that he should know just what they were doing in order that he might know just what to do himself. He ached and smarted where three shots from the terrible gun carried by one of the hunters had hit him, but he had no time to think about his wounds now. He was lucky that they were not worse. He knew that he must keep his wits working every minute if he would save himself from worse wounds, or perhaps being be-ing killed. Around the foot of the tree were gathered the hunters, Bowser the Hound, and another dog. Bowser and the other dog didn't seem to be much interested. You see, they were interested only so long as they could smell Bobby's tracks, and since Bobby Bob-by had taken to climbing from one tree to another like a squirrel there were no tracks to smell. So they had stopped barking, and were just waiting around to find out what their masters were going to do. "Come on! Hurry up and climb this tree!" shouted one, as Farmer Brown's Boy dropped to the ground from the big ohestnut tree from which he had driven Bobby Coon. "Climb it yourself!" snapped Farmer Brown's Boy. "I've climbed two trees and it is the turn of someone some-one else now. Besides, that tree is too big. It's too far up to the first branches." "Then why don't you prove it by climbing the tree?" demanded the other voice. No one would have guessed that he was just pretending. "Then why don't you prove it by climbing this tree?" demanded the other voice. 'Because I've done my share of climbing already!" retorted Farmer Farm-er Brown's Boy, and he sounded as if he meant every word he said. For a long time that dispute as to who should climb that tree lasted. Bobby didn't stop to listen to it very long. It gave him just the chance he had been waiting for, and he took it. He softly stole out along a branch that reached over to a hemlock tree, and from there he reached another tree in which was a hollow big enough for him to squeeze into. Once safely there he almost chuckled to think how he had fooled those hunters. You see, he didn't know that all the time Farmer Brown's Boy had been watching him and at the time when Bobby was getting from one tree to another Farmer Brown's Boy had pretended to be angrier than ever so as to keep the other hunters from looking up. So, you see, that was a case where Bobby Coon's eyes and ears were not to be believed. They told him that Farmer Brown's Boy was an enemy, which wasn't the truth at all. You know and I know and Farmer Brown's Boy knows that if it hadn't been for him something dreadful might have and probably would have happened to Bobby Coon. (Associated Newspapers WNU Service.) |