Then, keeping in the blackest of them,
and looking very much like a shadow of himself, he slipped into
the Green Forest. It was dark in there, and he made straight for
Paddy's new pond, trotting along swiftly without making a sound.
When he was near the aspen trees which he knew Paddy was planning
to cut, he crept forward very slowly and carefully. Everything
was still as still could be.
"Good!" thought Old Man Coyote. "I am here first, and now all I
need do is to hide and wait for Paddy to come ashore."
So he stretched himself flat behind some brush close beside the
little path Paddy had made up from the edge of the water and
waited. It was very still, so still that it seemed almost as if
he could hear his heart beat. He could see the little stars
twinkling in the sky and their own reflections twinkling back at
them from the water of Paddy's pond. Old Man Coyote waited and
waited. He is very patient when there is something to gain by it.
For such a splendid dinner as Paddy the Beaver would make, he
felt that he could well afford to be patient. So he waited and
waited, and everything was as still as if no living thing but the
trees where there. Even the trees seemed to be asleep.
At last, after a long, long time, he heard just the faintest
splash. He pricked up his ears and peeped out on the pond with
the hungriest look in his yellow eyes. There was a little line of
silver coming straight toward him.
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