He closed his eyes, and soon would have been snoring if Sneaky hadn’t continued. “I came to see you for another reason,” he added. “I want to lay a question before you. Is it against the law of the pack to admit a Raccoon as a member?”
Black Wolf opened one eye, and said crossly: “Why do you want to bother me with such a foolish question, Sneaky! I’m in no mood for joking.”
“This is no joke, Black Wolf. It’s very serious. My mate has brought up a Raccoon as one of her children, and now she intends to bring him to the pack for admission. What message shall I carry back to her?”
Black Wolf snorted, and raised his head long enough to think. Then, in a loud voice he added: “Go back and tell her that if she brings a Raccoon to the pack we’ll pounce upon him and eat him alive. Go and tell her that I, Black Wolf, leader of the pack, has given his word.”
“Thank you,” replied Sneaky, bowing low, and crawling out of the den. He had obtained just the message he wanted, and he couldn’t hurry fast enough to deliver it to Mother Wolf. In the next story we will see what Mother Wolf thought of it.
STORY SIX
MOTHER WOLF DECIDES TO ADOPT WASHER
Sneaky returned home and entered the den with every appearance of being greatly pleased with himself. He licked his chops, smiled at the cubs, and said a pleasant word of of greeting to Mother Wolf. Indeed, he was so polite and agreeable that Washer wondered if something had happened to change his disposition for good; but Mother Wolf was not at all deceived. She understood that Sneaky had some important news on his mind that he was anxious to get off.
After a while, when the little ones were outside of the den playing, she humored him with a smile, and said: “Why don’t you tell me now, Sneaky? You’ve been dying to get it off your mind. Now’s a good time.”