“I give up, Johnny Chuck,” said he.  “You did well when you made your home between the roots of this old tree.  If it wasn’t for those roots, I certainly would dig you out.  As it is you are safe.  You remind me very much of your cousin, Yap-Yap the Prairie Dog, who lives out where I came from.  There’s a fellow who certainly knows how to make a house in the ground.  He doesn’t have to depend on the roots of trees to keep from being dug out.  Well, I guess it is a waste of time to hang around here.  You’ll make just as good a dinner some other time as you would now, so I’ll wait until then.”  Old Man Coyote grinned wickedly and trotted off.

Now at the mention of Yap-Yap the Prairie Dog, the long ears of Peter Rabbit had pricked up at once.  It was the first time he had heard of Yap-Yap, and when at last Johnny Chuck ventured out Peter was as full of questions as a pea-pod is of peas.  But Johnny Chuck knew nothing about his cousin, Yap-Yap, and wasn’t even interested in him.  So finally Peter left him and went back home to the dear Old Briar-patch.  But he couldn’t get Yap-Yap out of his mind, and he resolved that the first chance he got he would ask Old Man Coyote about him.  The chance came that very night.  Old Man Coyote came along by the dear Old Briar-patch and stopped to peer in and grin at Peter.  Peter grinned back, for he knew that under those friendly brambles he was quite safe.

“I heard what you said to Johnny Chuck about his cousin, Yap-Yap,” said Peter.

Old Man Coyote looked as surprised as he felt.  “Where were you?” he demanded gruffly.

“Lying flat in the grass close by Johnny Chuck’s house,” replied Peter, and grinned more broadly than ever.

“And to think I didn’t know it!” sighed Old Man Coyote.  “When I failed to catch Johnny Chuck, I thought I had missed only one dinner, but it seems I missed two.  Next time I shall look around a little more sharply.  Do you know, the sight of Johnny Chuck always makes me homesick, he reminds me so much of his cousin, Yap-Yap, and the days when I was young.”

“I didn’t know that Johnny Chuck had a cousin until you mentioned it,” said Peter.  “Does he look like Johnny?  Won’t you tell me about him, Mr. Coyote?”

“Seeing that I haven’t anything in particular to do, I don’t know but I will,” replied Old Man Coyote, who happened to be feeling very good-natured.  “Many and many a time I have chased Yap-Yap into his house.  Seems as if I can hear the rascal scolding me and calling me names right this minute.  He used to get me so provoked that it was all I could do to keep from trying to dig him out.”

“Why didn’t you?” asked Peter.

“Because it would have meant a waste of time, sore feet, and nothing to show for my trouble,” retorted Old Man Coyote.  “Yap-Yap never has forgotten what his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather learned when he first took to living on the open prairie.”

“What did he learn?  Tell me about it, Mr. Coyote,” begged Peter.