that ran up the side of the house and he crept out along the pole from
which the hams were hung.

He stopped at the very first ham he came to. There was no sense in going
any further. And Fatty dropped on top of the ham and in a twinkling he
had torn off a big, delicious mouthful.

Fatty could not eat fast enough. He wished he had two mouths--he was so
hungry. But he did very well, with only ONE. In no time at all he had
made a great hole in the ham. And he had no idea of stopping. But he did
stop. He stopped very suddenly. For the first thing he knew, something
threw him right down upon the floor. And the ham fell on top of him and
nearly knocked him senseless.

He choked and spluttered; for the ashes filled his mouth and his eyes,
and his ears, too. For a moment he lay there on his back; but soon he
managed to kick the heavy ham off his stomach and then he felt a little
better. But he was terribly frightened. And though his eyes smarted so
he could hardly see, he sprang up and found the doorway.

Fatty swallowed a whole mouthful of ashes as he dashed across the
barnyard. And he never stopped running until he was almost home. He was
puzzled. Try as he would, he couldn't decide what it was that had flung
him upon the floor. And when he told his mother about his adventure--as
he did a whole month later--she didn't know exactly what had happened,
either.

"It was some sort of trap, probably," Mrs. Coon said.

But for once Mrs. Coon was mistaken.