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+*Project Gutenberg Etext of Adventures of Reddy Fox, by Burgess*
+#1 in our series by Thornton W. Burgess
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+The Adventures of Reddy Fox
+
+by Thornton W. Burgess
+
+July, 1999  [Etext #1825]
+
+
+*Project Gutenberg Etext of Adventures of Reddy Fox, by Burgess*
+******This file should be named rdyfx10.txt or rdyfx10.zip******
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+
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF REDDY FOX
+
+BY THORNTON W. BURGESS
+
+
+
+I. Granny Fox Gives Reddy a Scare
+
+Reddy Fox lived with Granny Fox. You see, Reddy was one of a
+large family, so large that Mother Fox had hard work to feed so
+many hungry little mouths and so she had let Reddy go to live
+with old Granny Fox. Granny Fox was the wisest, slyest, smartest
+fox in all the country round, and now that Reddy had grown so
+big, she thought it about time that he began to learn the things
+that every fox should know. So every day she took him hunting
+with her and taught him all the things that she had learned about
+hunting: about how to steal Farmer Brown's chickens without
+awakening Bowser the Hound, and all about the thousand and one
+ways of fooling a dog which she had learned.
+
+This morning Granny Fox had taken Reddy across the Green Meadows,
+up through the Green Forest, and over to the railroad track.
+Reddy had never been there before and he didn't know just what
+to make of it. Granny trotted ahead until they came to a long
+bridge. Then she stopped.
+
+"Come here, Reddy, and look down," she commanded.
+
+Reddy did as he was told, but a glance down made him giddy, so
+giddy that he nearly fell. Granny Fox grinned.
+
+"Come across," said she, and ran lightly across to the other
+side.
+
+But Reddy Fox was afraid. Yes, Sir, he was afraid to take one
+step on the long bridge. He was afraid that he would fall through
+into the water or onto the cruel rocks below. Granny Fox ran back
+to where Reddy sat.
+
+"For shame, Reddy Fox!" said she. "What are you afraid of? Just
+don't look down and you will be safe enough. Now come along over
+with me."
+
+But Reddy Fox hung back and begged to go home and whimpered.
+Suddenly Granny Fox sprang to her feet, as if in great fright.
+"Bowser the Hound! Come, Reddy, come!" she cried, and started
+across the bridge as fast as she could go.
+
+Reddy didn't stop to look or to think. His one idea was to get
+away from Bowser the Hound. "Wait, Granny! Wait!" he cried, and
+started after her as fast as he could run. He was in the middle
+of the bridge before he remembered it at all. When he was at last
+safely across, it was to find old Granny Fox sitting down
+laughing at him. Then for the first time Reddy looked behind him
+to see where Bowser the Hound might be. He was nowhere to be
+seen. Could he have fallen off the bridge?
+
+"Where is Bowser the Hound?" cried Reddy.
+
+"Home in Farmer Brown's dooryard," replied Granny Fox dryly.
+Reddy stared at her for a minute. Then he began to understand
+that Granny Fox had simply scared him into running across the
+bridge. Reddy felt very cheap, very cheap indeed. "Now we'll run
+back again," said Granny Fox. And this time Reddy did.
+
+
+
+II. Granny Shows Reddy a Trick
+
+Every day Granny Fox led Reddy Fox over to the long railroad
+bridge and made him run back and forth across it until he had no
+fear of it whatever. At first it had made him dizzy, but now he
+could run across at the top of his speed and not mind it in the
+least. "I don't see what good it does to be able to run across a
+bridge; anyone can do that!" exclaimed Reddy one day.
+
+Granny Fox smiled. "Do you remember the first time you tried to
+do it?" she asked.
+
+Reddy hung his head. Of course he remembered--remembered that
+Granny had had to scare him into crossing that first time.
+
+Suddenly Granny Fox lifted her head. "Hark!" she exclaimed.
+
+Reddy pricked up his sharp, pointed ears. Way off back, in the
+direction from which they had come, they heard the baying of a
+dog. It wasn't the voice of Bowser the Hound but of a younger
+dog. Granny listened for a few minutes. The voice of the dog grew
+louder as it drew nearer.
+
+"He certainly is following our track," said Granny Fox. "Now,
+Reddy, you run across the bridge and watch from the top of the
+little hill over there. Perhaps I can show you a trick that will
+teach you why I have made you learn to run across the bridge."
+
+Reddy trotted across the long bridge and up to the top of the
+hill, as Granny had told him to. Then he sat down to watch.
+Granny trotted out in the middle of a field and sat down. Pretty
+soon a young hound broke out of the bushes, his nose in Granny's
+track. Then he looked up and saw her, and his voice grew still
+more savage and eager. Granny Fox started to run as soon as she
+was sure that the hound had seen her, but she did not run very
+fast. Reddy did not know what to make of it, for Granny seemed
+simply to be playing with the hound and not really trying to get
+away from him at all. Pretty soon Reddy heard another sound. It
+was a long, low rumble. Then there was a distant whistle. It was
+a train.
+
+Granny heard it, too. As she ran, she began to work back toward
+the long bridge. The train was in sight now. Suddenly Granny Fox
+started across the bridge so fast that she looked like a little
+red streak. The dog was close at her heels when she started and
+he was so eager to catch her that he didn't see either the bridge
+or the train. But he couldn't begin to run as fast as Granny Fox.
+Oh, my, no! When she had reached the other side, he wasn't
+halfway across, and right behind him, whistling for him to get
+out of the way, was the train.
+
+The hound gave one frightened yelp, and then he did the only
+thing he could do; he leaped down, down into the swift water
+below, and the last Reddy saw of him he was frantically trying to
+swim ashore.
+
+"Now you know why I wanted you to learn to cross a bridge; it's a
+very nice way of getting rid of dogs," said Granny Fox, as she
+climbed up beside Reddy.
+
+
+
+III. Bowser the Hound Isn't Fooled
+
+Reddy Fox had been taught so much by Granny Fox that he began to
+feel very wise and very important. Reddy is naturally smart and
+he had been very quick to learn the tricks that old Granny Fox
+had taught him. But Reddy Fox is a boaster. Every day he
+swaggered about on the Green Meadows and bragged how smart he
+was. Blacky the Crow grew tired of Reddy's boasting.
+
+"If you're so smart, what is the reason you always keep out of
+sight of Bowser the Hound?" asked Blacky. "For my part, I don't
+believe that you are smart enough to fool him."
+
+A lot of little meadow people heard Blacky say this, and Reddy
+knew it. He also knew that if he didn't prove Blacky in the wrong
+he would be laughed at forever after. Suddenly he remembered the
+trick that Granny Fox had played on the young hound at the
+railroad bridge. Why not play the same trick on Bowser and invite
+Blacky the Crow to see him do it? He would.
+
+"If you will be over at the railroad bridge when the train comes
+this afternoon, I'll show you how easy it is to fool Bowser the
+Hound," said Reddy.
+
+Blacky agreed to be there, and Reddy started off to find out
+where Bowser was. Blacky told everyone he met how Reddy Fox had
+promised to fool Bowser the Hound, and every time he told it he
+chuckled as if he thought it the best joke ever.
+
+Blacky the Crow was on hand promptly that afternoon and with him
+came his cousin, Sammy Jay. Presently they saw Reddy Fox hurrying
+across the fields, and behind him in full cry came Bowser the
+Hound. Just as old Granny Fox had done with the young hound,
+Reddy allowed Bowser to get very near him and then, as the train
+came roaring along, he raced across the long bridge just ahead of
+it. He had thought that Bowser would be so intent on catching him
+that he would not notice the train until he was on the bridge and
+it was too late, as had been the case with the young hound. Then
+Bowser would have to jump down into the swift river or be run
+over. As soon as Reddy was across the bridge, he jumped off the
+track and turned to see what would happen to Bowser the Hound.
+The train was halfway across the bridge, but Bowser was nowhere
+to be seen. He must have jumped already. Reddy sat down and
+grinned in the most self-satisfied way.
+
+The long train roared past, and Reddy closed his eyes to shut out
+the dust and smoke. When he opened them again, he looked right
+into the wide-open mouth of Bowser the Hound, who was not ten
+feet away.
+
+"Did you think you could fool me with that old trick?" roared
+Bowser.
+
+Reddy didn't stop to make reply; he just started off at the top
+of his speed, a badly frightened little fox.
+
+You see, Bowser the Hound knew all about that trick and he had
+just waited until the train had passed and then had run across
+the bridge right behind it.
+
+And as Reddy Fox, out of breath and tired, ran to seek the aid of
+Granny Fox in getting rid of Bowser the Hound, he heard a sound
+that made him grind his teeth.
+
+"Haw, haw, haw! How smart we are!"
+
+It was Blacky the Crow.
+
+
+
+IV. Reddy Fox Grows Bold
+
+Reddy Fox was growing bold. Everybody said so, and what everybody
+says must be so. Reddy Fox had always been very sly and not bold
+at all. The truth is Reddy Fox had so many times fooled Bowser
+the Hound and Farmer Brown's boy that he had begun to think
+himself very smart indeed. He had really fooled himself. Yes,
+Sir, Reddy Fox had fooled himself. He thought himself so smart
+that nobody could fool him.
+
+Now it is one of the worst habits in the world to think too much
+of one's self. And Reddy Fox had the habit. Oh, my, yes! Reddy
+Fox certainly did have the habit! When anyone mentioned Bowser
+the Hound, Reddy would turn up his nose and say: "Pooh! It's the
+easiest thing in the world to fool him."
+
+You see, he had forgotten all about the time Bowser had fooled
+him at the railroad bridge.
+
+Whenever Reddy saw Farmer Brown's boy he would say with the
+greatest scorn: "Who's afraid of him? Not I!"
+
+So as Reddy Fox thought more and more of his own smartness, he
+grew bolder and bolder. Almost every night he visited Farmer
+Brown's henyard. Farmer Brown set traps all around the yard, but
+Reddy always found them and kept out of them. It got so that Unc'
+Billy Possum and Jimmy Skunk didn't dare go to the henhouse for
+eggs any more, for fear that they would get into one of the traps
+set for Reddy Fox. Of course they missed those fresh eggs and of
+course they blamed Reddy Fox.
+
+"Never mind," said Jimmy Skunk, scowling down on the Green
+Meadows where Reddy Fox was taking a sun bath, "Farmer Brown's
+boy will get him yet! I hope he does!" Jimmy said this a little
+spitefully and just as if he really meant it.
+
+Now when people think that they are very, very smart, they like
+to show off. You know it isn't any fun at all to feel smart
+unless others can see how smart you are. So Reddy Fox, just to
+show off, grew very bold, very bold indeed. He actually went up
+to Farmer Brown's henyard in broad daylight, and almost under the
+nose of Bowser the Hound he caught the pet chicken of Farmer
+Brown's boy. 'Ol Mistah Buzzard, sailing overhead high up in the
+blue, blue sky, saw Reddy Fox and shook his bald head:
+
+"Ah see Trouble on the way;
+Yes, Ah do! Yes, Ah do!
+Hope it ain't a-gwine to stay;
+Yes, Ah do! Yes, Ah do!
+Trouble am a spry ol' man,
+Bound to find yo' if he can;
+If he finds yo' bound to stick.
+When Ah sees him, Ah runs quick!
+Yes, Ah do! Yes, Ah do!"
+
+But Reddy Fox thought himself so smart that it seemed as if he
+really were hunting for Ol' Mr. Trouble. And when he caught the
+pet chicken of Farmer Brown's boy, Ol' Mr. Trouble was right at
+his heels.
+
+
+
+V. Reddy Grows Careless
+
+Ol' Mistah Buzzard was right. Trouble was right at the heels of
+Reddy Fox, although Reddy wouldn't have believed it if he had
+been told. He had stolen that plump pet chicken of Farmer Brown's
+boy for no reason under the sun but to show off. He wanted
+everyone to know how bold he was. He thought himself so smart
+that he could do just exactly what he pleased and no one could
+stop him. He liked to strut around through the Green Forest and
+over the Green Meadows and brag about what he had done and what
+he could do.
+
+Now people who brag and boast and who like to show off are almost
+sure to come to grief. And when they do, very few people are
+sorry for them. None of the little meadow and forest people liked
+Reddy Fox, anyway, and they were getting so tired of his boasting
+that they just ached to see him get into trouble. Yes, Sir, they
+just ached to see Reddy get into trouble.
+
+Peter Rabbit, happy-go-lucky Peter Rabbit, shook his head gravely
+when he heard how Reddy had stolen that pet chicken of Farmer
+Brown's boy, and was boasting about it to everyone.
+
+"Reddy Fox is getting so puffed up that pretty soon he won't be
+able to see his own feet," said Peter Rabbit.
+
+"Well, what if he doesn't?" demanded Jimmy Skunk.
+
+Peter looked at Jimmy in disgust:
+
+"He comes to grief, however fleet,
+Who doesn't watch his flying feet.
+
+"Jimmy Skunk, if you didn't have that little bag of scent that
+everybody is afraid of, you would be a lot more careful where you
+step," replied Peter. "If Reddy doesn't watch out, someday he'll
+step right into a trap.
+
+Jimmy Skunk chuckled. "I wish he would!" said he.
+
+Now when Farmer Brown's boy heard about the boldness of Reddy
+Fox, he shut his mouth tight in a way that was unpleasant to see
+and reached for his gun. "I can't afford to raise chickens to
+feed foxes!" said he. Then he whistled for Bowser the Hound, and
+together they started out. It wasn't long before Bowser found
+Reddy's tracks.
+
+"Bow, wow, wow, wow!" roared Bowser the Hound.
+
+Reddy Fox, taking a nap on the edge of the Green Forest, heard
+Bowser's big, deep voice. He pricked up his ears, then he
+grinned. "I feel just like a good run today," said he, and
+trotted off along the Crooked Little Path down the hill.
+
+Now this was a beautiful summer day and Reddy knew that in summer
+men and boys seldom hunt foxes. "It's only Bowser the Hound,"
+thought Reddy, "and when I've had a good run, I'll play a trick
+on him so that he will lose my track." So Reddy didn't use his
+eyes as he should have done. You see, he thought himself so smart
+that he had grown careless. Yes, Sir, Reddy Fox had grown
+careless. He kept looking back to see where Bowser the Hound was,
+but didn't look around to make sure that no other danger was
+near.
+
+Ol' Mistah Buzzard, sailing round and round, way up in the blue,
+blue sky, could see everything going on down below. He could see
+Reddy Fox running along the edge of the Green Forest and every
+few minutes stopping to chuckle and listen to Bowser the Hound
+trying to pick out the trail Reddy had made so hard to follow by
+his twists and turns. And he saw something else, did Ol' Mistah
+Buzzard. It looked to him very much like the barrel of a gun
+sticking out from behind an old tree just ahead of Reddy.
+
+"Ah reckon it's just like Ah said: Reddy Fox is gwine to meet
+trouble right smart soon," muttered Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
+
+
+
+VI. Drummer the Woodpecker Drums in Vain
+
+Once upon a time, before he had grown to think himself so very,
+very smart, Reddy Fox would never, never have thought of running
+without watching out in every direction. He would have seen that
+thing that looked like the barrel of a gun sticking out from
+behind the old tree toward which he was running, and he would
+have been very suspicious, very suspicious indeed. But now all
+Reddy could think of was what a splendid chance he had to show
+all the little meadow and forest people what a bold, smart fellow
+he was.
+
+So once more Reddy sat down and waited until Bowser the Hound was
+almost up to him. Just then Drummer the Woodpecker began to make
+a tremendous noise--rat-a-tat-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat,
+rat-a-tat-tat-tat! Now everybody who heard that rat-a-tat-tat-tat
+knew that it was a danger signal. Drummer the Woodpecker never
+drums just that way for pleasure. But Reddy Fox paid no attention
+to it. He didn't notice it at all. You see, he was so full of the
+idea of his own smartness that he didn't have room for anything
+else.
+
+"Stupid thing!" said Drummer the Woodpecker to himself. "I don't
+know what I am trying to warn him for, anyway. The Green Meadows
+and the Green Forest would be better off without him, a lot
+better off! Nobody likes him. He's a dreadful bully and is all
+the time trying to catch or scare to death those who are smaller
+than he. Still, he is so handsome!" Drummer cocked his head on
+one side and looked over at Reddy Fox.
+
+Reddy was laughing to see how hard Bowser the Hound was working
+to untangle Reddy's mixed-up trail.
+
+"Yes, Sir, he certainly is handsome," said Drummer once more.
+
+Then he looked down at the foot of the old tree on which he was
+sitting, and what he saw caused Drummer to make up his mind. "I
+surely would miss seeing that beautiful red coat of his! I surely
+would!" he muttered. "If he doesn't hear and heed now, it won't
+be my fault!" Then Drummer the Woodpecker began such a furious
+rat-a-tat-tat-tat on the trunk of the old tree that it rang
+through the Green Forest and out across the Green Meadows almost
+to the Purple Hills.
+
+Down at the foot of the tree a freckled face on which there was a
+black scowl looked up. It was the face of Farmer Brown's boy.
+
+"What ails that pesky woodpecker?" he muttered. "If he doesn't
+keep still, he'll scare that fox!"
+
+He shook a fist at Drummer, but Drummer didn't appear to notice.
+He kept right on, rat-a-tat-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat,
+rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
+
+
+
+VII. Too Late Reddy Fox Hears
+
+Drummer the Woodpecker was pounding out his danger signal so fast
+and so hard that his red head flew back and forth almost too fast
+to see. Rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat, beat Drummer on the old tree
+trunk on the edge of the Green Forest. When he stopped for
+breath, he looked down into the scowling face of Farmer Brown's
+boy, who was hiding behind the old tree trunk.
+
+Drummer didn't like the looks of that scowl, not a bit. And he
+didn't like the looks of the gun which Farmer Brown's boy had. He
+knew that Farmer Brown's boy was hiding there to shoot Reddy Fox,
+but Drummer was beginning to be afraid that Farmer Brown's boy
+might guess what all that drumming meant--that it was a warning
+to Reddy Fox. And if Farmer Brown's boy did guess that,
+why--why--anyway, on the other side of the tree there was a
+better place to drum. So Drummer the Woodpecker crept around to
+the other side of the tree and in a minute was drumming harder
+than ever. Whenever he stopped for breath, he looked out over the
+Green Meadows to see if Reddy Fox had heard his warning.
+
+But if Reddy had heard, he hadn't heeded. Just to show off before
+all the little meadow and forest people, Reddy had waited until
+Bowser the Hound had almost reached him. Then, with a saucy flirt
+of his tail, Reddy Fox started to show how fast he could run, and
+that is very fast indeed. It made Bowser the Hound seem very
+slow, as, with his nose to the ground, he came racing after
+Reddy, making a tremendous noise with his great voice.
+
+Now Reddy Fox had grown as careless as he had grown bold. Instead
+of looking sharply ahead, he looked this way and that way to see
+who was watching and admiring him. So he took no note of where he
+was going and started straight for the old tree trunk on which
+Drummer the Woodpecker was pounding out his warning of danger.
+
+Now Reddy Fox has sharp eyes and very quick ears. My, my, indeed
+he has! But just now Reddy was as deaf as if he had cotton
+stuffed in his ears. He was chuckling to himself to think how he
+was going to fool Bowser the Hound and how smart everyone would
+think him, when all of a sudden, he heard the
+rat-a-tat-tata-tat-tat of Drummer the Woodpecker and knew that
+that meant "Danger!"
+
+For just a wee little second it seemed to Reddy Fox that his
+heart stopped beating. He couldn't stop running, for he had let
+Bowser the Hound get too close for that. Reddy's sharp eyes saw
+Drummer the Woodpecker near the top of the old tree trunk and
+noticed that Drummer seemed to be looking at something down
+below. Reddy Fox gave one quick look at the foot of the old tree
+trunk and saw a gun pointed at him and behind the gun the
+freckled face of Farmer Brown's boy. Reddy Fox gave a little gasp
+of fright and turned so suddenly that he almost fell flat. Then
+he began to run as never in his life had he run before. It seemed
+as though his flying feet hardly touched the grass. His eyes were
+popping out with fright as with every jump he tried to run just a
+wee bit faster.
+
+Bang! Bang! Two flashes of fire and two puffs of smoke darted
+from behind the old tree trunk. Drummer the Woodpecker gave a
+frightened scream and flew deep into the Green Forest. Peter
+Rabbit flattened himself under a friendly bramble bush. Johnny
+Chuck dived headfirst down his doorway.
+
+Reddy Fox gave a yelp, a shrill little yelp of pain, and suddenly
+began to go lame. But Farmer Brown's boy didn't know that. He
+thought he had missed and he growled to himself:
+
+"I'll get that fox yet for stealing my pet chicken!"
+
+
+
+VIII. Granny Fox Takes Care of Reddy
+
+Reddy Fox was so sore and lame that he could hardly hobble. He
+had had the hardest kind of work to get far enough ahead of
+Bowser the Hound to mix his trail up so that Bowser couldn't
+follow it. Then he had limped home, big tears running down his
+nose, although he tried hard not to cry. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" moaned
+Reddy Fox, as he crept in at the doorway of his home.
+
+"What's the matter now?" snapped old Granny Fox, who had just
+waked up from a sun nap.
+
+"I--I've got hurt," said Reddy Fox, and began to cry harder.
+Granny Fox looked at Reddy sharply. "What have you been doing
+now--tearing your clothes on a barbed-wire fence or trying to
+crawl through a bull-briar thicket? I should think you were big
+enough by this time to look out for yourself!" said Granny Fox
+crossly, as she came over to look at Reddy's hurts.
+
+"Please don't scold, please don't, Granny Fox," begged Reddy, who
+was beginning to feel sick to his stomach as well as lame, and to
+smart dreadfully.
+
+Granny Fox took one look at Reddy's wounds, and knew right away
+what had happened. She made Reddy stretch himself out at full
+length and then she went to work on him, washing his wounds with
+the greatest care and binding them up. She was very gentle, was
+old Granny Fox, as she touched the sore places, but all the time
+she was at work her tongue flew, and that wasn't gentle at all.
+Oh, my, no! There was nothing gentle about that!
+
+You see, old Granny Fox is wise and very, very sharp and shrewd.
+Just as soon as she saw Reddy's hurts, she knew that they were
+made by shot from a gun, and that meant that Reddy Fox had been
+careless or he never, never would have been where he was in
+danger of being shot.
+
+"I hope this will teach you a lesson!" said Granny Fox. "What are
+your eyes and your ears and your nose for? To keep you out of
+just such trouble as this.
+
+"A little Fox must use his eyes
+Or get someday a sad surprise.
+
+"A little Fox must use his ears
+And know what makes each sound he hears.
+
+"A little Fox must use his nose
+And try the wind where'er he goes.
+
+"A little Fox must use all three
+To live to grow as old as me.
+
+"Now tell me all about it, Reddy Fox. This is summer and men
+don't hunt foxes now. I don't see how it happens that Farmer
+Brown's boy was waiting for you with a gun.
+
+So Reddy Fox told Granny Fox all about how he had run too near
+the old tree trunk behind which Farmer Brown's boy had been
+hiding, but Reddy didn't tell how he had been trying to show off,
+or how in broad daylight he had stolen the pet chicken of Farmer
+Brown's boy. You may be sure he was very careful not to mention
+that.
+
+And so old Granny Fox puckered up her brows and thought and
+thought, trying to find some good reason why Farmer Brown's boy
+should have been hunting in the summertime.
+
+"Caw, caw, caw!" shouted Blacky the Crow.
+
+The face of Granny Fox cleared. "Blacky the Crow has been
+stealing, and Farmer Brown's boy was out after him when Reddy
+came along," said Granny Fox, talking out loud to herself.
+
+Reddy Fox grew very red in the face, but he never said a word.
+
+
+
+IX. Peter Rabbit Hears the News
+
+Johnny Chuck came running up to the edge of the Old Briarpatch
+quite out of breath. You see, he is so round and fat and
+roly-poly that to run makes him puff and blow. Johnny Chuck's
+eyes danced with excitement as he peered into the Old
+Briar-patch, trying to see Peter Rabbit.
+
+"Peter! Peter Rabbit! Oh, Peter!" he called. No one answered.
+Johnny Chuck looked disappointed. It was the middle of the
+morning, and he had thought that Peter would surely be at home
+then. He would try once more. "Oh, you Peter Rabbit!" he shouted
+in such a high-pitched voice that it was almost a squeal.
+
+"What you want?" asked a sleepy voice from the middle of the Old
+Briar-patch.
+
+Johnny Chuck's face lighted up. "Come out here, Peter, where I
+can look at you," cried Johnny.
+
+"Go away, Johnny Chuck! I'm sleepy," said Peter Rabbit, and his
+voice sounded just a wee bit cross, for Peter had been out all
+night, a habit which Peter has.
+
+"I've got some news for you, Peter," called Johnny Chuck eagerly.
+
+"How do you know it's news to me?" asked Peter, and Johnny
+noticed that his voice wasn't quite so cross.
+
+"I'm almost sure it is, for I've just heard it myself, and I've
+hurried right down here to tell you because I think you'll want
+to know it," replied Johnny Chuck.
+
+"Pooh!" said Peter Rabbit, "it's probably as old as the hills to
+me. You folks who go to bed with the sun don't hear the news
+until it's old. What is it?"
+
+"It's about Reddy Fox," began Johnny Chuck, but Peter Rabbit
+interrupted him.
+
+"Shucks, Johnny Chuck! You are slow! Why, it was all over Green
+Meadows last night how Reddy Fox had been shot by Farmer Brown's
+boy!" jeered Peter Rabbit. "That's no news. And here you've waked
+me up to tell me something I knew before you went to bed last
+night! Serves Reddy Fox right. Hope he'll be lame for a week,"
+added Peter Rabbit.
+
+"He can't walk at all!" cried Johnny Chuck in triumph, sure now
+that Peter Rabbit hadn't heard the news.
+
+"What's that?" demanded Peter, and Johnny Chuck could hear him
+begin to hop along one of his little private paths in the heart
+of the Old Briar-patch. He knew now that Peter Rabbit's curiosity
+was aroused, and he smiled to himself.
+
+In a few minutes Peter thrust a sleepy-looking face out from the
+Old Briar-patch and grinned rather sheepishly. "What was that you
+were saying about Reddy Fox?" he asked again.
+
+"I've a good mind not to tell you, Mr. Know-it-all," exclaimed
+Johnny Chuck.
+
+"Oh, please, Johnny Chuck," pleaded Peter Rabbit.
+
+Finally Johnny gave in. "I said that Reddy Fox can't walk. Aren't
+you glad, Peter?"
+
+"How do you know?" asked Peter, for Peter is very suspicious of
+Reddy Fox, and has to watch out for his tricks all the time.
+
+"Jimmy Skunk told me. He was up by Reddy's house early this
+morning and saw Reddy try to walk. He tried and tried and
+couldn't. You won't have to watch out for Reddy Fox for some
+time, Peter. Serves him right, doesn't it?''
+
+"Let's go up and see if it really is true!" said Peter suddenly.
+
+"All right," said Johnny Chuck, and off they started.
+
+
+
+X. Poor Reddy Fox
+
+Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck stole up the hill toward the home
+of Reddy Fox. As they drew near, they crept from one bunch of
+grass to another and from bush to bush, stopping behind each to
+look and listen. They were not taking any chances. Johnny Chuck
+was not much afraid of Reddy Fox, for he had whipped him once,
+but he was afraid of old Granny Fox. Peter Rabbit was afraid of
+both. The nearer he got to the home of Reddy Fox, the more
+anxious and nervous he grew. You see, Reddy Fox had played so
+many tricks to try and catch Peter that Peter was not quite sure
+that this was not another trick. So he kept a sharp watch in
+every direction, ready to run at the least sign of danger.
+
+When they had tiptoed and crawled to a point where they could see
+the doorstep of the Fox home, Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck lay
+down in a clump of bushes and watched. Pretty soon they saw old
+Granny Fox come out. She sniffed the wind and then she started
+off at a quick run down the Lone Little Path. Johnny Chuck gave a
+sigh of relief, for he wasn't afraid of Reddy and now he felt
+safe. But Peter Rabbit was just as watchful as ever.
+
+"I've got to see Reddy for myself before I'll go a step nearer,
+he whispered. Just then Johnny Chuck put a hand on his lips and
+pointed with the other hand. There was Reddy Fox crawling out of
+his doorway into the sun. Peter Rabbit leaned forward to see
+better. Was Reddy Fox really so badly hurt, or was he only
+pretending?
+
+Reddy Fox crawled painfully out onto his doorstep. He tried to
+stand and walk, but he couldn't because he was too stiff and
+sore. So he just crawled. He didn't know that anyone was watching
+him, and with every movement he made a face. That was because it
+hurt so.
+
+Peter Rabbit, watching from the clump of bushes, knew then that
+Reddy was not pretending. He knew that he had nothing, not the
+least little thing, to fear from Reddy Fox. So Peter gave a whoop
+of joy and sprang out into view.
+
+Reddy looked up and tried to grin, but made a face of pain
+instead. You see, it hurt so to move.
+
+"I suppose you're tickled to death to see me like this," he
+growled to Peter Rabbit.
+
+Now Peter had every reason to be glad, for Reddy Fox had tried
+his best to catch Peter Rabbit to give to old Granny Fox for her
+dinner, and time and again Peter had just barely escaped. So at
+first Peter Rabbit had whooped with joy. But as he saw how very
+helpless Reddy really was and how much pain he felt, suddenly
+Peter Rabbit's big, soft eyes filled with tears of pity.
+
+He forgot all about the threats of Reddy Fox and how Reddy had
+tried to trick him. He forgot all about how mean Reddy had been.
+
+"Poor Reddy Fox," said Peter Rabbit. "Poor Reddy Fox."
+
+
+
+XI. Granny Fox Returns
+
+Up over the hill trotted old Granny Fox. She was on her way home
+with a tender young chicken for Reddy Fox. Poor Reddy! Of course,
+it was his own fault, for he had been showing off and he had been
+careless or he never would have gone so near to the old tree
+trunk behind which Farmer Brown's boy was hiding.
+
+But old Granny Fox didn't know this. She never makes such
+mistakes herself. Oh, my, no! So now, as she came up over the
+hill to a place where she could see her home, she laid the
+chicken down and then she crept behind a little bush and looked
+all over the Green Meadows to see if the way was clear. She knew
+that Bowser the Hound was chained up. She had seen Farmer Brown
+and Farmer Brown's boy hoeing in the cornfield, so she had
+nothing to fear from them.
+
+Looking over to her doorstep, she saw Reddy Fox lying in the sun,
+and then she saw something else, something that made her eyes
+flash and her teeth come together with a snap. It was Peter
+Rabbit sitting up very straight, not ten feet from Reddy Fox.
+
+"So that's that young scamp of a Peter Rabbit whom Reddy was
+going to catch for me when I was sick and couldn't! I'll just
+show Reddy Fox how easily it can be done, and he shall have
+tender young rabbit with his chicken!" said Granny Fox to
+herself.
+
+So first she studied and studied every clump of grass and every
+bush behind which she could creep. She saw that she could get
+almost to where Peter Rabbit was sitting and never once show
+herself to him. Then she looked this way and looked that way to
+make sure that no one was watching her.
+
+No one did she see on the Green Meadows who was looking her way.
+Then Granny Fox began to crawl from one clump of grass to another
+and from bush to bush. Sometimes she wriggled along flat on her
+stomach. Little by little she was drawing nearer and nearer to
+Peter Rabbit.
+
+Now with all her smartness old Granny Fox had forgotten one
+thing. Yes, Sir, she had forgotten one thing. Never once had she
+thought to look up in the sky.
+
+And there was Ol' Mistah Buzzard sailing round and round and
+looking down and seeing all that was going on below.
+
+Ol' Mistah Buzzard is sharp. He knew just what old Granny Fox was
+planning to do--knew it as well as if he had read her thoughts.
+His eyes twinkled.
+
+"Ah cert'nly can't allow li'l' Brer Rabbit to be hurt, Ah
+cert'nly can't!" muttered Ol' Mistah Buzzard, and chuckled.
+
+Then he slanted his broad wings downward and without a sound slid
+down out of the sky till he was right behind Granny Fox. 
+
+"Do yo' always crawl home, Granny Fox?" asked Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
+
+Granny Fox was so startled, for she hadn't heard a sound, that
+she jumped almost out of her skin. Of course Peter Rabbit saw her
+then, and was off like a shot.
+
+Granny Fox showed all her teeth. "I wish you would mind your own
+business, Mistah Buzzard!" she snarled.
+
+"Cert'nly, cert'nly, Ah sho'ly will!" replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard,
+and sailed up into the blue, blue sky.
+
+
+
+XII. The Lost Chicken
+
+When old Granny Fox had laid down the chicken she was bringing
+home to Reddy Fox to try to catch Peter Rabbit, she had meant to
+go right back and get it as soon as she had caught Peter. Now she
+saw Peter going across the Green Meadows, lipperty-lipperty-lip,
+as fast as he could go. She was so angry that she hopped up and
+down. She tore up the grass and ground her long, white teeth. She
+glared up at Ol' Mistah Buzzard, who had warned Peter Rabbit, but
+all she could do was to scold, and that didn't do her much good,
+for in a few minutes Ol' Mistah Buzzard was so far up in the
+blue, blue sky that he couldn't hear a word she was saying. My,
+my, but old Granny Fox certainly was angry! If she hadn't been so
+angry she might have seen Johnny Chuck lying as flat as he could
+make himself behind a big clump of grass.
+
+Johnny Chuck was scared. Yes, indeed, Johnny Chuck was dreadfully
+scared. He had fought Reddy Fox and whipped him, but he knew that
+old Granny Fox would be too much for him. So it was with great
+relief that Johnny Chuck saw her stop tearing up the grass and
+trot over to see how Reddy Fox was getting along. Then Johnny
+Chuck crept along until he was far enough away to run. How he did
+run! He was so fat and roly-poly that he was all out of breath
+when he reached home, and so tired that he just dropped down on
+his doorstep and panted.
+
+"Serves me right for having so much curiosity," said Johnny Chuck
+to himself. 
+
+Reddy Fox looked up as old Granny Fox came hurrying home. He was
+weak and very, very hungry. But he felt sure that old Granny Fox
+would bring him something nice for his breakfast, and as soon as
+he heard her footsteps his mouth began to water.
+
+"Did you bring me something nice, Granny?" asked Reddy Fox.
+
+Now old Granny Fox had been so put out by the scare she had had
+and by her failure to catch Peter Rabbit that she had forgotten
+all about the chicken she had left up on the hill. When Reddy
+spoke, she remembered it, and the thought of having to go way
+back after it didn't improve her temper a bit.
+
+"No!" she snapped. "I haven't!--You don't deserve any breakfast
+anyway. If you had any gumption"--that's the word Granny Fox
+used, gumption--"if you had any gumption at all, you wouldn't
+have gotten in trouble, and could get your own breakfast."
+
+Reddy Fox didn't know what gumption meant, but he did know that
+he was very, very hungry, and do what he would, he couldn't keep
+back a couple of big tears of disappointment. Granny Fox saw
+them.
+
+"There, there, Reddy! Don't cry. I've got a fine fat chicken for
+you up on the hill, and I'll run back and get it," said Granny
+Fox.
+
+So off she started up the hill to the place where she had left
+the chicken when she started to try to catch Peter Rabbit. When
+she got there, there wasn't any chicken. No, Sir, there was no
+chicken at all--just a few feathers. Granny Fox could hardly
+believe her own eyes. She looked this way and she looked that
+way, but there was no chicken, just a few feathers. Old Granny
+Fox flew into a greater rage than before.
+
+
+
+XIII. Granny Fox Calls Jimmy Skunk Names
+
+Granny Fox couldn't believe her own eyes. No, Sir, she couldn't
+believe her own eyes, and she rubbed them two or three times to
+make sure that she was seeing right. That chicken certainly had
+disappeared, and left no trace of where it had gone.
+
+It was very queer. Old Granny Fox sat down to think who would
+dare steal anything from her. Then she walked in a big circle
+with her nose to the ground, sniffing and sniffing. What was she
+doing that for? Why, to see if she could find the tracks of
+anyone who might have stolen her chicken.
+
+"Aha!" exclaimed old Granny Fox, starting to run along the top of
+the hill, her nose to the ground. "Aha! I'll catch him this
+time!"
+
+In a few minutes she began to run more slowly, and every two or
+three steps she would look ahead. Suddenly her eyes snapped, and
+she began to creep almost flat on her stomach, just as she had
+crept for Peter Rabbit. But it wasn't Peter Rabbit this time. It
+was--who do you think? Jimmy Skunk! Yes, Sir, it was Jimmy Skunk.
+He was slowly ambling along, for Jimmy Skunk never hurries. Every
+big stick or stone that he could move, he would pull over or look
+under, for Jimmy Skunk was hunting for beetles.
+
+Old Granny Fox watched him. "He must have a tremendous appetite
+to be hunting for beetles after eating my chicken!" muttered she.
+Then she jumped out in front of Jimmy Skunk, her eyes snapping,
+her teeth showing, and the hair on her back standing on end so as
+to make her look very fierce. But all the time old Granny Fox
+took the greatest care not to get too near to Jimmy Skunk.
+
+"Where's my chicken?" snarled old Granny Fox, and she looked
+very, very fierce.
+
+Jimmy Skunk looked up as if very much surprised. "Hello, Granny
+Fox!" he exclaimed. "Have you lost a chicken?"
+
+"You've stolen it! You're a thief, Jimmy Skunk!" snapped Granny
+Fox.
+
+"Words can never make black white;
+Before you speak be sure you're right,"
+
+said Jimmy Skunk. "I'm not a thief."
+
+"You are!" cried Granny working herself into a great rage.
+
+"I'm not!"
+
+"You are!"
+
+All the time Jimmy Skunk was chuckling to himself, and the more
+he chuckled the angrier grew old Granny Fox. And all the time
+Jimmy Skunk kept moving toward old Granny Fox and Granny Fox kept
+backing away, for, like all the other little meadow and forest
+people, she has very great respect for Jimmy Skunk's little bag
+of scent.
+
+Now, backing off that way, she couldn't see where she was going,
+and the first thing she knew she had backed into a bramble bush.
+It tore her skirts and scratched her legs. "Ooch!" cried old
+Granny Fox.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Jimmy Skunk. "That's what you get for
+calling me names.
+
+
+
+XIV. Granny Fox Finds What Became of the Chicken
+
+Old Granny Fox was in a terrible temper. Dear, dear, it certainly
+was a dreadful temper! Jimmy Skunk laughed at her, and that made
+it worse. When he saw this, Jimmy Skunk just rolled over and over
+on the ground and shouted, he was so tickled. Of course, it
+wasn't the least bit nice of Jimmy Skunk, but you know that
+Granny Fox had been calling Jimmy a thief. Then Jimmy doesn't
+like Granny Fox anyway, nor do any of the other little meadow and
+forest people, for most of them are very much afraid of her.
+
+When old Granny Fox finally got out of the bramble bush, she
+didn't stop to say anything more to Jimmy Skunk, but hurried
+away, muttering and grumbling and grinding her teeth. Old Granny
+Fox wasn't pleasant to meet just then, and when Bobby Coon saw
+her coming, he just thought it best to get out of her way, so he
+climbed a tree.
+
+It wasn't that Bobby Coon was afraid of old Granny Fox. Bless
+you, no! Bobby Coon isn't a bit afraid of her. It was because he
+had a full stomach and was feeling too good-natured and lazy to
+quarrel.
+
+"Good morning, Granny Fox. I hope you are feeling well this 
+morning," said Bobby Coon, as old Granny Fox came trotting
+under the tree he was sitting in.  Granny Fox looked up and
+glared at him with yellow eyes.
+
+"It isn't a good morning and I'm not feeling fine!" she snapped.
+
+"My goodness, how you have torn your skirts!" exclaimed Bobby
+Coon.
+
+Old Granny Fox started to say something unpleasant. Then she
+changed her mind and instead she sat down and told Bobby Coon all
+her troubles. As she talked, Bobby Coon kept ducking his head
+behind a branch of the tree to hide a smile. Finally Granny Fox
+noticed it.
+
+"What do you keep ducking your head for, Bobby Coon?" she asked
+suspiciously. 
+
+"I'm just looking to see if I can see any feathers from that
+chicken," replied Bobby Coon gravely, though his eyes were
+twinkling with mischief.
+
+"Well, do you?" demanded old Granny Fox.
+
+And just then Bobby Coon did. They were not on the ground,
+however, but floating in the air. Bobby Coon leaned out to see
+where they came from, and Granny Fox turned to look, too. What do
+you think they saw? Why, sitting on a tall, dead tree was Mr.
+Goshawk, just then swallowing the last of Granny's chicken.
+
+"Thief! thief! robber! robber!" shrieked old Granny Fox.
+
+But Mr. Goshawk said nothing, just winked at Bobby Coon, puffed
+out his feathers, and settled himself for a comfortable nap.
+
+
+
+XV. Reddy Fox Has a Visitor
+
+Hardly was old Granny Fox out of sight on her way to hunt for the
+chicken she had left on the hill, when Unc' Billy Possum came
+strolling along the Lone Little Path. He was humming to himself,
+for he had just had a good breakfast. One of the Merry Little
+Breezes spied him and hurried to meet him and tell him about how
+Reddy Fox had been shot.
+
+Unc' Billy listened, and the grin with which he had greeted the
+Merry Little Breeze grew into a broad smile.
+
+"Are yo' all sure about that?" he asked.
+
+The Merry Little Breeze was sure.
+
+Unc' Billy Possum stopped for a few minutes and considered.
+
+"Serves that no 'count Reddy Fox right," chuckled Unc' Billy. "He
+done spoil mah hunting at Farmer Brown's, he raised such a fuss
+among the hens up there. 'Tisn't safe to go there any mo'! No,
+Suh, 'tisn't safe, and it won't be safe for a right smart while.
+Did yo' say that Granny Fox is home?"
+
+The Merry Little Breeze hadn't said anything about Granny Fox,
+but now remembered that she had gone up the hill.
+
+"Ah believe Ah will just tote my sympathy over to Reddy Fox,"
+said Unc' Billy Possum, as he started in the direction of Reddy
+Fox's house. But he made sure that old Granny Fox was not at home
+before he showed himself. Reddy Fox lay on his doorstep. He was
+sick and sore and stiff. Indeed, he was so stiff he couldn't walk
+at all. And he was weak--weak and hungry, dreadfully hungry. When
+he heard footsteps, he thought old Granny Fox was bringing him
+the chicken after which she had gone. He felt too ill even to
+turn his head.
+
+"Did you get the chicken, Granny?" he asked weakly. No one
+answered. "I say, did you get the chicken, Granny?" Reddy's voice
+sounded a little sharp and cross as he asked this time.
+
+Still there was no reply, and Reddy began to be a little bit
+suspicious. He turned over and raised his head to look. Instead
+of old Granny Fox, there was Unc' Billy Possum grinning at him.
+
+"Smarty, Smarty is a thief!
+ Smarty, Smarty came to grief!
+ Tried to show off just for fun
+ And ran too near a loaded gun.
+
+"Yo' all certainly has got just what yo' deserve, and Ah'm glad
+of it! Ah'm glad of it, Suh!" said Unc' Billy Possum severely.
+
+An angry light came into the eyes of Reddy Fox and made them an
+ugly yellow for just a minute. But he felt too sick to quarrel.
+Unc' Billy Possum saw this. He saw how Reddy was really
+suffering, and down deep in his heart Unc' Billy was truly sorry
+for him. But he didn't let Reddy know it. No, indeed! He just
+pretended to be tickled to death to see Reddy Fox so helpless. He
+didn't dare stay long, for fear Granny Fox would return. So,
+after saying a few more things to make Reddy feel uncomfortable,
+Unc' Billy started off up the Lone Little Path toward the Green
+Forest.
+
+"Too bad! Too bad!" he muttered to himself. "If ol' Granny Fox
+isn't smart enough to get Reddy enough to eat, Ah'll have to
+see what we-alls can do. Ah cert'nly will."
+
+
+
+XVI. Unc' Billy Possum Visits the Smiling Pool
+
+Joe Otter and Billy Mink were sitting on the Big Rock in the
+Smiling Pool. Because they had nothing else to do, they were
+planning mischief. Jerry Muskrat was busy filling his new house
+with food for the winter. He was too busy to get into mischief.
+
+Suddenly Billy Mink put a finger on his lips as a warning to
+Little Joe Otter to keep perfectly still. Billy's sharp eyes had
+seen something moving over in the bulrushes. Together he and
+Little Joe Otter watched, ready to dive into the Smiling Pool at
+the first sign of danger. In a few minutes the rushes parted and
+a sharp little old face peered out. Little Joe Otter and Billy
+Mink each sighed with relief, and their eyes began to dance. "Hi,
+Unc' Billy Possum!" shouted Billy Mink.
+
+A grin crept over the sharp little old face peering out from the
+bulrushes.
+
+"Hi, yo'self!" he shouted, for it really was Unc' Billy Possum.
+
+"What are you doing over here?" called Little Joe Otter.
+
+"Just a-looking round," replied Unc' Billy Possum, his eyes
+twinkling.
+
+"Have you heard about Reddy Fox?" shouted Billy Mink.
+
+"Ah done jes' come from his home," replied Unc' Billy Possum.
+
+"How is he?" asked Little Joe Otter.
+
+"Po'ly, he sho'ly is po'ly," replied Unc' Billy Possum, shaking
+his head soberly. Then Unc' Billy told Billy Mink and Little Joe
+Otter how Reddy Fox was so stiff and sore and sick that he
+couldn't get anything to eat for himself, and how old Granny Fox
+had lost a chicken which she had caught for him.
+
+"Serves him right!" exclaimed Billy Mink, who has never forgotten
+how Reddy Fox fooled him and caught the most fish once upon a
+time.
+
+Unc' Billy nodded his head. "Yo' are right. Yo' cert'nly are
+right. Yes, Suh, Ah reckons yo' are right. Was yo' ever hungry,
+Billy Mink--real hungry?" asked Unc' Billy Possum.
+
+Billy Mink thought of the time when he went without his dinner
+because Mr. Night Heron had gobbled it up, when Billy had left
+it in a temper. He nodded his head.
+
+"Ah was just a-wondering," continued Une' Billy Possum, "how it
+would seem to be right smart powerful hungry and not be able to
+hunt fo' anything to eat."
+
+For a few minutes no one said a word. Then Billy Mink stood up
+and stretched. "Good-by," said Billy Mink.
+
+"Where are you going so suddenly?" demanded Little Joe Otter.
+
+"I'm going to catch a fish and take it up to Reddy Fox, if you
+must know!" snapped Billy Mink.
+
+"Good!" cried Little Joe Otter. "You needn't think that you can
+have all the fun to yourself either, Billy Mink. I'm going with
+you."
+
+There was a splash in the Smiling Pool, and Unc' Billy Possum was
+left looking out on nothing but the Smiling Pool and the Big
+Rock. He smiled to himself as he turned away. "Ah reckon Ah'll
+sho' have to do my share, too," said he.
+
+And so it happened that when old Granny Fox finally reached home
+with nothing but a little wood mouse for Reddy, she found him
+taking a nap, his stomach as full as it could be. And just a
+little way off were two fish tails and the feathers of a little
+duck.
+
+
+
+XVII. Farmer Brown's Boy Is Determined
+
+Farmer Brown's boy had made up his mind. When he shut his teeth
+with a click and drew his lips together into a thin, straight
+line, those who knew him were sure that Farmer Brown's boy had
+made up his mind. That is just what he had done now. He was
+cleaning his gun, and as he worked he was thinking of his pet
+chicken and of all the other chickens that Reddy Fox had taken.
+
+"I'm going to get that fox if it takes all summer!" exclaimed
+Farmer Brown's boy. "I ought to have gotten him the other day
+when I had a shot at him. Next time well, we'll see, Mr. Fox,
+what will happen next time."
+
+Now someone heard Farmer Brown's boy, heard everything he said,
+though Farmer Brown's boy didn't know it. It was Unc' Billy
+Possum, who was hiding in the very pile of wood on which Farmer
+Brown's boy was sitting. Unc' Billy pricked up his ears.
+
+He didn't like the tone of voice in which Farmer Brown's boy
+spoke. He thought of Reddy Fox still so stiff and sore and lame
+that he could hardly walk, all from the shot which Farmer Brown's
+boy thought had missed.
+
+"There isn't gwine to be any next time. No, Suh, there isn't
+gwine to be any next time. Ah sho'ly doan love Reddy Fox, but Ah
+can't nohow let him be shot again. Ah cert'nly can't!" muttered
+Unc' Billy Possum to himself.
+
+Of course, Farmer Brown's boy didn't hear him. He didn't hear him
+and he didn't see him when Unc' Billy Possum crept out of the
+back side of the woodpile and scurried under the henhouse. He was
+too intent on his plan to catch Reddy Fox.
+
+"I'm just going to hunt over the Green Meadows and through the
+Green Forest until I get that fox!" said Farmer Brown's boy, and
+as he said it he looked very fierce, as if he really meant it.
+"I'm not going to have my chickens stolen any more! No, Sir-e-e!
+That fox has got a home somewhere on the Green Meadows or in the
+Green Forest, and I'm going to find it. Then watch out, Mr. Fox!"
+
+Farmer Brown's boy whistled for Bowser the Hound and started for
+the Green Forest.
+
+Unc' Billy Possum poked his sharp little old face out from under
+the henhouse and watched them go. Usually Unc' Billy is grinning,
+but now there wasn't any grin, not the least sign of one. Instead
+Unc' Billy Possum looked worried.
+
+"There goes that boy with a gun, and nobody knows what'll happen
+when it goes off. If he can't find Reddy Fox, just as likely as
+not he'll point it at somebody else just fo' fun. Ah hope he doan
+meet up with mah ol' woman or any of mah li'l' pickaninnies. Ah'm
+plumb afraid of a boy with a gun, Ah am. 'Pears like he doan have
+any sense. Ah reckon Ah better be moving along right smart and
+tell mah family to stay right close in the ol' hollow tree,"
+muttered Unc' Billy Possum, slipping out from his hiding place.
+Then Unc' Billy began to run as fast as he could toward the Green
+Forest.
+
+
+
+XVIII. The Hunt for Reddy Fox
+
+"Trouble, trouble, trouble, I feel it in the air;
+Trouble, trouble, trouble, it's round me everywhere."
+
+Old Granny Fox muttered this over and over, as she kept walking
+around uneasily and sniffing the air.
+
+"I don't see any trouble and I don't feel any trouble in the air.
+It's all in the sore places where I was shot," said Reddy Fox,
+who was stretched out on the doorstep of their home.
+
+"That's because you haven't got any sense. When you do get some
+and learn to look where you are going, you won't get shot from
+behind old tree trunks and you will be able to feel trouble when
+it is near, without waiting for it to show itself. Now I feel
+trouble. You go down into the house and stay there!" Granny Fox
+stopped to test the air with her nose, just as she had been
+testing it for the last ten minutes.
+
+"I don't want to go in," whined Reddy Fox. "It's nice and warm
+out here, and I feel a lot better than when I am curled up way
+down there in the dark."
+
+Old Granny Fox turned, and her eyes blazed as she looked at Reddy
+Fox. She didn't say a word. She didn't have to. Reddy just
+crawled into his house, muttering to himself. Granny stuck her
+head in at the door.
+
+"Don't you come out until I come back," she ordered. Then she
+added: "Farmer Brown's boy is coming with his gun."
+
+Reddy Fox shivered when he heard that. He didn't believe Granny
+Fox. He thought she was saying that just to scare him and make
+him stay inside. But he shivered just the same. You see, he knew
+now what it meant to be shot, for he was still too stiff and sore
+to run, all because he had gone too near Farmer Brown's boy and
+his gun.
+
+But old Granny Fox had not been fooling when she told Reddy Fox
+that Farmer Brown's boy was coming with a gun. It was true. He
+was coming down the Lone Little Path, and ahead of him was
+trotting Bowser the Hound. How did old Granny Fox know it? She
+just felt it! She didn't hear them, she didn't see them, and she
+didn't smell them; she just felt that they were coming. So as
+soon as she saw that Reddy Fox had obeyed her, she was off like a
+little red flash.
+
+"It won't do to let them find our home," said Granny to herself,
+as she disappeared in the Green Forest.
+
+First she hurried to a little point on the hill where she could
+look down the Lone Little Path. Just as she expected, she saw
+Farmer Brown's boy, and ahead of him, sniffing at every bush and
+all along the Lone Little Path, was Bowser the Hound. Old Granny
+Fox waited to see no more. She ran as fast as she could in a big
+circle which brought her out on the Lone Little Path below Farmer
+Brown's boy and Bowser the Hound, but where they couldn't see
+her, because of a turn in the Lone Little Path. She trotted down
+the Lone Little Path a very little way and then turned into the
+woods and hurried back up the hill, where she sat down and
+waited. In a few minutes she heard Bowser's great voice. He had
+smelled her track in the Lone Little Path and was following it.
+Old Granny Fox grinned. You see, she was planning to lead them
+far, far away from the home where Reddy Fox was hiding, for it
+would not do to have them find it.
+
+And Farmer Brown's boy also grinned, as he heard the voice of
+Bowser the Hound.
+
+"I'll hunt that fox until I get him," he said. You see, he didn't
+know anything about old Granny Fox; he thought Bowser was
+following Reddy Fox.
+
+
+
+XIX Unc' Billy Possum Gives Warning
+
+"What's the matter with you, Unc' Billy? You look as if you had
+lost your last friend." It was Jimmy Skunk who spoke.
+
+Unc' Billy Possum stopped short. He had been hurrying so fast
+that he hadn't seen Jimmy Skunk at all.
+
+"Matter enuff, Suh! Matter enuff!" said Unc' Billy Possum,
+when he could get his breath. "Do you hear that noise?"
+
+"Sure, I hear that noise. That's only Bowser the Hound chasing
+old Granny Fox. When she gets tired she'll lose him," replied
+Jimmy Skunk. "What are you worrying about Bowser the Hound for?"
+
+"Bowser the Hound will have to be smarter than he is now befo' he
+can worry me, Ah reckon," said Unc' Billy Possum scornfully. "It
+isn't Bowser the Hound; it's Farmer Brown's boy and his gun!"
+Then Unc' Billy told Jimmy Skunk how he had been hiding in the
+woodpile at Farmer Brown's and had heard Farmer Brown's boy say
+that he was going to hunt over the Green Meadows and through the
+Green Forest until he got Reddy Fox.
+
+"What of it?" asked Jimmy Skunk. "If he gets Reddy Fox, so much
+the better. Reddy always did make trouble for other people. I
+don't see what you're worrying about Reddy Fox for. He's big
+enough to take care of himself."
+
+"Yo' cert'nly are plumb slow in your wits this morning, Jimmy
+Skunk, yo' cert'nly are plumb slow! Supposing yo' should meet up
+with Farmer Brown's boy with that gun in his hands and supposing
+he had grown tired of watching fo' Reddy Fox. That gun might go
+off, Jimmy Skunk; it might go off when it was pointing right
+straight at yo'!" said Unc' Billy Possum.
+
+Jimmy Skunk looked serious. "That's so, Unc' Billy, that's so!"
+he said. "Boys with guns do get dreadfully careless, dreadfully
+careless. They don't seem to think anything about the feelings of
+those likely to get hurt when the gun goes off. What was you
+thinking of doing, Unc' Billy?"
+
+"Just passing the word along so everybody in the Green Meadows
+and in the Green Forest will keep out of the way of Farmer
+Brown's boy," replied Unc' Billy Possum.
+
+"Good idea, Unc' Billy! I'll help you," said Jimmy Skunk.
+
+So Unc' Billy Possum went one way, and Jimmy Skunk went another
+way. And everyone they told hurried to tell someone else. Happy
+Jack Squirrel told Chatterer the Red Squirrel; Chatterer told
+Striped Chipmunk, and Striped Chipmunk told Danny Meadow Mouse.
+Danny Meadow Mouse told Johnny Chuck; Johnny Chuck told Peter
+Rabbit; Peter Rabbit told Jumper the Hare; Jumper the Hare told
+Prickly Porky; Prickly Porky told Bobby Coon; Bobby Coon told
+Billy Mink; Billy Mink told Little Joe Otter; Little Joe Otter
+told Jerry Muskrat, and Jerry Muskrat told Grandfather Frog. And
+everybody hastened to hide from Farmer Brown's boy and his
+terrible gun.
+
+By and by Farmer Brown's boy noticed how still it was in the
+Green Forest. Nowhere did he see or hear a bird. Nowhere could he
+catch a glimpse of anybody who wore fur.
+
+"That fox must have scared away all the other animals and driven
+away all the birds. I'll get him! See if I don't!" muttered
+Farmer Brown's boy, and never once guessed that they were hiding
+from him.
+
+
+
+XX. Old Granny Fox Makes a Mistake
+
+Old Granny Fox was running through the overgrown old pasture, way
+up back of Farmer Brown's. She was cross and tired and hot, for
+it was a very warm day. Behind her came Bowser the Hound, his
+nose in Granny s tracks, and making a great noise with his big
+voice. Granny Fox was cross because she was tired. She hadn't
+done much running lately. She didn't mind running when the
+weather was cold, but now--"Oh dear, it is hot!" sighed old
+Granny Fox, as she stopped a minute to rest.
+
+Now old Granny Fox is very, very smart and very, very wise. She
+knows all the tricks with which foxes fool those who try to catch
+them. She knew that she could fool Bowser the Hound and puzzle
+him so that he wouldn't be able to follow her track at all. But
+she wasn't ready to do that yet. No, indeed! Old Granny Fox was
+taking great care to see that her tracks were easy to follow. She
+wanted Bowser the Hound to follow them, although it made her
+tired and hot and cross. Why did she? Well, you see, she was
+trying to lead him, and with him Farmer Brown's boy, far, far
+away from the home where Reddy Fox was nursing the wounds that he
+had received when Farmer Brown's boy had shot at him a few days
+before.
+
+"Bow, wow, wow!" roared Bowser the Hound, following every twist
+and turn which Granny Fox made, just as she wanted him to. Back
+and forth across the old pasture and way up among the rocks on
+the edge of the mountain Granny Fox led Bowser the Hound. It was
+a long, long, long way from the Green Meadows and the Green
+Forest. Granny Fox had made it a long way purposely. She was
+willing to be tired herself if she could also tire Bowser the
+Hound and Farmer Brown's boy. She wanted to tire them so that
+when she finally puzzled and fooled them and left them there,
+they would be too tired to go back to the Green Meadows.
+
+By and by Granny Fox came to a hole in the ground, an old house
+that had once belonged to her grandfather. Now this old house had
+a back door hidden close beside the hollow trunk of a fallen
+tree. Old Granny Fox just ran through the house, out the back
+door, through the hollow tree, and then jumped into a little
+brook where there was hardly more than enough water to wet her
+feet. Walking in the water, she left no scent in her tracks.
+
+Bowser the Hound came roaring up to the front door of the old
+house. Granny's tracks led right inside, and Bowser grew so
+excited that he made a tremendous noise. At last he had found
+where Granny Fox lived; at least he thought he had. He was sure
+that she was inside, for there were her fresh tracks going inside
+and none coming out. Bowser the Hound never once thought of
+looking for a back door. If he had, he wouldn't have been any the
+wiser, because, you know, old Granny Fox had slipped away through
+the hollow tree trunk.
+
+Granny Fox grinned as she listened to the terrible fuss Bowser
+was making. Then, when she had rested a little, she stole up on
+the hill where she could look down and see the entrance to the
+old deserted house. She watched Bowser digging and barking.After
+a while a worried look crept into the face of old Granny Fox.
+
+"Where's Farmer Brown's boy? I thought surely he would follow
+Bowser the Hound," she muttered.
+
+
+
+XXI. Reddy Fox Disobeys
+
+When old Granny Fox had sent Reddy Fox into the house and told
+him to stay there until she returned home, he had not wanted to
+mind, but he knew that Granny Fox meant just what she said, and
+so he had crawled slowly down the long hall to the bedroom, way
+underground.
+
+Pretty soon Reddy Fox heard a voice. It was very faint, for you
+know Reddy was in his bedroom way underground, but he knew it. He
+pricked up his ears and listened. It was the voice of Bowser the
+Hound, and Reddy knew by the sound that Bowser was chasing Granny
+Fox.
+
+Reddy grinned. He wasn't at all worried about Granny Fox, not the
+least little bit. He knew how smart she was and that whenever she
+wanted to, she could get rid of Bowser the Hound. Then a sudden
+thought popped into Reddy's head, and he grew sober.
+
+"Granny did feel trouble coming, just as she said," he thought.
+
+Then Reddy Fox curled himself up and tried to sleep. He intended
+to mind and not put his little black nose outside until old
+Granny Fox returned. But somehow Reddy couldn't get to sleep. His
+bedroom was small, and he was so stiff and sore that he could not
+get comfortable. He twisted and turned and fidgeted. The more he
+fidgeted, the more uncomfortable he grew. He thought of the warm
+sunshine outside and how comfortable he would be, stretched out
+full length on the doorstep. It would take the soreness out of
+his legs. Something must have happened to Granny to keep her so
+long. If she had known that she was going to be gone such a long
+time, she wouldn't have told him to stay until she came back,
+thought Reddy.
+
+By and by Reddy Fox crept a little way up the long, dark hall. He
+could just see the sunlight on the doorstep. Pretty soon he went
+a little bit nearer. He wasn't going to disobey old Granny Fox.
+Oh, no! No, indeed! She had told him to stay in the house until
+she returned. She hadn't said that he couldn't look out! Reddy
+crawled a little nearer to the open door and the sunlight.
+
+"Granny Fox is getting old and timid. Just as if my eyes aren't
+as sharp as hers! I'd like to see Farmer Brown's boy get near me
+when I am really on the watch," said Reddy Fox to himself. And
+then he crept a little nearer to the open door.
+
+How bright and warm and pleasant it did look outside! Reddy just
+knew that he would feel ever and ever so much better if he could
+stretch out on the doorstep. He could hear Jenny Wren fussing and
+scolding at someone or something, and he wondered what it could
+be. He crept just a wee bit nearer. He could hear Bowser's voice,
+but it was so faint that he had to prick up his sharp little ears
+and listen with all his might to hear it at all.
+
+"Granny's led them way off on the mountain. Good old Granny!"
+thought Reddy Fox. Then he crawled right up to the very doorway.
+He could still hear Jenny Wren scolding and fussing.
+
+"What does ail her?
+
+ "If it's hot or if it's cold,
+ Jenny Wren will always scold.
+ From morn till night the whole day long
+ Her limber tongue is going strong.
+
+"I'm going to find out what it means," said Reddy, talking to
+himself.
+
+Reddy Fox poked his head out and--looked straight into the
+freckled face of Farmer Brown's boy and the muzzle of that
+dreadful gun!
+
+
+
+XXII. Ol' Mistah Buzzard's Keen Sight
+
+Old Granny Fox had thought that when she fooled Bowser the Hound
+up in the old pasture on the edge of the mountain she could take
+her time going home. She was tired and hot, and she had planned
+to pick out the shadiest paths going back. She had thought that
+Farmer Brown's boy would soon join Bowser the Hound, when Bowser
+made such a fuss about having found the old house into which
+Granny Fox had run.
+
+But Farmer Brown's boy had not yet appeared, and Granny Fox was
+getting worried. Could it be that he had not followed Bowser the
+Hound, after all? Granny Fox went out on a high point and looked,
+but she could see nothing of Farmer Brown's boy and his gun. Just
+then Ol' Mistah Buzzard came sailing down out of the blue, blue
+sky and settled himself on a tall, dead tree. Now Granny Fox
+hadn't forgotten how Ol' Mistah Buzzard had warned Peter Rabbit
+just as she was about to pounce on him, but she suddenly thought
+that Ol' Mistah Buzzard might be of use to her.
+
+So old Granny Fox smoothed out her skirts and walked over to the
+foot of the tree where Ol' Mistah Buzzard sat.
+
+"How do you do today, neighbor Buzzard?" inquired Granny Fox,
+smiling up at Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
+
+"Ah'm so as to be up and about, thank yo'," replied Ol' Mistah
+Buzzard, spreading his wings out so that air could blow under
+them.
+
+"My!" exclaimed old Granny Fox, "what splendid great wings you
+have, Mistah Buzzard! It must be grand to be able to fly. I
+suppose you can see a great deal from way up there in the blue,
+blue sky, Mistah Buzzard."
+
+Ol' Mistah Buzzard felt flattered. "Yes," said he, "Ah can see
+all that's going on on the Green Meadows and in the Green
+Forest."
+
+"Oh, Mistah Buzzard, you don't really mean that!" exclaimed old
+Granny Fox, just as if she wanted to believe it, but couldn't.
+
+"Yes, Ah can!" replied Ol' Mistah Buzzard.
+
+"Really, Mistah Buzzard? Really? Oh, I can't believe that your
+eyes are so sharp as all that! Now I know where Bowser the Hound
+is and where Farmer Brown's boy is, but I don't believe you can
+see them," said Granny Fox.
+
+Ol' Mistah Buzzard never said a word but spread his broad wings
+and in a few minutes he had sailed up, up, up until he looked
+like just a tiny speck to old Granny Fox. Now old Granny Fox had
+not told the truth when she said she knew where Farmer Brown's
+boy was. She thought she would trick Ol' Mistah Buzzard into
+telling her.
+
+In a few minutes down came Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "Bowser the Hound
+is up in the old back pasture," said he.
+
+"Right!" cried old Granny Fox, clapping her hands. "And where is
+Farmer Brown's boy?"
+
+"Farmer Brown's boy is. . ." Ol' Mistah Buzzard paused.
+
+"Where? Where?" asked Granny Fox, so eagerly that Ol' Mistah
+Buzzard looked at her sharply.
+
+"Yo' said you knew, so what's the use of telling yo'?" said Ol'
+Mistah Buzzard. Then he added: "But if Ah was yo', Ah cert'nly
+would get home right smart soon."
+
+"Why? Do, do tell me what you saw, Mistah Buzzard!" begged Granny
+Fox.
+
+But  Ol' Mistah Buzzard wouldn't say another word, so old Granny
+Fox started for home as fast as she could run.
+
+"Oh dear, I do hope Reddy Fox minded me and stayed in the house,"
+she muttered. 
+
+
+
+XXII Granny Fox Has a Terrible Scare
+
+Old Granny Fox felt her heart sink way down to her toes, for she
+felt sure Ol' Mistah Buzzard had seen Farmer Brown's boy and his
+gun over near the house where Reddy Fox was nursing his wounds,
+or he wouldn't have advised her to hurry home. She was already
+very tired and hot from the long run to lead Bowser the Hound
+away from the Green Meadows. She had thought to walk home along
+shady paths and cool off, but now she must run faster than ever,
+for she must know if Farmer Brown's boy had found her house.
+
+"It's lucky I told Reddy Fox to go inside and not come out till I
+returned; it's very lucky I did that," thought Granny Fox as she
+ran. Presently she heard voices singing. They seemed to be in the
+treetops over her head.
+
+ "Happily we dance and play
+ All the livelong sunny day!
+ Happily we run and race
+ And win or lose with smiling face!"
+
+Granny Fox knew the voices, and she looked up. Just as she
+expected, she saw the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West
+Wind playing among the leaves. Just then one of them looked down
+and saw her.
+
+"There's old Granny Fox! Just see how hot and tired she looks.
+Let's go down and cool her off!" shouted the Merry Little Breeze.
+
+In a flash they were all down out of the treetops and dancing
+around old Granny Fox, cooling her off. Of course, Granny Fox
+kept right on running. She was too worried not to. But the Merry
+Little Breezes kept right beside her, and it was not nearly as
+hard running now as it had been.
+
+"Have you seen Farmer Brown's boy?" panted Granny Fox.
+
+"Oh, yes! We saw him just a little while ago over near your
+house, Granny Fox. We pulled his hat off, just to hear him
+scold," shouted the Merry Little Breezes, and then they tickled
+and laughed as if they had had a good time with Farmer Brown's
+boy.
+
+But old Granny Fox didn't laugh--oh, my, no, indeed! Her heart
+went lower still, and she did her best to run faster. Pretty soon
+she came out on the top of the hill where she could look, and
+then it seemed as if her heart came right up in her mouth and
+stopped beating. Her eyes popped almost out of her head. There
+was Farmer Brown's boy standing right in front of the door of her
+home. And while she was watching, what should Reddy Fox do but
+stick his head out the door.
+
+Old Granny Fox saw the gun of Farmer Brown's boy pointed right at
+Reddy and she clapped both hands over her eyes to shut out the
+dreadful sight. Then she waited for the bang of the gun. It
+didn't come. Then Granny peeped through her fingers. Farmer
+Brown's boy was still there, but Reddy Fox had disappeared inside
+the house.
+
+Granny Fox sighed in relief. It had been a terrible scare, the
+worst she could remember.
+
+
+
+XXIV. Granny and Reddy Have To Move
+
+"I don't want to move," whined Reddy Fox. "I'm too sore to walk."
+
+Old Granny Fox gave him a shove. "You go along and do as I say!"
+she snapped. "If you had minded me, we wouldn't have to move.
+It's all your own fault. The wonder is that you weren't killed
+when you poked your head out right in front of Farmer Brown's
+boy. Now that he knows where we live, he will give us no peace.
+Move along lively now! This is the best home I have ever had, and
+now I've got to leave it. Oh dear! Oh dear!"
+
+Reddy Fox hobbled along up the long hall and out the front door.
+He was walking on three legs, and at every step he made a face
+because, you know, it hurt so to walk.
+
+The little stars, looking down from the sky, saw Reddy Fox limp
+out the door of the house he had lived in so long, and right
+behind him came old Granny Fox. Granny sighed and wiped away a
+tear, as she said good-by to her old home. Reddy Fox was thinking
+too much of his own troubles to notice how badly Granny Fox was
+feeling. Every few steps he had to sit down and rest because it
+hurt him so to walk.
+
+"I don't see the use of moving tonight, anyway. It would be a lot
+easier and pleasanter when the sun is shining. This night air
+makes me so stiff that I know I never will get over it," grumbled
+Reddy Fox.
+
+Old Granny Fox listened to him for a while, and then she lost
+patience. Yes, Sir, Granny Fox lost patience. She boxed Reddy Fox
+first on one ear and then on the other. Reddy began to snivel.
+
+"Stop that!" said Granny Fox sharply. "Do you want all the
+neighbors to know that we have got to move? They'll find it out
+soon enough. Now come along without any more fuss. If you don't,
+I'll just go off and leave you to shift for yourself. Then how
+will you get anything to eat?"
+
+Reddy Fox wiped his eyes on his coat sleeve and hobbled along as
+best he could. Granny Fox would run a little way ahead to see
+that the way was safe and then come back for Reddy. Poor Reddy.
+He did his best not to complain, but it was such hard work. And
+somehow Reddy Fox didn't believe that it was at all necessary. He
+had been terribly frightened when he had disobeyed Granny Fox
+that afternoon and put his head out the door, only to look right
+into the freckled face of Farmer Brown's boy. He had ducked back
+out of sight again too quickly for Farmer Brown's boy to shoot,
+and now he couldn't see why old Granny Fox wanted to move that
+very night.
+
+"She's getting old. She's getting old and timid and fussy,"
+muttered Reddy Fox, as he hobbled along behind her.
+
+It seemed to Reddy as if they had walked miles and miles. He
+really thought that they had been walking nearly all night when
+old Granny Fox stopped in front of the worst-looking old fox
+house Reddy had ever seen.
+
+"Here we are!" said she.
+
+"What! Are we going to live in that thing?" cried Reddy. "It
+isn't fit for any respectable fox to put his nose into."
+
+"It is where I was born!" snapped old Granny Fox. "If you want to
+keep out of harm's way, don't go to putting on airs now.
+
+ "Who scorns the simple things of life
+   And tilts his nose at all he sees,
+ Is almost sure to feel the knife
+   Of want cut through his pleasant ease.
+
+"Now don't let me hear another word from you, but get inside at
+once!"
+
+Reddy Fox didn't quite understand all Granny Fox said, but he
+knew when she was to be obeyed, and so he crawled gingerly
+through the broken-down doorway.
+
+
+
+XXV. Peter Rabbit Makes a Discovery
+
+Hardly had jolly, round, red Mr. Sun thrown off his nightcap and
+come out from his home behind the Purple Hills for his daily
+climb up in the blue, blue sky, when Farmer Brown's boy started
+down the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest.
+
+Peter Rabbit, who had been out all night and was just then on his
+way home, saw him. Peter stopped and sat up to rub his eyes and
+look again. He wasn't quite sure that he had seen aright the
+first time. But he had. There was Farmer Brown's boy, sure
+enough, and at his heels trotted Bowser the Hound.
+
+Peter Rabbit rubbed his eyes once more and wrinkled up his
+eyebrows. Farmer Brown's boy certainly had a gun over one
+shoulder and a spade over the other. Where could he be going down
+the Lone Little Path with a spade? Farmer Brown's garden
+certainly was not in that direction. Peter watched him out of
+sight and then he hurried down to the Green Meadows to tell
+Johnny Chuck what he had seen. My, how Peter's long legs did fly!
+He was so excited that he had forgotten how sleepy he had felt a
+few minutes before.
+
+Halfway down to Johnny Chuck's house, Peter Rabbit almost ran
+plump into Bobby Coon and Jimmy Skunk, who had been quarreling
+and were calling each other names. They stopped when they saw
+Peter Rabbit.
+
+ "Peter Rabbit runs away
+   From his shadder, so they say.
+ Peter, Peter, what a sight!
+   Tell us why this sudden fright," 
+
+shouted Bobby Coon. 
+
+Peter Rabbit stopped short. Indeed, he stopped so short that he
+almost turned a somersault. "Say," he panted, "I've just seen
+Farmer Brown's boy."
+
+"You don't say so!" said Jimmy Skunk, pretending to be very much
+surprised. "You don't say so! Why, now I think of it, I believe
+I've seen Farmer Brown's boy a few times myself."
+
+Peter Rabbit made a good-natured face at Jimmy Skunk, and then he
+told all about how he had seen Farmer Brown's boy with gun and
+spade and Bowser the Hound going down the Lone Little Path. "You
+know there isn't any garden down that way," he concluded.
+
+Bobby Coon's face wore a sober look. Yes, Sir, all the fun was
+gone from Bobby Coon's face.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Jimmy Skunk.
+
+"I was just thinking that Reddy Fox lives over in that direction
+and he is so stiff that he cannot run," replied Bobby Coon.
+
+Jimmy Skunk hitched up his trousers and started toward the Lone
+Little Path. "Come on!" said he. "Let's follow him and see what
+he is about."
+
+Bobby Coon followed at once, but Peter Rabbit said he would hurry
+over and get Johnny Chuck and then join the others.
+
+All this time Farmer Brown's boy had been hurrying down the Lone
+Little Path to the home old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had moved
+out of the night before. Of course, he didn't know that they had
+moved. He put down his gun, and by the time Jimmy Skunk and Bobby
+Coon and Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck reached a place where they
+could peep out and see what was going on, he had dug a great
+hole.
+
+"Oh!" cried Peter Rabbit, "he's digging into the house of Reddy
+Fox, and he'll catch poor Reddy!"
+
+
+
+XXVI. Farmer Brown's Boy Works for Nothing
+
+The grass around the doorstep of the house where Reddy Fox had
+always lived was all wet with dew when Farmer Brown's boy laid
+his gun down, took off his coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and
+picked up his spade. It was cool and beautiful there on the edge
+of the Green Meadows. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had just begun
+his long climb up in the blue, blue sky. Mr. Redwing was singing
+for joy over in the bulrushes on the edge of the Smiling Pool.
+Yes, it was very beautiful, very beautiful indeed. It didn't seem
+as if harm could come to anyone on such a beautiful morning.
+
+But there was Farmer Brown's boy. He had crawled on his hands and
+knees without making a sound to get near enough to the home of
+Reddy Fox to shoot if Reddy was outside. But there was no sign of
+Reddy, so Farmer Brown's boy had hopped up, and now he was
+whistling as he began to dig. His freckled face looked
+good-natured. It didn't seem as if he could mean harm to anyone.
+
+But there lay the gun, and he was working as if he meant to get
+to the very bottom of Reddy Fox's home!
+
+Deeper and deeper grew the hole, and bigger and bigger grew the
+pile of sand which he threw out. He didn't know that anyone was
+watching him, except Bowser the Hound. He didn't see Johnny Chuck
+peeping from behind a tall bunch of meadow grass, or Peter Rabbit
+peeping from behind a tree on the edge of the Green Forest, or
+Bobby Coon looking from a safe hiding place in the top of that
+same tree. He didn't see Jimmy Skunk or Unc' Billy Possum or
+Happy Jack Squirrel or Digger the Badger. He didn't see one of
+them, but they saw him. They saw every shovelful of sand that he
+threw, and their hearts went pit-a-pat as they watched, for each
+one felt sure that something dreadful was going to happen to
+Reddy Fox.
+
+Only Ol' Mistah Buzzard knew better. From way up high in the
+blue, blue sky he could look down and see many things. He could
+see all the little meadow and forest people who were watching
+Farmer Brown's boy. The harder Farmer Brown's boy worked, the
+more Ol' Mistah Buzzard chuckled to himself. What was he laughing
+at? Why, he could see the sharp face of old Granny Fox, peeping
+out from behind an old fence corner, and she was grinning. So Ol'
+Mistah Buzzard knew Reddy Fox was safe.
+
+But the other little people of the Green Forest and the Green
+Meadows didn't know that old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had moved,
+and their faces grew longer and longer as they watched Farmer
+Brown's boy go deeper and deeper into the ground.
+
+"Reddy Fox has worried me almost to death and would eat me if he
+could catch me, but somehow things wouldn't be quite the same
+without him around. Oh dear, I don't want him killed," moaned
+Peter Rabbit.
+
+"Perhaps he isn't home," said Jimmy Skunk.
+
+"Of course he's home; he's so stiff and sore he can hardly walk
+at all and has to stay home," replied Johnny Chuck. "Hello,
+what's the matter now?"
+
+Everybody looked.   Farmer Brown's boy had climbed out of the
+hole. He looked tired and cross. He rested for a few minutes, and
+as he rested, he scowled. Then he began to shovel the sand back
+into the hole. He had reached the bottom and found no one there.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Peter Rabbit and struck his heels together as
+he jumped up in the air.
+
+And the others were just as glad as Peter Rabbit. Johnny Chuck
+was especially glad, for, you see, Farmer Brown's boy had once
+found Johnny's snug home, and Johnny had had to move as suddenly
+as did Granny and Reddy Fox. Johnny knew just how Reddy must
+feel, for he had had many narrow escapes in his short life. You
+can read all about them in the next book, The Adventures of
+Johnny Chuck.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Adventures of Reddy Fox, by Burgess
+
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