The Adventures of Reddy Fox
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Reddy Fox
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.