Bowser still tugged at his chain and whined, but after a little hequieted down. His master looked around behind the barn to see if hecould see what had so stirred up Bowser, but nothing was to be seen,and he returned, patted Bowser once more, and went into the house, neveronce giving that open henyard gate another thought.
Half an hour later old Granny Fox joined Reddy Fox, who was waiting onthe doorstep of their home. "It is all right, Reddy; that gate is open,"said she.
"How did you do it, Granny?" asked Reddy eagerly.
"Easily enough," replied Granny. "I let Bowser get a glimpse of me justas his master was locking up the henhouse. Bowser made a great fuss, andof course, Farmer Brown's boy hurried out to see what it was all about.He was in too much of a hurry to close that gate, and afterwards heforgot all about it or else he thought it didn't matter. Of course, Ididn't let him get so much as a glimpse of me."
"Of course," said Reddy.
CHAPTER XXIV: A Midnight Visit
By those who win 't is well agreed He'll try and try who would succeed. --Old Granny Fox.
It seemed to Reddy Fox as if time never had dragged so slowly as itdid this particular night while he and Granny Fox waited until Grannythought it safe to visit Farmer Brown's henhouse and see if by anychance there was a way of getting into it. Reddy tried not to hope toomuch. Granny had found a way to get the gate to the henyard left open,but this would do them no good unless there was some way of gettinginto the house, and this he very much doubted. But if there was a way hewanted to know it, and he was impatient to start.
But Granny was in no hurry. Not that she wasn't just as hungry for a fathen as was Reddy, but she was too wise and clever and altogether too slyto run any risks.
"There is nothing gained by being in too much of a hurry, Reddy," saidshe, "and often a great deal is lost in that way. A fat hen will tastejust as good a little later as it would now, and it will be foolish togo up to Farmer Brown's until we are sure that everybody up there isasleep. But to ease your mind, I'll tell you what we will do; we'll gowhere we can see Farmer Brown's house and watch until the last lightwinks out."
So they trotted to a point where they could see Farmer Brown's house,and there they sat down to watch. It seemed to Reddy that those lightsnever would wink out. But at last they did.
"Come on, Granny!" he cried, jumping to his feet.
"Not yet, Reddy. Not yet," replied Granny. "We've got to give folks timeto get sound asleep. If we should get into that henhouse, those hensmight make a racket, and if anything like that is going to happen, wewant to be sure that Farmer Brown and Farmer Brown's boy are asleep."
This was sound advice, and Reddy knew it. So with a groan he once morethrew himself down on the snow to wait. At last Granny arose, stretched,and looked up at the twinkling stars. "Come on," said she and led theway.
Up back of the barn and around it they stole like two shadows and quiteas noiselessly as shadows. They heard Bowser the Hound sighing in hissleep in his snug little house, and grinned at each other. Silently theystole over to the henyard. The gate was open, just as Granny had toldReddy it would be. Across the henyard they trotted swiftly, straight towhere more than once in the daytime they had seen the hens come out ofthe house through a little hole. It was closed. Reddy had expected itwould be. Still, he was dreadfully disappointed. He gave it merely aglance.
"I knew it wouldn't be any use," said he with a half whine.
But Granny paid no attention to him. She went close to the hole andpushed gently against the little door that closed it. It didn't move.Then she noticed that at one edge there was a tiny crack. She tried topush her nose through, but the crack was too narrow. Then she tried apaw. A claw caught on the edge of the door, and it moved ever so little.Then Granny knew that the little door wasn't fastened. Granny stretchedherself flat on the ground and went to work, first with one paw, thenwith the other. By and by she caught her claws in it just right again,and it moved a wee bit more. No, most certainly that door wasn'tfastened, and that crack was a little wider.
"What are you wasting your time there for?" demanded Reddy crossly."We'd better be off hunting if we would have anything to eat thisnight."
Granny said nothing but kept on working. She had discovered that thiswas a sliding door. Presently the crack was wide enough for her to gether nose in. Then she pushed and twisted her head this way and that.The little door slowly slid back, and when Reddy turned to speak to heragain, for he had had his back to her, she was nowhere to be seen. Reddyjust gaped and gaped foolishly. There was no Granny Fox, but there wasa black hole where she had been working, and from it came the mostdelicious smell,--the smell of fat hens! It seemed to Reddy that hisstomach fairly flopped over with longing. He rubbed his eyes to be surethat he was awake. Then in a twinkling he was inside that hole himself.
"Sh-h-h, be still!" whispered Old Granny Fox.
CHAPTER XXV: A Dinner For Two
Dark deeds are done in the stilly night, And who shall say if they're wrong or right? --Old Granny Fox.
It all depends on how you look at things. Of course, Granny and ReddyFox had no business to be in Farmer Brown's henhouse in the middle ofthe night, or at any other time, for that matter. That is, they had nobusiness to be there, as Farmer Brown would look at the matter. He wouldhave called them two red thieves. Perhaps that is just what they were.But looking at the matter as they did, I am not so sure about it. ToGranny and Reddy Fox those hens were simply big, rather stupid birds,splendid eating if they could be caught, and bound to be eaten bysomebody. The fact that they were in Farmer Brown's henhouse didn't makethem his any more than the fact that Mrs. Grouse was in a part of theGreen Forest owned by Farmer Brown made her his.
You see, among the little meadow and forest people there is no suchthing as property rights, excepting in the matter of storehouses, andbecause these hens were alive, it didn't occur to Granny and Reddy thatthe henhouse was a sort of storehouse. It would have made no differenceif it had. Among the little people it is considered quite right to helpyourself from another's storehouse if you are smart enough to find itand really need the food.
Besides, Reddy and Granny knew that Fanner Brown and his boy would eatsome of those hens themselves, and they didn't begin to need them asReddy and Granny did. So as they looked at the matter, there was nothingwrong in being in that henhouse in the middle of the night. They werethere simply because they needed food very, very much, and food wasthere.
They stared up at the roosts where the biddies were huddled together,fast asleep. They were too high up to be reached from the floor evenwhen Reddy and Granny stood on their hind legs and stretched as far asthey could.
"We've got to wake them up and scare them so that some of the sillythings will fly down where we can catch them," said Reddy, licking hislips hungrily.
"That won't do at all!" snapped Granny. "They would make a great racketand waken Bowser the Hound, and he would waken his master, and that isjust what we mustn't do if we hope to ever get in here again. I thoughtyou had more sense, Reddy."
Reddy looked a little shamefaced. "Well, if we don't do that, how are wegoing to get them? We can't fly," he grumbled.
"You stay right here where you are," snapped Granny, "and take care thatyou don't make a sound."
Then Granny jumped lightly to a little shelf that ran along in front ofthe nesting boxes. From this she could reach the lower roost on whichfour fat hens were asleep. Very gently she pushed her head in betweentwo of these and crowded them apart. Sleepily they protested and movedalong a little. Granny continued to crowd them. At last one of themstretched out her head to see who was crowding so. Like a flash Grannyseized that head, and biddy never knew what had wakened her, nor did shehave a chance to waken the others.
Dropping this hen at Reddy's feet, Granny crowded another until she didthe same thing, and just the same thing happened once more. Then Grannyjumped lightly down, picked up one of the hens by the neck, slung thebody over her shoulder, and told Reddy to d
o the same with the other andstart for home.
"Aren't you going to get any more while we have the chance?" grumbledReddy.
"Enough is enough," retorted Granny. "We've got a dinner for two, andso far no one is any the wiser. Perhaps these two won't be missed, andwe'll have a chance to get some more another night. Now come on."
This was plain common sense, and Reddy knew it, so without another wordhe followed old Granny Fox out by the way they had entered, and thenhome to the best dinner he had had for a long long time.
CHAPTER XXVI: Farmer Brown's Boy Sets A Trap
The trouble is that troubles are, More frequently than not, Brought on by naught but carelessness; By some one who forgot. --Old Granny Fox.
Granny Fox had hoped that those two hens she and Reddy had stolen fromFarmer Brown's henhouse would not be missed, but they were. They weremissed the very first thing the next morning when Farmer Brown's boywent to feed the biddies. He discovered right away that the littlesliding door which should have closed the opening through which the henswent in and out of the house was open, and then he remembered thathe had left the henyard gate open the night before. Carefully FarmerBrown's boy examined the hole with the sliding door.
"Ha!" said he presently, and held up two red hairs which he had found onthe edge of the door. "Ha! I thought as much. I was careless last nightand didn't fasten this door, and I left the gate open. Reddy Fox hasbeen here, and now I know what has become of those two hens. I supposeit serves me right for my carelessness, and I suppose if the truth wereknown, those hens were of more real good to him than they ever couldhave been to me, because the poor fellow must be having pretty hard workto get a living these hard winter days. Still, I can't have him stealingany more. That would never do at all. If I shut them up every night andam not careless, he can't get them. But accidents will happen, and Imight do just as I did last night--think I had locked up when I hadn't.I don't like to set a trap for Reddy, but I must teach the rascal alesson. If I don't, he will get so bold that those chickens won't besafe even in broad daylight."
Now at just that very time over in their home, Granny and Reddy Fox weretalking over plans for the future, and shrewd old Granny was pointingout to Reddy how necessary it was that they should keep away from thathenyard for some time. "We've had a good dinner, a splendid dinner, andif we are smart enough we may be able to get more good dinners wherethis one came from," said she. "But we certainly won't if we are toogreedy."
"But I don't believe Farmer Brown's boy has missed those two chickens,and I don't see any reason at all why we shouldn't go back thereto-night and get two more if he is stupid enough to leave that gate andlittle door open," whined Reddy.
"Maybe he hasn't missed those two, but if we should take two more hecertainly would miss them, and he would guess what had become of them,and that might get us into no end of trouble," snapped Granny. "We arenot starving now, and the best thing for us to do is to keep away fromthat henhouse until we can't get anything to eat anywhere else, Now youmind what I tell you, Reddy, and don't you dare go near there."
Reddy promised, and so it came about that Farmer Brown's boy hunted upa trap all for nothing so far as Reddy and Granny were concerned. Verycarefully he bound strips of cloth around the jaws of the trap, forhe couldn't bear to think of those cruel jaws cutting into the legof Reddy, should he happen to get caught. You see, Farmer Brown's boydidn't intend to kill Reddy if he should catch him, but to make him aprisoner for a while and so keep him out of mischief. That night he hidthe trap very cunningly just inside the henhouse where any one creepingthrough that little hole made for the hens to go in and out would besure to step in it. Then he purposely left the little sliding door openpart way as if it had been forgotten, and he also left the henyard gateopen just as he had done the night before.
"There now, Master Reddy," said he, talking to himself, "I rather thinkthat you are going to get into trouble before morning."
And doubtless Reddy would have done just that thing but for the wisdomof sly old Granny.
CHAPTER XXVII: Prickly Porky Takes A Sun Bath
Danger comes when least expected; 'T is often near when not expected. --Old Granny Fox.
The long hard winter had passed, and Spring had come. Prickly Porkythe Porcupine came down from a tall poplar-tree and slowly stretchedhimself. He was tired of eating. He was tired of swinging in thetree-top.
"I believe I'll have a sun-bath," said Prickly Porky, and lazily walkedtoward the edge of the Green Forest in search of a place where the sunlay warm and bright.
Now Prickly Porky's stomach was very, very full. He was fat andnaturally lazy, so when he came to the doorstep of an old house just onthe edge of the Green Forest he sat down to rest. It was sunny and warmthere, and the longer he sat the less like moving he felt. He lookedabout him with his dull eyes and grunted to himself.
"It's a deserted house. Nobody lives here, and I guess nobody'll care ifI take a nap right here on the doorstep," said Prickly Porky to himself."And I don't care if they do," he added, for Prickly Porky the Porcupinewas afraid of nobody and nothing.
So Prickly Porky made himself as comfortable as possible, yawned once ortwice, tried to wink at jolly, round, red Mr. Sun, who was winking andsmiling down at him and then fell fast asleep right on the doorstep ofthe old house.
Now the old house had been deserted. No one had lived in it for a long,long time, a very long time indeed. But it happened that, the nightbefore, old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had had to move out of their nicehome on the edge of the Green Meadows because Farmer Brown's boy hadfound it. Reddy was very stiff and sore, for he had been shot by ahunter. He was so sore he could hardly walk, and could not go very far.So old Granny Fox had led him to the old deserted house and put him tobed in that.
"No one will think of looking for us here, for every one knows that noone lives here," said old Granny Fox, as she made Reddy as comfortableas possible.
As soon as it was daylight, Granny Fox slipped out to watch for FarmerBrown's boy, for she felt sure that he would come back to the house theyhad left, and sure enough he did. He brought a spade and dug the houseopen, and all the time old Granny Fox was watching him from behind afence corner and laughing to think that she had been smart enough tomove in the night.
But Reddy Fox didn't know anything about this. He was so tired that heslept and slept and slept. It was the middle of the morning when finallyhe awoke. He yawned and stretched, and when he stretched he groanedbecause he was so stiff and sore. Then he hobbled up toward the doorwayto see if old Granny Fox had left any breakfast outside for him.
It was dark, very dark. Reddy was puzzled. Could it be that he hadgotten up before daylight--that he hadn't slept as long as he thought?Perhaps he had slept the whole day through, and it was night again. My,how hungry he was!
"I hope Granny has caught a fine, fat chicken for me," thought Reddy,and his mouth watered.
Just then he ran bump into something. "Wow!" screamed Reddy Fox, andclapped both hands to his nose. Something was sticking into it. It wasone of the sharp little spears that Prickly Porky hides in his coat.Reddy Fox knew then why the old house was so dark. Prickly Porky wasblocking up the doorway.
CHAPTER XXVIII: Prickly Porky Enjoys Himself
A boasting tongue, as sure as fate, Will trip its owner soon or late. --Old Granny Fox.
Prickly Porky the Porcupine was enjoying himself. There was no doubtabout that. He was stretched across the doorway of that old house, thevery house in which old Granny Fox had been born. When he had lain downon the doorstep for a nap and sun-bath, he had thought that the oldhouse was still deserted. Then he had fallen asleep, only to be wakenedby Reddy Fox, who bad been asleep in the old house and who couldn't getout because Prickly Porky was in the way.
Now Prickly Porky does not love Reddy Fox, and the more Reddy begged andscolded and called him names, the more Prickly Porky chuckled. It wassuch a good joke to think that he had trapped Reddy Fox, and he made uphis mind t
hat he would keep Reddy in there a long time just to tease himand make him uncomfortable. You see Prickly Porky remembered how oftenReddy Fox played mean tricks on little meadow and forest folks who aresmaller and weaker than himself.
"It will do him good. It certainly will do him good," said PricklyPorky, and rattled the thousand little spears hidden in his long coat,for he knew that the very sound of them would make Reddy Fox shiver withfright.
Suddenly Prickly Porky pricked up his funny little short ears. He heardthe deep voice of Bowser the Hound, and it was coming nearer and nearer.Prickly Porky chuckled again.
"I guess Mr. Bowser is going to have a surprise; I certainly think heis," said Prickly Porky as he made all the thousand little spears standout from his long coat till he looked like a funny great chestnut burr.
Bowser the Hound did have a surprise. He was hunting Reddy Fox, and healmost ran into Prickly Porky before he saw him. The very sight of thosethousand little spears sent little cold chills chasing each other downBowser's backbone clear to the tip of his tail, for he remembered how hehad gotten some of them in his lips and mouth once upon a time, andhow it had hurt to have them pulled out. Ever since then he had had thegreatest respect for Prickly Porky.
"Wow!" yelped Bowser the Hound, stopping short. "I beg your pardon,Prickly Porky, I beg your pardon, I didn't know you were taking a naphere."
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