shouted Bobby Coon.
Peter Rabbit stopped short. Indeed, he stopped so short that he almostturned a somersault. "Say," he panted, "I've just seen Farmer Brown'sboy."
"You don't say so!" said Jimmy Skunk, pretending to be very muchsurprised. "You don't say so! Why, now I think of it, I believe I'veseen Farmer Brown's boy a few times myself."
Peter Rabbit made a good-natured face at Jimmy Skunk, and then he toldall about how he had seen Farmer Brown's boy with gun and spade andBowser the Hound going down the Lone Little Path. "You know there isn'tany garden down that way," he concluded.
Bobby Coon's face wore a sober look. Yes, Sir, all the fun was gone fromBobby Coon's face.
"What's the matter?" asked Jimmy Skunk.
"I was just thinking that Reddy Fox lives over in that direction and heis so stiff that he cannot run," replied Bobby Coon.
Jimmy Skunk hitched up his trousers and started toward the Lone LittlePath. "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 overand get Johnny Chuck and then join the others.
All this time Farmer Brown's boy had been hurrying down the Lone LittlePath to the home old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had moved out of the nightbefore. Of course, he didn't know that they had moved. He put down hisgun, and by the time Jimmy Skunk and Bobby Coon and Peter Rabbit andJohnny Chuck reached a place where they could peep out and see what wasgoing on, he had dug a great hole.
"Oh!" cried Peter Rabbit, "he's digging into the house of Reddy Fox, andhe'll catch poor Reddy!"
XXVI. Farmer Brown's Boy Works for Nothing
The grass around the doorstep of the house where Reddy Fox had alwayslived 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, bluesky. Mr. Redwing was singing for joy over in the bulrushes on the edgeof 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 beautifulmorning.
But there was Farmer Brown's boy. He had crawled on his hands and kneeswithout making a sound to get near enough to the home of Reddy Fox toshoot if Reddy was outside. But there was no sign of Reddy, so FarmerBrown'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 couldmean harm to anyone.
But there lay the gun, and he was working as if he meant to get to thevery bottom of Reddy Fox's home!
Deeper and deeper grew the hole, and bigger and bigger grew the pile ofsand 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 behinda tall bunch of meadow grass, or Peter Rabbit peeping from behind atree on the edge of the Green Forest, or Bobby Coon looking from a safehiding place in the top of that same tree. He didn't see Jimmy Skunk orUnc' Billy Possum or Happy Jack Squirrel or Digger the Badger. He didn'tsee one of them, but they saw him. They saw every shovelful of sand thathe threw, and their hearts went pit-a-pat as they watched, for each onefelt sure that something dreadful was going to happen to Reddy Fox.
Only Ol' Mistah Buzzard knew better. From way up high in the blue, bluesky he could look down and see many things. He could see all the littlemeadow and forest people who were watching Farmer Brown's boy. Theharder Farmer Brown's boy worked, the more Ol' Mistah Buzzard chuckledto himself. What was he laughing at? Why, he could see the sharp face ofold Granny Fox, peeping out from behind an old fence corner, and she wasgrinning. So Ol' Mistah Buzzard knew Reddy Fox was safe.
But the other little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadowsdidn't know that old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had moved, and their facesgrew longer and longer as they watched Farmer Brown's boy go deeper anddeeper into the ground.
"Reddy Fox has worried me almost to death and would eat me if he couldcatch me, but somehow things wouldn't be quite the same without himaround. 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 alland has to stay home," replied Johnny Chuck. "Hello, what's the matternow?"
Everybody looked. Farmer Brown's boy had climbed out of the hole. Helooked 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 hadreached the bottom and found no one there.
"Hurrah!" shouted Peter Rabbit and struck his heels together as hejumped up in the air.
And the others were just as glad as Peter Rabbit. Johnny Chuck wasespecially glad, for, you see, Farmer Brown's boy had once foundJohnny's snug home, and Johnny had had to move as suddenly as did Grannyand Reddy Fox. Johnny knew just how Reddy must feel, for he had had manynarrow escapes in his short life. You can read all about them in thenext book, The Adventures of Johnny Chuck.
The Adventures of Reddy Fox Page 5
