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