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.