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.