she could peek out over the Big River. He grinned as he watched her.
He was still grinning when she tiptoed back. He expected to see her
face long with disappointment. Instead she looked very much pleased.

"Quacker is there," said she, "and I think he will make us a very
good dinner. Creep up behind those bushes and see for yourself, then
come back here and tell me what you think we'd better do to get him."

So Reddy stole up behind the bushes, and this time it was Granny who
grinned as she watched. As he crept along, Reddy wondered if it
could be that for once Quacker had come ashore. Granny seemed so
sure they could catch him that this must be the case. But when he
peeped through the hushes, there was Quacker way out in the middle
of the open water just where he had been the day before.



CHAPTER III: Reddy Is Sure Granny Has Lost Her Senses

Perhaps 'tis just as well that we
Can't see ourselves as others see.
- Old Granny Fox.

"Just as I thought," muttered Reddy Fox as he peeped through the
bushes on the bank of the Big River and saw Quacker swimming about
in the water where it ran too swiftly to freeze. "We've got just as
much chance of catching him as I have of jumping over the moon.
That's what I'll tell Granny."

He crept back carefully so as not to be seen by Quacker, and when