It was closed. Reddy had expected it would be. Still, he was
dreadfully disappointed. He gave it merely a glance.

"I knew it wouldn't be any use," said he with a half whine.

But Granny paid no attention to him. She went close to the hole and
pushed gently against the little door that closed it. It didn't move.
Then she noticed that at one edge there was a tiny crack. She tried
to push her nose through, but the crack was too narrow. Then she
tried a paw. A claw caught on the edge of the door, and it moved
ever so little. Then Granny knew that the little door wasn't fastened.
Granny stretched herself flat on the ground and went to work, first
with one paw, then with the other. By and by she caught her claws
in it just right again, and it moved a wee bit more. No, most
certainly that door wasn't fastened, and that crack was a little wider.

"What are you wasting your time there for?" demanded Reddy crossly.
"We'd better be off hunting if we would have anything to eat this night."

Granny said nothing but kept on working. She had discovered that
this was a sliding door. Presently the crack was wide enough for
her to get her nose in. Then she pushed and twisted her head this
way and that. The little door slowly slid back, and when Reddy
turned to speak to her again, for he had had his back to her, she
was nowhere to be seen. Reddy just gaped and gaped foolishly.
There was no Granny Fox, but there was a black hole where she had
been working, and from it came the most delicious smell, -- the
smell of fat hens! It seemed to Reddy that his stomach fairly
flopped over with longing. He rubbed his eyes to be sure that he
was awake. Then in a twinkling he was inside that hole himself.