had seen him all the time.

[Illustration: A Cloud of Feathers Floated Down From the Limb]

And she had just waited until she saw that Tommy was trying to catch
her before she flew off.

Old Mother Grouse didn't fly far. She perched in a tree just a little
way off and sat there and looked down at Tommy Fox and chuckled to
herself. She knew that she was perfectly safe. And though Tommy Fox
trotted up to the tree where she sat and stared longingly up at her
she wasn't the least bit worried. For she knew quite well that Tommy
couldn't climb a tree.

Tommy felt very peevish. He was _so_ hungry! And he couldn't help
thinking how good old Mother Grouse would have tasted. He couldn't
reach her now. But still he didn't go along toward home. He simply
couldn't keep his greedy eyes off fat old Mother Grouse! And he
squatted down beside a bush and stared at her.

Old Mother Grouse didn't mind that. She just stared back at Tommy Fox;
and she didn't say a word to him, which somehow made Tommy still more
peevish.

How long Tommy would have stayed there it would be hard to tell. But
in a little while something happened that sent him home on the run. If
Mrs. Grouse and Tommy had been looking out as sharply as they
generally did, Farmer Green's boy never could have crept up so close
to them. But they were so busy staring at each other that they never
saw Farmer Green's boy at all.