Meanwhile the Toyman had gone into the barn.

"Come here!" he shouted.

So they ran in, and there, in the corner, hidden under the hay was
Reddy, all muddy from the brook and torn from the briars. His eyes
looked very bright, but they looked pitiful too.

The Toyman put out his hand and stroked his fur. At first Reddy showed
his teeth and snapped at the Toyman just like a baby wolf. But that
hand came towards him so quietly, and the voice sounded so gentle,
that Reddy lay still. You see, the Toyman somehow understood how to
treat foxes and all kinds of animals just as well as he did boys,
little or big.

"What _doesn't_ that man know?" Mother had said once, and right
she was, too.

It took some time to train Reddy, for, although he was very small, he
was very wild. However, the Toyman managed to tame him. Perhaps it was
because the Little Lost Fox was wounded and sore and hurt all over.
Anyway, he seemed to appreciate what the Toyman did for him, for all
he was a little wild child of the fields and the forests.

They built him a house, all for himself, and a fence of wire. It was
great fun to see him poking his sharp nose through the holes and
stepping around so daintily on his pretty little feet.

He always had such a wise look. In fact, he was too wise altogether,
for one day he was gone, through some little hole he had dug under his