anything queer around here,
I'll find out what it is," he once more boasted, but Unc' Billy
noticed that his voice sounded just a wee bit trembly.

"Keep right on to the foot of the hill; that's where Ah saw it
yesterday. My, Ah'm glad that we've got some one so truly brave!"
replied Unc' Billy.

Reddy looked at him sharply, but there wasn't a trace of a smile on
Unc' Billy's face, and Reddy couldn't tell whether Unc' Billy was
making fun of him or not. So, there being nothing else to do, he went
on. He reached the foot of the hill without seeing or hearing a thing
out of the usual. The Green Forest seemed just as it always had
seemed. Redeye the Vireo was pouring out his little song of gladness,
quite as if everything was just as it should be. Reddy's courage began
to come back. Nothing had happened, and nothing was going to happen.
Of course not! It was all some of Peter Rabbit's foolishness. Some day
he would catch Peter Rabbit and put an end to such silly tales.

"Ah! What was that?" Reddy's sharp ears had caught a sound up near the
top of the hill. He stopped short and looked up. For just a little wee
minute Reddy couldn't believe that his eyes saw right. Coming down
the hill straight towards him was the strangest thing he ever had
seen. He couldn't see any legs. He couldn't see any head. He couldn't
see any tail. It was round like a ball, but it was the strangest
looking ball that ever was. It was covered with old leaves. Reddy
wouldn't have believed that it was alive but for the noises it was
making. For just a wee minute he stared, and then, what do you think
he did? Why, he gave a frightened yelp, put his tail between his legs,
and ran just as fast as he could make his legs go. Yes, Sir, that's
just what Reddy Fox did.

[Illustration: Reddy wouldn't have believed that it was alive.
_Page 69._]

XIII

REDDY FOX IS VERY MISERABLE

When Reddy Fox put his tail between his legs and started away from
that terrible creature coming down the hill where Prickly Porky lives,
he thought of nothing but of getting as far away as he could in the
shortest time that he could, and so, with a little frightened yelp
with every jump, he ran as he seldom had run before. He forgot all
about Unc' Billy Possum watching from the safety of a big pine-tree.
He didn't see Jimmy Skunk poking his head out from behind an old stump
and laughing fit to kill himself. When he reached the edge of the
Green Forest, he didn't even