positively
that he was awake he would have thought it was all a dream.

But Reddy is something of a philosopher. That fat hen was gone, and
there was no use in wasting time puzzling over it. There were other fat
hens where that one came from, and he would just have to catch another.

So Reddy trotted through the swamp till he came to the edge of it. There
his keen nose found the scent of the farmer. It didn't take him two
minutes to discover that the farmer had followed Bowser the Hound to the
edge of the swamp and then gone back. Eagerly Reddy looked over to the
farmyard for those fat hens. They, too, had disappeared. Not one was to
be seen. But there was no mystery about the disappearance of these other
fat hens. He heard the muffled crow of the big rooster. It came from the
henhouse. All those fat hens had been shut up. It was perfectly plain
to Reddy that the farmer suspected Reddy might return, and he didn't
intend to lose another fat hen. With a little yelp of disappointment,
Reddy turned his back on the farm and trotted off into the woods.

CHAPTER XLI

WHAT BLACKY THE CROW SAW

The greatest puzzle is simple enough when you know the answer.

_Bowser the Hound._

There were just two people to whom the disappearance of that fat hen
Reddy Fox had hidden in the hollow stump was not a mystery. One of them
was Blacky the Crow. When the farmer and Bowser the Hound had rushed out
at the sound of Blacky's excited cawing, Blacky had flown to the top of
a tall tree from which he could see all that went on. Everything had
happened just as Blacky had hoped it would. Bowser had taken the trail
of Reddy Fox, and Blacky felt sure that sooner or later Reddy would lead
him back home to Farmer Brown's.

Blacky was doubly pleased with himself. He was pleased to think that he
had found a way of getting Bowser back home, and he was quite as much
pleased because he had been smart enough to outwit Reddy Fox. He didn't
wish Reddy any harm, and he felt sure that no harm would come to him. He
didn't even wish him to lose that dinner Reddy had come so far to get,
but he didn't care if Reddy did lose it, if only his plan worked out as
he hoped it would.

"I wonder what he'll do with that fat hen," muttered Blacky, as he
watched Reddy race away with it thrown over his shoulders. "He can't
carry that hen far and keep out of the way of Bowser. I think I'll
follow and see what he does with it."

So Blacky followed, a