By and by there happened along a mischievous
little Night Breeze. There is nothing that a mischievous little Night
Breeze enjoys more than making things move. This mischievous little
Night Breeze found that that gate would swing, so it blew against that
gate and blew and blew until suddenly, with a sharp little click, the
gate closed and the spring latch snapped into place. Reddy Fox was a
prisoner!

CHAPTER XIV

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

You'll find 'twill often come about
That he who's in fain would be out.

_Bowser the Hound._

It certainly is queer what a difference there is between being inside
and outside. Sometimes happiness is inside and sometimes it is outside.
Sometimes the one who is inside wishes with all his might that he were
outside, and sometimes the one who is outside would give anything in the
world to be inside.

Just take the case of Reddy Fox. He had stolen inside of Farmer Brown's
henyard, leaving the gate halfway open. He had set himself to work to
open the little sliding door through which in the daytime the hens
passed in and out of the henhouse. As he worked he had been filled with
great contentment and joy. He knew that Bowser the Hound had
disappeared. He felt sure that there was nothing to fear, and he fully
expected to dine that night on chicken. Then along came a mischievous
little Night Breeze and swung that gate shut.

At the click of the latch Reddy turned his head, and in a flash he saw
what had happened. All in an instant everything had changed for Reddy
Fox. Fear and despair took the place of contentment and happy
anticipations. He was a prisoner inside that henyard.

Frantically Reddy rushed over to the gate. There wasn't even a crack
through which he could thrust his sharp little nose. Then, beside
himself with fear, he raced around that henyard, seeking a hole through
which he might escape. There wasn't any hole. That fence had been built
to keep out such people as Reddy Fox, and of course a fence that would
keep Reddy out would also keep him in, if he happened to be caught
inside as he now was. He couldn't dig down under it, because, you know,
the ground was frozen hard and covered with snow and an icy crust. He
was caught, and that was all there was to it.

Suddenly Reddy became aware of some one just outside the wire fence,
looking in and grinning wickedly. It was Old Man Coyote. Between them
was nothing but that wire, but