oxes in there. If he were inside
the henhouse, it might be, it just might possibly be, that he could
hide when Farmer Brown's boy came in the morning.

So once more Reddy went to work at that little sliding door where the
hens ran in and out during the day. He already had found out that it
wasn't fastened, and he felt sure that with patience he could open it.
So he worked away and worked away, until at last there was a little
crack. He got his claws in the little crack and pulled and pulled. The
little crack became a little wider. By and by it was wide enough for him
to get his whole paw in. Then it became wide enough for him to get his
head half in. After this, all he had to do was to force himself
through, for as he pushed and shoved, the little door opened. He was
inside at last! There was a chance, just a forlorn chance, that he might
be able to escape the notice of Farmer Brown's boy in the morning.

CHAPTER XVI

WHY REDDY WENT WITHOUT A CHICKEN DINNER

A dinner is far better lost
Than eaten at too great a cost.

_Bowser the Hound._

Can you imagine Reddy Fox with a chicken dinner right before him and not
touching it? Well, that is just what happened in Farmer Brown's
henhouse. It wasn't because Reddy had no appetite. He was hungry, very
hungry. He always is in winter. Then it doesn't often happen that he
gets enough to eat at one meal to really fill his stomach. Yet here he
was with a chicken dinner right before him, and he didn't touch it.

You see it was this way: Reddy's wits were working very fast there in
Farmer Brown's henhouse. He knew that he had only a forlorn chance of
escaping when Farmer Brown's boy should come to open the henhouse in the
morning. He knew that he must make the most of that forlorn chance. He
knew that freedom is a thousand times better than a full stomach.

On one of the lower roosts sat a fat hen. She was within easy jumping
distance. Reddy knew that with one quick spring she would be his. If the
henyard gate had been open, he would have wasted no time in making that
one quick spring. But the henyard gate, as you know, was closed fast.

"I'm awfully hungry," muttered Reddy to himself, "but if I should catch
and eat that fat hen, Farmer Brown's boy would be sure to notice the
feathers on the floor the very minute he opened the door. It won't do,
Reddy; it won't do. You can't afford to have the least little thing seem
wrong in this henhouse. What you have g