In your
feeble condition it will take you a long time to get anywhere near
there. This will give me time to go hunt for my own dinner, and then I
will come back until I meet you. After that, I will show you the way.
Now I will start along and you follow."

Reddy got to his feet as if it were hard work. Then Blacky spread his
wings and started off, cawing encouragement. All the time inside he was
laughing to think that Reddy Fox should think he had fooled him. "He
forgot to ask again if there is a dog there," chuckled Blacky to
himself.

As for Reddy, no sooner was Blacky well on his way than he started off
at his swiftest pace. There was nothing weak or feeble in the way Reddy
ran then. He was in a hurry to get to those fat hens.

CHAPTER XXXI

BLACKY IS MUCH PLEASED WITH HIMSELF

You cannot tell from a single feather what a bird looks like,
nor from a lone hair how big a dog is.

_Bowser the Hound._

Straight away towards the farm where Bowser the Hound was flew Blacky
the Crow. Every few minutes he would caw encouragement to Reddy Fox,
who, as you know, was following, but who of course could not travel as
fast as did Blacky. In between times Blacky would chuckle to himself. He
was mightily pleased with himself, was Blacky.

In the first place his plan was working beautifully. You know what he
was after was to get Reddy Fox over to that farm where Bowser was. He
hoped that if Reddy should catch one of those fat hens, the farmer would
put Bowser on Reddy's trail. He knew that Reddy would probably return
straight home, and Bowser, following Reddy's trail, would thus find his
way back home to Farmer Brown's. Of course, it all depended on whether
Reddy would catch one of those fat hens and whether Bowser would be
allowed to hunt him. Blacky had a plan for making sure that if Reddy did
get one of those hens the folks in the farmhouse would know it.

But what tickled Blacky most the knowledge that Reddy Fox thought he was
fooling Blacky. You remember that Reddy had pretended to be very weak.
Blacky knew that Reddy was nothing of the kind. At the very first
opportunity Blacky stopped in the top of a tall tree as if to rest. His
real reason for stopping was to have a chance to look back. You see,
while he was flying he couldn't look behind him.

Presently, just as he expected, he saw in the distance a little red
speck, and that little red speck was moving very fast indeed. There was
nothing wea