ould never forget.

"Yap-yap-yap," barked Reddy Fox, and then listened to hear Bowser's
deep voice reply. But this time there was no reply. Reddy listened,
and listened, and then tried it again. Way off on a distant hill he
could hear Hooty the Owl. Close by him Jack Frost was busy snapping
sticks. Down on the White Meadows he could see Jimmy Skunk prowling
about. Once he heard a rooster crow sleepily in Farmer Brown's
hen-house, but he thought of Bowser the Hound, and though his mouth
watered, he did not dare risk a closer acquaintance with the big dog.
So he sat still and barked, and pretty soon he forgot all else but the
moon and the sound of his own voice.

Now Bowser the Hound had managed to slip his collar. "Aha," thought
Bowser, "now I'll teach Reddy Fox to make fun of me," and like a shadow
he slipped through the fence and across the White Meadows towards the
Lone Pine.

Reddy Fox had just barked for the hundreth time when he heard a twig
crack just back of him. It had a different sound from the noisy crack
of Jack Frost, and Reddy stopped a yap right in the middle and whirled
about to see what it might be. There was Bowser the Hound almost upon
him, his eyes flashing fire, his great, red jaws wide open, and every
hair on his back bristling with rage.

Reddy Fox didn't wait to say "Good evening," or to see more. Oh, no!
He turned a back somersault and away he sped over the hard, snowy crust
as fast as his legs could carry him. Bowser baying at the moon he
liked to hear, but Bowser baying at his heels was another matter, and
Reddy ran as he had never run before. Down across the White Meadows he
sped, Bowser frightening all the echoes with the roar of his big voice
as he followed in full cry.

How Reddy did wish that he had minded Mother Fox! How safe and snug
and warm was his home under the roots of the old hickory tree, and how
he did wish that he was safely there! But it would never do to go
there now, for that would tell Bowser where he lived, and Bowser would
take Farmer Brown there, and that would be the end of Reddy Fox and of
Mother Fox and of all the brother and sister foxes.

So Reddy twisted and turned, and ran this way and ran that way, and the
longer he ran, the shorter his breath grew. It was coming in great
pants now. His bushy tail, of which he was so proud, had become very
heavy. How Reddy Fox did wish and wish that he had minded Mother Fox!
He twisted and turned, and doubl