ed. "Good-by," said Billy Mink.

"Where are you going so suddenly?" demanded Little Joe Otter.

"I'm going to catch a fish and take it up to Reddy Fox, if you must
know!" snapped Billy Mink.

"Good!" cried Little Joe Otter. "You needn't think that you can have all
the fun to yourself either, Billy Mink. I'm going with you."

There was a splash in the Smiling Pool, and Unc' Billy Possum was left
looking out on nothing but the Smiling Pool and the Big Rock. He smiled
to himself as he turned away. "Ah reckon Ah'll sho' have to do my share,
too," said he.

And so it happened that when old Granny Fox finally reached home with
nothing but a little wood mouse for Reddy, she found him taking a nap,
his stomach as full as it could be. And just a little way off were two
fish tails and the feathers of a little duck.

XVII. Farmer Brown's Boy Is Determined

Farmer Brown's boy had made up his mind. When he shut his teeth with a
click and drew his lips together into a thin, straight line, those who
knew him were sure that Farmer Brown's boy had made up his mind. That is
just what he had done now. He was cleaning his gun, and as he worked he
was thinking of his pet chicken and of all the other chickens that Reddy
Fox had taken.

"I'm going to get that fox if it takes all summer!" exclaimed Farmer
Brown's boy. "I ought to have gotten him the other day when I had a shot
at him. Next time well, we'll see, Mr. Fox, what will happen next time."

Now someone heard Farmer Brown's boy, heard everything he said, though
Farmer Brown's boy didn't know it. It was Unc' Billy Possum, who was
hiding in the very pile of wood on which Farmer Brown's boy was sitting.
Unc' Billy pricked up his ears.

He didn't like the tone of voice in which Farmer Brown's boy spoke.
He thought of Reddy Fox still so stiff and sore and lame that he could
hardly walk, all from the shot which Farmer Brown's boy thought had
missed.

"There isn't gwine to be any next time. No, Suh, there isn't gwine to be
any next time. Ah sho'ly doan love Reddy Fox, but Ah can't nohow let
him be shot again. Ah cert'nly can't!" muttered Unc' Billy Possum to
himself.

Of course, Farmer Brown's boy didn't hear him. He didn't hear him and he
didn't see him when Unc' Billy Possum crept out of the back side of the
woodpile and scurried under the henhouse. He was too intent on his plan
to catch Reddy Fox.

"I'm just going to hunt over the Green Meadows and through the Green