retched out full length on the doorstep. It would take the
soreness out of his legs. Something must have happened to Granny to keep
her so long. If she had known that she was going to be gone such a long
time, she wouldn't have told him to stay until she came back, thought
Reddy.

By and by Reddy Fox crept a little way up the long, dark hall. He could
just see the sunlight on the doorstep. Pretty soon he went a little bit
nearer. He wasn't going to disobey old Granny Fox. Oh, no! No, indeed!
She had told him to stay in the house until she returned. She hadn't
said that he couldn't look out! Reddy crawled a little nearer to the
open door and the sunlight.

"Granny Fox is getting old and timid. Just as if my eyes aren't as sharp
as hers! I'd like to see Farmer Brown's boy get near me when I am really
on the watch," said Reddy Fox to himself. And then he crept a little
nearer to the open door.

How bright and warm and pleasant it did look outside! Reddy just knew
that he would feel ever and ever so much better if he could stretch
out on the doorstep. He could hear Jenny Wren fussing and scolding at
someone or something, and he wondered what it could be. He crept just a
wee bit nearer. He could hear Bowser's voice, but it was so faint that
he had to prick up his sharp little ears and listen with all his might
to hear it at all.

"Granny's led them way off on the mountain. Good old Granny!" thought
Reddy Fox. Then he crawled right up to the very doorway. He could still
hear Jenny Wren scolding and fussing.

"What does ail her?

"If it's hot or if it's cold,
Jenny Wren will always scold.
From morn till night the whole day long
Her limber tongue is going strong.

"I'm going to find out what it means," said Reddy, talking to himself.

Reddy Fox poked his head out and--looked straight into the freckled face
of Farmer Brown's boy and the muzzle of that dreadful gun!

XXII. Ol' Mistah Buzzard's Keen Sight

Old Granny Fox had thought that when she fooled Bowser the Hound up
in the old pasture on the edge of the mountain she could take her time
going home. She was tired and hot, and she had planned to pick out the
shadiest paths going back. She had thought that Farmer Brown's boy would
soon join Bowser the Hound, when Bowser made such a fuss about having
found the old house into which Granny Fox had run.

But Farmer Brown's boy had not yet appeared, and Granny Fox was getting
worried. Cou