plan to get that fat hen. No one knew better
than she how foolish it would be to go over to that henyard and just
trust to luck for a chance to catch one of those biddies. Of course,
they might be lucky and get a hen that way, but then again they might be
unlucky and get in a peck of trouble.

"You see," said she to Reddy, "we must not only plan how to get that fat
hen, but we must also plan how to get away with it safely. If only there
was some way of getting in that henhouse at night, there would be no
trouble at all. I don't suppose there is the least chance of that."

"Not the least chance in the world," replied Reddy. "There isn't a
hole anywhere big enough for even Shadow the Weasel to get through, and
Farmer Brown's boy is very careful to lock the door every night."

"There's a little hole that the hens go in and out of during the day,
which is big enough for one of us to slip through, I believe," said
Granny thoughtfully.

"Sure! But it's always closed at night," snapped Reddy. "Besides, to get
to that or the door either, you have got to get inside the henyard, and
there's a gate to that which we can't open."

"People are sometimes careless,--even you, Reddy," said Granny.

Reddy squirmed uneasily, for he had been in trouble many times through
carelessness. "Well, what of it?" he demanded a wee bit crossly.

"Nothing much, only if that hen-yard gate should happen to be left open,
and if Farmer Brown's boy should happen to forget to close that little
hole that the hens go through, and if we happened to be around at just
that time--"

"Too many ifs to get a dinner with," interrupted Reddy.

"Perhaps," replied Granny mildly, "but I've noticed that it is the one
who has an eye open for all the little ifs in life that fares the best.
Now I've kept an eye on that henyard, and I've noticed that very often
Farmer Brown's boy doesn't close the henyard gate at night. I suppose he
thinks that if the henhouse door is locked, the gate doesn't matter.
Any one who is careless about one thing, is likely to be careless about
another. Sometime he may forget to close that hole. I told you that we
would try for one of those hens to-morrow morning, but the more I think
about it, the more I think it will be wiser to visit that henhouse a
few nights before we run the risk of trying to catch a hen in broad
daylight. In fact, I am pretty sure I can make Farmer Brown's boy forget
to close that gate."

"How?" demanded Reddy ea