to the Old Pasture which was so far away. That would mean giving up the
fat hen which he had hidden in the hollow stump.

Of course, Reddy knew the instant that Bowser began to yelp and bark
that something had happened. What it was he couldn't imagine. He sat
down to wait and listen. Then he heard the voice of Farmer Brown's boy.
Reddy knew that voice and he grinned, for he felt sure that Bowser would
give up the hunt. He grinned because now he would have a chance to go
back for that fat hen. At the same time that grin was not wholly a happy
grin, because Reddy knew that now Bowser would return to his home.

Presently Reddy very carefully crept back to a place where he could see
what was going on. He watched Farmer Brown's boy start back for the
road and the sleigh, with Bowser jumping up on him and racing around him
like a foolish young puppy. He waited only long enough to make sure that
Bowser would not come back; then he turned and trotted swiftly along his
own back trail towards that hollow stump into which he had tossed that
fat hen. Reddy's thoughts were very pleasant thoughts, for they were all
of the fine dinner of which he now felt sure.




CHAPTER XXXIX

A VANISHED DINNER

This fact you'll find where'er you go
Is true of Fox or Dog or Man:
Dishonesty has never paid,