"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.