Everything had been very different when old Fido lived in his little house by the barnyard gate.  Nothing had ever happened to trouble them then.  But old Fido was gone now, and nobody knew about that either.  One morning after breakfast he had trotted off behind the wagon, and nobody had seen him since.  Every one liked old Fido, and they all missed him, but he had never come back and his little house stood empty all night long.

Some thought that he had gone to take care of the sheep who lived in the big field on the other side of the hill.  But it was only little Bantam Rooster who said so.  Nobody knew.  Things had been better, though, before Fido went away, for he had always stayed awake all night and watched to see that no harm came to any of them.

Then suddenly Mamma Goose had a thought, and a very bright idea it was, too.  She would stay awake all night herself, and watch and see with her own eyes what it was that carried away the little chicks.  As soon as she had made this plan she stopped thinking, for it was such hard work and the sun was getting very hot on her poor head.  Besides, the goslings had been in the water long enough.  They never did know when to come out!

So she waddled down to the brook to get them.  Then they all went for a walk in the meadow where the red clover-tops nod in the wind, and Mamma Goose did no more thinking that day.

But when night came, she did not forget her plan.  As soon as the sun had gone down behind the hill, the chickens all perched themselves along the roost with the big white cock at the end of the row, and soon they were all fast asleep.  Little Red Hen gathered her chicks under her wing to keep them cosy and warm, and then she, too, went to sleep.

Mamma Goose tucked her babies in also, and spread her wings wide over them all, but she did not go to sleep.

Instead, she kept both eyes wide open and stared straight at the big white cock, that she might not go to sleep without knowing it.  It was very hard to sit so long in the dark and keep awake.  First one eye and then the other would close tight, but Mamma Goose would stretch them wide open again, and stare harder than ever at the big cock, and then she saw that the cock was watching, too, and that made it much easier.

Then it happened after a long time, when the moon had climbed high above the trees, and everything was very quiet, that a long, slim fox stole softly beneath the fence and came creeping—­creeping across the barn yard.  Mamma Goose was so frightened that she almost said “Quack! quack!” out loud, but still she kept her eyes on the big white cock, and that was a great help.

The fox was creeping softly toward the roost where the chickens slept in a row,—­but not straight toward it.  He was keeping as far away from old Fido’s house as he possibly could.  Although she was so frightened, Mamma Goose wondered why.  She had always heard that the fox was afraid of old Fido, but didn’t he know that Fido was far away?  Didn’t he know that his little house was empty?  It did not take the fox long, however, to creep softly past it, and in the morning another little chick was gone!