Reddy had had experience with hens before.  He knew that if Farmer Brown’s boy heard them making a great racket, he would know that something was wrong, and he would come all prepared.  This was the one thing that Reddy did not want.  His one chance to escape would be to take Farmer Brown’s boy entirely by surprise.

Never had time dragged more slowly.  The hens were awake, and several of them flew down to the floor of the henhouse.  They passed so close to where Reddy was hiding that merely by reaching out a black paw he could have touched them.  Because he took particular pains not to move, not even to twitch a black ear, they did not see him.  Anyway, if they did see him, they took no notice of him.  How the moments did drag!  All the time he lay there listening, wishing that Farmer Brown’s boy would come, yet dreading to have him come.  It seemed ages before he heard sounds which told him that people were awake in Farmer Brown’s house.

Finally he heard a distant door slam.  Then he heard a whistle, a merry whistle.  It drew nearer and nearer; Farmer Brown’s boy was coming to feed the hens.  Reddy tried to hold his breath.  He heard the click of the henyard gate as Farmer Brown’s boy opened it, then he heard the crunch, crunch, crunch of Farmer Brown’s boy’s feet on the snow.

Suddenly the henhouse door was thrown open and Farmer Brown’s boy stepped inside.  In his hand he held a pan filled with the breakfast he had brought for the hens.  Suddenly a box in the darkest corner of the henhouse moved.  Farmer Brown’s boy turned to look, and as he did so a slim form dashed fairly between his legs.  It startled him so that he dropped the pan and spilled the corn all over the henhouse floor.  “Great Scott!” he exclaimed.  “What under the sun was that?” and rushed to the door to see.  He was just in time to get a glimpse of a red coat and a bushy tail disappearing around a corner of the barn.

CHAPTER XVIII

MUTUAL RELIEF

    The wise Fox knows that with every chicken he steals he puts an
    increased price on his own skin.

    Bowser the Hound.

When Reddy Fox dashed between the legs of Farmer Brown’s boy and out of the open door of the henhouse, it was with his heart in his mouth.  At least, it seemed that way.  Would he find the henyard gate open?  Supposing Farmer Brown’s boy had closed it after he entered!  Reddy would then be a prisoner just as he had been all night, and all hope would end.

Just imagine with what terrible anxiety and eagerness Reddy looked towards that gate as he dashed out of the open door.  Just imagine the relief that was his when he saw that the gate was open.  In that very instant the snowy outside world became more beautiful and wonderful than ever it had been in all his life before.  He was free! free! free!

If ever there was a surprised boy, that boy was Farmer Brown’s as he watched Reddy twist around a corner of the barn and disappear.