"Oh!" cried Peter Rabbit, "he's digging into the house of Reddy
Fox, and he'll catch poor Reddy!"
XXVI. Farmer Brown's Boy Works for Nothing
The grass around the doorstep of the house where Reddy Fox had
always lived was all wet with dew when Farmer Brown's boy laid
his gun down, took off his coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and
picked up his spade. It was cool and beautiful there on the edge
of the Green Meadows. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had just begun
his long climb up in the blue, blue sky. Mr. Redwing was singing
for joy over in the bulrushes on the edge of the Smiling Pool.
Yes, it was very beautiful, very beautiful indeed. It didn't seem
as if harm could come to anyone on such a beautiful morning.
But there was Farmer Brown's boy. He had crawled on his hands and
knees without making a sound to get near enough to the home of
Reddy Fox to shoot if Reddy was outside. But there was no sign of
Reddy, so Farmer Brown's boy had hopped up, and now he was
whistling as he began to dig. His freckled face looked
good-natured. It didn't seem as if he could mean harm to anyone.
But there lay the gun, and he was working as if he meant to get
to the very bottom of Reddy Fox's home!
Deeper and deeper grew the hole, and bigger and bigger grew the
pile of sand which he threw out. He didn't know that anyone was
watching him, except Bowser the Hound. He didn't see Johnny Chuck
peeping from behind a tall bunch of meadow grass, or Peter Rabbit
peeping from behind a tree on the edge of the Green Forest, or
Bobby Coon looking from a safe hiding place in the top of that
same tree.
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