Old Sic’em, the Kind Farmer’s dog, was sound asleep, his head half
through the round front door of his little house in the old farm yard.
But as soon as he heard the thumpty-thump of Little Jack Rabbit’s feet,
he woke up mighty quick. Maybe he thought a tramp was coming down the
road, and maybe he didn’t.
“Hello, Sic’em!” said the little rabbit. He wasn’t afraid, you know,
for the old dog was fastened with a chain, one end to his collar and
the other to the little dog-house.
“Good morning,” answered Old Sic’em, opening his mouth to yawn, for it
was lazy work lying there all day, except when the Kind Farmer took him
to the village.
Just then whom should the little rabbit see but Danny Fox sneaking
behind the trees. Now it had been a long time since that old robber had
been around, for something dreadful had happened to him. Yes, sir! Old
Danny Fox had lost a bit of his long bushy tail.
You see, it had happened on the night he had tiptoed softly through the
Shady Forest, along the Old Rail Fence, over the Sunny Meadow, to the
farmyard.
Mrs. Moon shone bright and clear and Billy Breeze whistled a gentle
tune as Mr. Longtooth Rat looked around the corner of the barn and saw
Danny Fox creeping up to the chicken house.
“He, he!” laughed the old robber rat to himself, “Cocky Doodle and
Henny Penny had better look out.” And then he began to laugh some more.
I guess he didn’t care what happened to the Kind Farmer’s chickens.
Well, closer and closer crept the old robber fox, searching with
his quick eyes here and there and everywhere for an opening. But he
couldn’t find any, for the Kind Farmer had locked the door and nailed
little pieces of tin over the big cracks and holes in the boards.
“I’ll have to dig a tunnel under the door,” said the old fox to
himself, and he started in to dig away, and pretty soon he was half-way
in.
All this time Mr. Longtooth Rat had been squinting through a crack in
the barn, but when finally he could see only the tip of Danny Fox’s
bushy tail, he called to his wife:
“Look, look! my dear! Danny Fox is almost inside the Henhouse!”
“You don’t mean to say you’ve been standing here all this time without
giving warning?” exclaimed Mrs. Longtooth Rat sharply. “Gracious me,
I’m surprised you’re such a coward.”