It was so mysterious that if he had n't known positively that he was awake he would have thought it was all a dream . But Reddy is something of a philosopher . That fat hen was gone , and there was no use in wasting time puzzling over it . There were other fat hens where that one came from , and he would just have to catch another . So Reddy trotted through the swamp till he came to the edge of it . There his keen nose found the scent of the farmer . It did n't take him two minutes to discover that the farmer had followed Bowser the Hound to the edge of the swamp and then gone back . Eagerly Reddy looked over to the farmyard for those fat hens . They , too , had disappeared . Not one was to be seen . But there was no mystery about the disappearance of these other fat hens . He heard the muffled crow of the big rooster . It came from the henhouse . All those fat hens had been shut up . It was perfectly plain to Reddy that the farmer suspected Reddy might return , and he did n't intend to lose another fat hen . With a little yelp of disappointment , Reddy turned his back on the farm and trotted off into the woods . CHAPTER XLI WHAT BLACKY THE CROW SAW The greatest puzzle is simple enough when you know the answer . Bowser the Hound . There were just two people to whom the disappearance of that fat hen Reddy Fox had hidden in the hollow stump was not a mystery . One of them was Blacky the Crow .
When the farmer and Bowser the Hound had rushed out at the sound of XXXXX 's excited cawing , Blacky had flown to the top of a tall tree from which he could see all that went on .
Blacky Bowser Fox Reddy XLI farmyard henhouse minutes mystery scent