Yes , Sir , very pleasant were the thoughts of Reddy Fox . He felt sure that no dinner he had ever eaten had tasted anywhere near as good as would the dinner he was about to enjoy . In the first place his stomach had not been really filled for a long time . Food had been scarce , and while Reddy had always obtained enough to keep from starving , it was a long time since he had had a really good meal . He had , you remember , traveled a very long distance to catch that fat hen , and it had been many hours since he had had a bite of anything . There is nothing like a good appetite to make things taste good . Reddy certainly had the appetite to make that fat hen the finest dinner a Fox ever ate . So , with pleasant thoughts of the feast to come , Reddy trotted along swiftly . Presently he reached the little swamp in which was the hollow stump . As he drew near it , he moved very carefully . You see , he was not quite sure that all was safe . He knew that the farmer from whom he had stolen that fat hen had seen him run away with it , and he feared that that farmer might be hiding somewhere about with a terrible gun . So Reddy used his eyes and his ears and his nose as only he can use them . All seemed safe . It was as still in that little swamp as if no living creature had ever visited it . Stopping every few steps to look , listen , and sniff , Reddy approached that hollow stump . Quite certain in his own mind that there was no danger , Reddy lightly leaped up on the old stump and peeped into the hollow in the top . Then he blinked his eyes very fast indeed . If ever there has been a surprised Fox in all the Great World that one was Reddy . There was no fat hen in that hollow !
XXXXX could n't believe it .
Fox Reddy Sir World danger first hours mind place stump