Hiding behind a box in the darkest corner of the henhouse , he hardly dared to breathe . You see , he did n't want those hens to discover him . He knew that if they did they would make such a racket that they would bring Farmer Brown 's boy hurrying out to find out what the trouble was . 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 XXXXX door was thrown open and Farmer Brown 's boy stepped inside .
Brown Reddy corner escape henhouse house moments people something sounds