He found Tommy Fox wide awake, sitting on his haunches in the moonlight, listening. Far away in the distance a fox was barking and Tommy thought it sounded like his mother"s voice.
Tommy was surprised to see Johnnie Green at that hour. And he was astonished when Johnnie untied the chain from the stake and started away with him. They went off across the fields, toward Blue Mountain, right in the direction of that barking.
The meadows smelled sweet; and Tommy Fox began to wish that he could slip his head out of his collar and scamper away.
And that was exactly what happened.
After they had gone some distance, Johnnie Green stopped. He unbuckled Tommy"s collar, and gave Tommy a push.
At first Tommy was not quite sure that he wanted to leave his good master. But there was that fox, yelping and calling. Something seemed to draw Tommy toward that sound. He just couldn"t help himself. And the first thing he knew he was bounding off over the meadow running as fast as his legs would carry him, and barking as loudly as he could bark.
Johnnie Green went slowly home again. He crept into the house and stole upstairs, and cried himself to sleep. But he was glad of one thing. Tommy Fox would not be killed the next morning.
XVI
TOMMY BECOMES BOASTFUL
When Johnnie Green turned Tommy Fox loose, out in the meadow, in the moonlight, Tommy hurried across the fields as fast as he could go. You remember that he heard a fox barking, near the foot of Blue Mountain, and he thought it sounded like his mother. So Tommy barked, too. And as he ran he could hear that other fox coming towards him. Pretty soon they met, and such a joyful meeting you never saw in all your life.
For it _was_ old Mrs. Fox. And she was so delighted to see Tommy that she licked him all over with her tongue, and looked at him carefully, to see if he was hurt anywhere. Mrs. Fox had never expected to see Tommy again. But there he was, bigger than ever, and altogether _too_ fat, for Johnnie had fed him well; and then, there were those two hens that Tommy had stolen.
Tommy Fox was very glad indeed to see his mother once more. He frisked about her, and yelped, and jumped up and down. And when she saw that Tommy had come back safe and sound Mrs. Fox danced a little bit, too.
And then she took Tommy home.
You remember that when Farmer Green caught Tommy in a trap, right at the door of his mother"s house, Mrs. Fox had been obliged to move. Her new home was not far away from the old one. It was snug and cozy, and on the whole was a pretty nice sort of house, though the dooryard was not quite so sunny as she would have preferred, for the branches of a big tree shaded it.
Tommy had to answer a great many questions. His mother wanted to know everything that had happened to him. She was astonished when she found that he had been in the village, right in the daytime. He was the only fox she knew of who had ever been there. And when she heard of Tommy"s friendship with the dog Spot Mrs. Fox was more surprised than ever.
She couldn"t understand it. And she shook her head over and over again as Tommy told her what good times he and Spot had had together. Mrs.
Fox actually began to think that Tommy was telling stories.
The other forest-people, too, thought that Tommy was fibbing when he bragged about his strange adventures. And old Mr. Crow began to cry "Stop, liar!" after him, instead of "Stop, thief!" as he used to do.
But Tommy Fox didn"t mind that very much. He knew that he was telling the truth. And he more than half guessed that old Mr. Crow was jealous of him, because he had so many wonderful things to tell.
Though the forest-people always listened to Tommy"s stories, they disliked him more than ever. For he was always going about boasting of what he had seen, and what he had done, and what _his_ friend, the dog Spot, said.
"If you"re such good friends with old dog Spot, why don"t you go down to the farm-yard and see him?" Mr. Crow said to Tommy one day. This was long after Tommy had come back to live with his mother. In fact, it was quite late in the fall, and the weather was growing cold.
"All right! I will!" Tommy said. He was not going to let old Mr. Crow get the better of him. "I"ll go now," Tommy said. And with that he started down the valley toward Farmer Green"s buildings.
XVII
PAYING A CALL ON A FRIEND
Mr. Crow had dared Tommy Fox to go down to pay a call on his friend dog Spot, at Farmer Green"s place. And Tommy was trotting along across the fields. He was quite near Farmer Green"s house when he heard a dog bark not far away.
"There"s Spot now!" Tommy said to himself. And he turned at once in the direction of the barking. He was smiling, for he knew Spot would be greatly pleased to see him, and very much surprised, too.
Tommy stole slyly up toward the place where the dog was barking. The sound came from beyond some bushes. And Tommy thought he would jump out from behind the bushes and startle Spot. So he crept up to the bushes and then suddenly gave a yelp and leaped clean over them.
It was Tommy Fox himself who got the surprise. For there was a strange dog! And as soon as he saw Tommy he sprang after him.
Tommy did not wait a second. He left that place a great deal faster than he came. And as he went skimming over the fields, a red streak against the brown stubble, he could hear Mr. Crow laughing heartily.
The old fellow had sailed along high over Tommy"s head, to see what happened; and he was greatly pleased with himself. You see, he knew that Farmer Green"s hired man had brought home a new dog just a few days before, and Mr. Crow hoped that if Tommy went to the farm-yard he would meet the strange dog.
Tommy was very angry. He saw at once that old Mr. Crow had tricked him and he made up his mind that if he ever had a chance he would get even with the old gentleman. But now he had no time to think about that.
There was that strange dog, following hot on his trail. Tommy had quite enough to worry him, without bothering his head over Mr. Crow just then.
Now, even if Tommy Fox was conceited, he was really a very bright youngster. And as he bounded along he thought of a pretty clever scheme. Yes, he thought of a fine trick to play on that dog. The idea came to him all at once. And as soon as the thought popped into his head, Tommy turned toward Swift River. He was at the bank in no time, and he skipped nimbly down to the river"s edge.
Tommy Fox could see no water at all running in Swift River. And you might think he was disappointed. But he wasn"t. He found exactly what he had hoped for. He could see no water running, down there in the bed of the river, because _the river was covered with ice._ It was just a thin sh.e.l.l of ice; but it was strong enough to bear Tommy"s weight. He ran across it quickly. And then what do you suppose he did? He sat right down on the opposite bank!
Tommy Fox wanted to see the fun. He had to wait only a minute. For pretty soon the strange dog came rushing down the opposite bank of the river and leaped far out from the edge of the stream.
There was a crash, and a splitting, crackling noise! And the strange dog was floundering in the cold water. The ice was not thick enough to hold him up, and he had hard work to scramble back to the bank again.
But he climbed out of the water at last, and tucked his tail between his legs and made off.
Old Mr. Crow saw what happened. He stopped laughing. And he sailed away silently, thinking that Tommy Fox was a pretty smart young cub, after all.
XVIII
THE WORLD TURNS WHITE
After he outwitted the strange dog, Tommy Fox became more of a braggart than ever. He thought that he knew just about all there was to know. But with the coming of winter Tommy found that he had many things to learn. It was almost like living in a different world, for the ground was white everywhere. And though Tommy Fox loved to play in the snow, he discovered one thing about it that he did not like at all. It frightened him when he saw how plainly his footprints showed after a fresh snow-fall. And he wondered how he would ever be able to escape being caught, should any strange dog chase him.
As the winter days pa.s.sed, Tommy learned that it was very hard for him to run fast in a light, dry snow--that through such snow a dog could run much faster than he could. But when there was a thin crust he could go skipping along like the wind, while dogs, being heavier, broke through the crust and floundered about in the softer snow beneath.
One day Tommy and his mother were out hunting. The snow was very deep everywhere, for it was mid-winter. And it had thawed and frozen so often that the snow was quite hard, except for just about an inch of fresh snow which had fallen during the night. Tommy and his mother could see rabbit tracks all around them; and they had very good luck hunting. But something happened that wasn"t exactly lucky. They had turned toward home, when a dog bayed somewhere behind them, and pretty soon Mrs. Fox saw that they were being followed.
She and Tommy started to run. And Tommy saw that there was one more bad thing about winter. Swift River, and all the little brooks, were covered with thick ice and there was no chance at all for him and his mother to run through shallow water and throw the dog off their scent.
It was that strange dog that was chasing them--the one that belonged to Farmer Green"s hired man. He was a very fast runner, and in spite of the usual tricks that foxes know, Mrs. Fox and Tommy could not lose him.
Tommy began to be frightened. And old Mrs. Fox herself was somewhat worried. But she still had a few tricks up her sleeve. She didn"t intend to let that dog catch them if she could help it.
[Ill.u.s.tration with caption: Mrs. Fox and Tommy Started to Run]