"Oh, Mother! whatever shall we do?" Tommy said. "Do you think we can get away from him?"
"Of course," Mrs. Fox answered. "But you must do just as I tell you.
Now, follow right in my tracks, and don"t be frightened, I"m going to show you a new trick--one that my own mother taught me when I was no older than you are."
Mrs. Fox turned to the right and started back across the valley. She was going straight toward Swift River.
"Oh, dear!" Tommy cried. "Don"t you know that the river is frozen solid, Mother? The dog can follow us across it, as easy as anything."
"Stop fussing!" Mrs. Fox said, looking over her shoulder at Tommy.
"We"re not going to the river. You just mind me and you"ll see, in a few minutes, that we can fool that dog." And she kept on running, with Tommy right at her heels.
XIX
TOMMY FOX LEARNS A NEW TRICK
Now, there was a road that ran through the valley, along the bank of Swift River. And when Mrs. Fox reached it, with Tommy close behind her, she turned again--this time to the left--and ran along in the beaten track which the horses and sleighs had made.
Tommy Fox thought it very strange that his mother should lead him to the road, where they were sure to find people driving. Tommy followed her. But he was very unhappy. They swung into the road just ahead of a farmer, who was driving along in a sleigh. The sleigh-bells tinkled merrily as the horse trotted smartly down the road. But the jingling of the bells did not sound at all pleasant to Tommy Fox. It only frightened him all the more.
The farmer in the sleigh did not see Tommy and his mother, for the snow rose high on both sides, and the road wound in and out. Little did he know that Mrs. Fox and Tommy were scampering along in front of him. Of course, he couldn"t catch them, anyhow. Tommy knew that much.
But if they ran very far down the road they would be sure to meet some other man.
To Tommy it seemed bad enough to have that dog chasing them, without going where they were sure to find other enemies. Tommy could hear the dog baying. And he knew dogs well enough to know that that dog felt very sure he was going to catch them. But pretty soon Tommy heard the dog talking in a very different fashion. He gave a number of short barks, which meant that he was in trouble.
Mrs. Fox looked over her shoulder and smiled at Tommy. She knew that they were safe. She knew that the dog had not reached the road until the farmer had driven right over their footsteps and spoiled their scent. After the horse had pa.s.sed over their trail the dog could smell only the horse"s footprints, instead of theirs. And Mrs. Fox could tell what was happening back there in the road. She knew just exactly as well as if she had been there herself--she knew that the dog had stopped short, and was running all around, with his nose to the ground, trying to find where she and Tommy had gone. But he never found out.
You see, he wasn"t half as clever as Mrs. Fox. It never once occurred to him that Tommy and his mother had turned into the road just ahead of that farmer in his sleigh. And finally the stupid dog gave up the chase and went back to Farmer Green"s house.
By that time Mrs. Fox and Tommy were safe at home. Yes--they were even having a good laugh over the way they had fooled the dog. And Tommy had quite forgotten how frightened he had been. In fact, he began to feel very well pleased with himself. For he never once remembered that it was his mother, and not himself, who had thought of that trick. He ought to have felt very grateful to his grandmother, for having taught his mother that clever way of cheating a dog out of his dinner. But Tommy Fox was so conceited that if his grandmother had been there with them he would have thought he knew ten times as much as she did. I"ve no doubt that he would even have tried to teach her to suck eggs--never once stopping to think that she knew all about such things many years before he was born.
XX
THE DRUMMER OF THE WOODS
Tommy Fox stopped short and listened. It was early spring, and the snow was still deep on the sides of Blue Mountain.
_Thump--thump--thump, thump, thump, thump! Rub--rub--rub--rub, r-r-r-r-r-r-r!_ If you had heard that sound you would have said that there was a boy hidden somewhere on the mountain; and that he was playing a drum. But Tommy Fox knew better than that. He knew that it was Mr. Grouse, calling to Mrs. Grouse. And Tommy knew that he made that noise by beating the air with his strong wings.
Now, Tommy Fox had not eaten a grouse for a long, long time. He had never captured a grouse himself. In fact, he had never even tried, since that time in the summer, when old Mother Grouse had played a trick on him, and led him away from her children.
Tommy made up his mind now that he was old enough and wise enough to capture Mr. Grouse. But he thought he had better wait until night, when Mr. Grouse couldn"t see well. Tommy Fox"s eyes, you know, were even sharper at night than they were in the daytime.
Well! Tommy Fox went home. And that very night he stole back again to the clump of evergreens where he had heard Mr. Grouse drumming.
It was pretty dark up there on the mountain. But Tommy had no trouble at all in finding his way. And he kept looking up at the thick branches of the evergreens, for he hoped that Mr. Grouse was asleep on a low branch, which he could reach with a good, high jump.
Yes--it was dark. And it was very cold up there on Blue Mountain, for all it was early springtime. And the evergreen trees bowed beneath a burden of snow, which had fallen only the day before.
It was very still in the forest. And when Tommy Fox suddenly heard a cry of _"Whoo--whoo--whoo!"_ he jumped, in spite of himself. Tommy knew, right away, that it was only Mr. Owl. And he felt very sheepish.
And then all at once Tommy jumped again. This time he was terribly frightened, for the strangest thing happened. The snow rose right up beneath his feet, and flew in his face. And something struck him a good, hard blow under his chin. Tommy fell over backward in the snow, he was so surprised. And a roar like thunder rang through the forest.
Tommy knew then what had happened. Maybe you have guessed, too. For it was Mr. Grouse himself. He had burrowed his way into the snow, so that he might have a warm blanket to cover him during the night. And Tommy Fox had stepped squarely on top of him.
It was no wonder Mr. Grouse had sprung up in a hurry. He was just as frightened as Tommy himself, because he had been sound asleep, and he had no idea what was the matter.
As for Tommy Fox, it was a huge joke on him. But it was a joke that didn"t please Tommy at all. He felt very silly, when it was all over.
XXI
THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL
It was a pretty big surprise for Tommy Fox, when Mr. Grouse sprang out of the snow, right beneath his feet. But it was nothing at all, compared with the surprise Tommy had when he reached home.
Very late at night Tommy stole into his mother"s house. In fact, it was nearly morning. And Tommy crept in very quietly, for he hardly expected that his mother would be awake and he did not want to disturb her.
Tommy had just curled up on his bed and was all ready to go to sleep, when to his great astonishment he heard his mother talking. She was not talking to _him_, but to someone near her, for she spoke so low that Tommy could not hear what she was saying.
He thought right away that somebody had come to pay them a visit. And he called out--
"Who"s here, Mother? Is it a visitor?"
"Yes, Tommy," Mrs. Fox answered. "Come here and see who it is."
Tommy jumped out of bed and hopped across the room. At first he couldn"t see anybody but his mother.
"It"s just a joke!" Tommy exclaimed. "You"re only fooling!"
"Look sharp!" said Mrs. Fox. "It"s a surprise. What do you call this?"
She moved aside a bit, and pointed to a little, soft, woolly thing which lay close beside her. Tommy had to look two or three times to see what it was. And even then he wasn"t sure.
"Is it--is it--a baby?" he asked.
"That"s just what it is," his mother said.
Tommy certainly was surprised. And before he could find his voice again Mrs. Fox showed him another baby fox, and another and another and another.
Yes--there they were--five of them all together, small and soft and woolly. They weren"t nearly so brightly colored as Tommy and his mother--just a pale, brownish red. Tommy Fox could hardly believe it.