there has been a surprised
Fox in all the Great World that one was Reddy. There was no fat hen in
that hollow! Reddy couldn't believe it. He _wouldn't_ believe it. That
fat hen just _had_ to be there. He blinked his eyes some more and looked
again. All he saw in that hollow stump was a feather. The fat hen had
vanished. All Reddy's dreams of a good dinner vanished too. A great rage
took their place. Somebody had _stolen_ his fat hen!

Reddy looked about him hurriedly and anxiously. There wasn't a sign of
anybody about, or that anybody had been there. Reddy's anger began to
give place to wonder and then to something very like fear. How could
anybody have taken that fat hen and left no trace? And how could a fat
hen with a broken neck disappear of its own accord? It gave Reddy a
creepy feeling.

CHAPTER XL

WHERE WAS REDDY'S DINNER?

Often it is better to look for a new trail than to waste time
hunting for an old one.

_Bowser the Hound._

Reddy Fox is used to all sorts of queer happenings. Yes, Sir, he is used
to all sorts of queer happenings, and as a rule Reddy is seldom puzzled
for long. You see he is such a clever fellow himself that any one clever
enough to fool him for long must be very clever indeed. This time,
however, all the cleverness of his sharp wits did him no good. The fat
hen he had hidden in a hollow stump had disappeared without leaving
trace.

Reddy's first thought was that probably the farmer from whom he had
stolen the fat hen had found it and taken it away. At once he began to
use that wonderful nose of his searching for the scent of that farmer.
Very carefully he sniffed all about the top of that old stump and inside
the hollow. There wasn't the faintest scent of anybody there. Then he
jumped down, and with his nose to the ground, ran all around the stump,
sniffing, sniffing, sniffing. The only thing he discovered was the scent
of Bowser the Hound, and he knew that Bowser had not taken that fat hen,
because, as you remember, Bowser had kept right on chasing him.

Reddy began to feel afraid of that old stump. People usually are afraid
of mysterious things, and it certainly was very mysterious that a fat
hen with a broken neck should disappear without leaving any trace at
all. Reddy sat down at a little distance and did a lot of hard thinking.
He looked every which way even up in the tree tops, but all his looking
was in vain. It was so mysterious that if he hadn't known