Reddy was sure. He trotted along behind
old Granny Fox and planned smart things to say to her when she found
that there wasn't a chance to catch Quacker the Duck. I am afraid,
very much afraid, that Reddy was planning to be saucy. People who think
themselves smart are quite apt to be saucy.

Presently they came to the bank of the Big River. Old Granny Fox told
Reddy to sit still while she crept up behind some bushes where she could
peek out over the Big River. He grinned as he watched her. He was still
grinning when she tiptoed back. He expected to see her face long with
disappointment. Instead she looked very much pleased.

"Quacker is there," said she, "and I think he will make us a very good
dinner. Creep up behind those bushes and see for yourself, then come
back here and tell me what you think we'd better do to get him."

So Reddy stole up behind the bushes, and this time it was Granny who
grinned as she watched. As he crept along, Reddy wondered if it could be
that for once Quacker had come ashore. Granny seemed so sure they could
catch him that this must be the case. But when he peeped through the
hushes, there was Quacker way out in the middle of the open water just
where he had been the day before.

CHAPTER III: Reddy Is Sure Granny Has Lost Her Senses

Perhaps 'tis just as well that we
Can't see ourselves as others see.
--Old Granny Fox.

"Just as I thought," muttered Reddy Fox as he peeped through the bushes
on the bank of the Big River and saw Quacker swimming about in the water
where it ran too swiftly to freeze. "We've got just as much chance of
catching him as I have of jumping over the moon. That's what I'll tell
Granny."

He crept back carefully so as not to be seen by Quacker, and when he had
reached the place where Granny was waiting for him, his face wore a very
impudent look.

"Well," said Granny Fox, "what shall we do to catch him?"

"Learn to swim like a fish and fly like a bird," replied Reddy in such a
saucy tone that Granny had hard work to keep from boxing his ears.

"You mean that you think he can't be caught?" said she quietly.

"I don't think anything about it; I know he can't!" snapped Reddy. "Not
by us, anyway," he added.

"I suppose you wouldn't even try?" retorted Granny.

"I'm old enough to know when I'm wasting my time," replied Reddy with a
toss of his head.

"In other words you think I'm a silly old Fox who has lost her senses,"
said Granny sharply.