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Show THE GLAD SURPRISE OF THE YOUNG rox. I BY THORNTON Y BURGESa AppetWe we oftpn see' The tltlef of wit may prove to be. Old Granny Fox i i, pr epiny m the bushes along the ' stone wall on the edge of the Old I Orchard tl young Fox at last came I to tho end. Just a lutle way off ' was Farmer Brown's henhouse The voting Fox. peeping out, was.disap-j was.disap-j pointed. Tito henyard was on the I other side o. the henhouse and ho couldn't see !. Little thrills of ex-1 ex-1 citement ran r J I over Mm. Here he was close to ,lhat place which his mother had onas warned him to k P I away from N'.M a thing had lie seen to frighten him. Everything about Farmer Brown's barnyard and door-yard door-yard was as quiet and peaceful jm j his old home H the Old Pasture. I There wasn't a hint of danger any-' any-' where. But the young IVix didn't lnt.-nd to taki ;inv chances, so he lay down right where hi was and ratched and walt- I ed. lie ws trying tvi make sure that ! things were as safe as they seemed, a thing a wise Fox will always ao. , Twice while he Jay .'.here the young muster crowed. The young Fox could tell from the sound that the young rooster must be just on the other I side of that henhouse . I can run across to that hen- 1 house as quickly as I can wink my eye." tUoUffTtt that younvr Fox. ' Then I can steal along close to It on the , back side and no one can see me." He waited a few mlmitos longer, and then swift'v tf,Trtel across to the henhouse With that 1 etween him and Parmer Brown's dooryard he felt I niilb safe Keeping close V the henhouse hen-house he stole along untlV he oouM 1 peep around the corner ol It. Ther I he found a queer substance he hal i neer see'n before, but which he could see through quite ' as well as if It were not there at all. It was th--wire netting of the henyard Imc i Right then and there the young Fox had a glad surprise. It yas one j of the gladdest surprises of hu short life. U'alklng about almost under his nose were many big. stupld-looklng birds Suddenly one of them stMtehi 1 his neck, opened his mouth and forth came that sound which he had first heard, over In the Green Forest, and which had so puzzled him. "That must be the rooster:" exclaimed ex-claimed the young Fox to hlmvr'f. 'And he Is nothing but a big bird! Those others must be the hens S"t.m-niv S"t.m-niv Jay t'bl about. My, my. my what, rood 'itlntr they must be! And fbev look Stupid They do so It shouldn't pe anv trouble at all to catch on''.", STou sc.- the young Fox had not yet dlscoered that there was no way opj rjetl ti-; through that wire fence ( Mv how his mouth did water! 1 1 ta rorgol everything but the desire tft j latch one of those h ns. He forgot that he was where his mother had 1 iiirned him to keen awav from. He I f ge.t that there was such a thing la all the Cereal World as dancer. He coll i think of nothing but his stom- ... j an 1 What Q feast on.- of til Ode j "Thai linivt be the rKsttr! r- clalmed rthe young Fox to himself. big birds would make. He knew now what a rioeter and hens were. And the thing he wanted most of anything any-thing was to know what they tasted like. For somei time he lay with Just his sharp little nose poked around the I corner of lh6 henhouse He had eyes, 'ears and nose for nothing but those j big blrdB After a while he got to 1 his feet and began to creep alont? the henyard fence. That wire netting puzzled him. He tried It with his teeth nnd soon found that he couldn t bite through Rt. Then he began to look for a hoJe big enough to got through. Around the bottom of the I fence wide boards had been nailed I and by crouching low and almost I creeping the young Fox kept hlms. if out of sight of the hens. He reached the further corier of the henyard without finding an openis--. Then he crept ulong the end of the henyard In the same way S Intent wa3 he on what he was doing that he didn't even notice that now he was in plain sight from Farmer Brown's hoove and door-yard. door-yard. You see he hid n't room for anything In his foolish little head I but the thought of those hens. I (Copyright. 1922. by T. W, Burgess i I The next stor f'he Rude Awak- ; . nlng of the Young l:x." m |