XIV
MR. FOX HAS AN IDEA
It was so long since Mr. Fox had tried to catch Billy Woodchuck in the hollow stump that Billy had begun to forget his fear of that sly fellow. And so when he met Mr. Fox in the woods one day Billy did not run as he had often done before. To be sure, he did not go too near Mr. Fox. And while they talked Billy watched the sharp-nosed gentleman with one eye; and the other eye he kept on a hole in the stonewall nearby. If Mr. Fox should come too close, Billy was ready to dive into that hole, where Mr. Fox could not reach him.
No one could have been pleasanter than Mr. Fox. “I’m so glad to meet you!” he said. “You’re just the person I want to see. I’ve been told you are very musical.”
Billy Woodchuck didn’t know what he meant. But he did not say so.
“Yes,” Mr. Fox went on. “They say you are the best whistler in Pleasant Valley.”
That made Billy Woodchuck feel very proud.
“I can whistle pretty well,” he said, throwing out his chest.
“And they tell me your two brothers are almost as good whistlers as you are—but not quite,” added Mr. Fox, for he saw that Billy did not like that so well.