Bumper tried jumping up the side of the pit, but every time he failed Mr. Fox rolled over and laughed. He couldn’t jump up the sides any more than he could leap across the pit, and Mr. Fox knew it.
But in one corner Bumper spied a small hole which the water had made in the soft earth. The pit was drained through this hole, and Bumper immediately saw a way of escape.
What he should have done was to race for the hole the moment he discovered it, but he hesitated until Mr. Fox’s keen eyes saw it too. With a snarl of rage, the Fox reared on his hind feet, and when Bumper started for the mouth of the hole he leaped into the pit. He reached the corner first, and blocked the hole.
“Ho! Ho!” he laughed. “You thought you’d get out that way. Well, I’m going to watch at this hole until morning. Then I’ll catch you and eat you for breakfast.”
Bumper retreated to the other side of the pit. He looked all around for another way out, but not finding any he squatted down in a corner to think. Mr. Fox sat down in front of the hole, and licked his chops. He could afford to keep his word and not attack Bumper until the two days were up, for Bumper was a prisoner.
But pretty soon along came Sneaky the Wolf. He sniffed around and smelling Mr. Fox came and looked down the pit. “Good morning, Mr. Fox,” he said politely. “What are you doing down there?”
Now the sight of Sneaky alarmed the Fox. He dreaded the Wolf as much as Bumper feared the Fox. He had an unpleasant idea that he would have great difficulty in getting out of the pit.
“I was taking a nap, Mr. Wolf,” he replied in a trembling voice.
“Then I think I’ll come down and take one with you, Mr. Fox.”
“Oh, no, please don’t,” pleaded Mr. Fox. “You know the truce isn’t up yet, Sneaky.”