“No, but it will be in the morning. I can afford to wait until then for my breakfast.”
And with that Sneaky leaped down into the pit. He trotted around, grinning and nodding his head. “What’s behind you, Mr. Fox?” he asked, coming closer. “Oh, a hole! You thought you could escape through that. If you don’t mind I’ll watch there until morning.”
Mr. Fox took the hint, and jumped away. He ran around the pit, and made a few desperate efforts to leap out of it, but he couldn’t more than reach three-quarters of the way up. Bumper watched him in silence, and Sneaky grinned at every failure, and shouted with glee:
“Try it again, Mr. Fox! If you don’t succeed at first, try, try again.”
The jeering of Sneaky alarmed Mr. Fox so that he tried again and again to scramble out of the pit. Then he sneaked off in a corner to think.
Right then, when Sneaky was so sure of his morning’s breakfast, Loup the Lynx came along. One glance down the pit brought a horrid grin to his ugly face. His eyes glowed, and his tail lashed with delight.
“Ah! Ha!” he cried. “How’d you get down there, Sneaky?” he called. “Fell in, and can’t get out?”
“No, indeed,” replied Sneaky boldly, as his heart beat rapidly. “I can leap out any time I want to.”
“Let me see you do it.”
“No, thank you, I’m satisfied where I am.”