This friendliness was such a new thing to him, used as he was to the intensely suspicious, shy creatures of the woods, that it thrilled his every nerve. He scarcely looked at the other foxes, preferring to romp about Blackie’s pen in a spirited game, thought out on the spur of the moment, in which they had races and tag, in spite of the wire between.
When the fun was at its height there was a sudden rush: Red Ben found himself facing, instead of gentle Blackie, a tall, lean, black fox, whose jealous snarl at once showed him to be a rival.
Courtesy Black Fox Magazine “They tore at each other through the wire”
Only the fence between prevented a furious fight. As it was, indeed, they tore at each other through the wire, Red Ben charging against it again and again in vain attempt to break through. There was an over-hang of wire at the top which stopped him from climbing over, and wire laid along the ground in a way to make digging-under nearly impossible, so he, a creature of the wild, could not get in.
The black rival meanwhile did all he could to tease and anger him; but worst of all was the way he bossed and maltreated poor Blackie, who seemed to live in constant fear.
Red Ben was fairly raging. He felt as he had long ago, when Gray Fox treated his mother so badly. Somehow he would get in! But whenever he tried to climb up the wire, the other fox bit his toes cruelly and gloated over his helpless fury.
It was after one of these climbs that he found a ladder leaning against the shed. He had never before seen one, but was clever enough to guess that it might be climbed. One foot at a time, his big tail helping to balance him, he moved up the slippery rungs. Almost at the top he lost his footing and fell all the way down with a thud, but, none the worse for this, he tried again, and actually reached the roof.
Now, at last, he could look down on Blackie and know that one jump would bring him to her side, where he could give the lean, black bully the thrashing he deserved.
Proudly he stood there, while all the foxes in the row of pens watched and waited. Something was warning him not to leap. If he did, could he get out again? Was not this a kind of trap?