But that was easy for him. Often had he jumped over high bushes, fallen trees in the woods, or fences around a farm, when he wanted to get a fat chicken.
So, with a bound and a leap, Sharp Eyes went over the wall, and, to his surprise, he found himself in a queer place. It was a very light place and noisy. Big yellow things, like railroad cars were running up and down. They were the trolleys, though the fox did not know that. Then too, he saw black things, like big bugs, making no noise with their wheels, but puffing white smoke out of the back, also running up and down, in and out among the yellow things. These were automobiles.
And Sharp Eyes also saw many people in the street, for it was into a city street he had leaped after jumping over the park wall.
For a few seconds Sharp Eyes stood very still, after landing in the street. He crouched back against the stone wall, and then he heard a sudden shout.
“Oh, look what a beautiful silver dog!” cried a lady. Of course Sharp Eyes did not know just what she said, but that was it.
“A dog? That isn’t a dog!” said a man with the lady. “That’s a silver fox, and it must have gotten away from the zoo. I wonder if it’s tame enough for me to catch.”
“Oh, don’t! He might bite you!” said the lady. But the man ran toward the fox. However, Sharp Eyes did not wait for the man to come very close. With a little bark, the silver fox bounded to one side and ran along the street.
By this time several other men and boys had seen him, and they ran after him, some thinking he was a dog. The heart of Sharp Eyes beat very fast, and he hardly knew what to do. At last he saw a dark place, which he thought was a cave in which he might hide—it was really underneath the high front steps of a house on the street—and the silver fox crawled back into the darkest corner.
He was delighted when the men and boys ran past his new hiding place, for that told him he had not been seen.