Just then Reddy Fox began to boast, for Reddy Fox is a great boaster. "Pooh!" said Reddy Fox, "pooh! Anybody could jump if their legs were made for jumping. And what's the good of climbing trees anyway? Now I can run faster than anybody here--faster than anybody in the whole world!" said Reddy Fox, puffing himself out. "Chug-a-rum," said Grandfather Frog. "You can't beat Spotty the Turtle." Then everyone shouted and rolled over and over in the grass, they were so tickled, for every one remembered how Spotty the Turtle had once won a race from Reddy Fox. For a minute Reddy Fox looked very foolish. Then he lost his temper, which is a very unwise thing to do, for it is hard to find again. He swelled himself out until every hair stood on end and he looked twice as big as he did before. He strutted up and down and glared at each in turn. "And I'm not afraid of any living thing on the Green Meadows!" boasted Reddy Fox. "Chug-a-rum," said Grandfather Frog. "Do I see Bowser the Hound?" Every hair on Reddy Fox suddenly fell back into place. He whirled about nervously and anxiously looked over the Green Meadows. Then everybody shouted again and rolled over and over in the grass and held on to their sides, for you see Bowser the Hound wasn't there at all. But everybody took good care to keep away from Reddy Fox, everybody but Johnny Chuck. He just sat still and chuckled and chuckled till his fat sides shook. "What are you laughing at?" demanded Reddy Fox. "I was just thinking," said Johnny Chuck, "that though you can run so fast, you can't even catch me." Reddy Fox just glared at him for a minute, he was so mad. Then he sprang straight at Johnny Chuck. "I'll show you!" he snarled. Now Johnny Chuck had been sitting close beside a hole that Grandfather Chuck had dug a long time before and which was empty. In a flash Johnny Chuck disappeared head first in the hole. Now the hole was too small for Reddy Fox to enter, but he was so angry that he straightway began to dig it larger. My, how the sand did fly! It poured out behind Reddy Fox in a stream of shining yellow. Johnny Chuck ran down the long tunnel underground until he reached the end. Then when he heard Reddy Fox digging and knew that he was really coming, Johnny Chuck began to dig, too, only instead of digging down he dug up towards the sunshine and the blue sky. My, how his short legs did fly and his stout little claws dug into the soft earth! His little forepaws flew so fast that if you had been there you could hardly have seen them at all. And with his strong hind legs he kicked the sand right back into the face of Reddy Fox. All the little meadow people gathered around the hole where Johnny Chuck and Reddy Fox had disappeared. They were very anxious, very anxious indeed. Would Reddy Fox catch Johnny Chuck? And what would he do to him? Was all their fun to end in something terrible to sunny-hearted, merry Johnny Chuck, whom everybody loved?