However, he refrained and instead
hurried straight toward the boy.
Thumbietot saw the fox coming and ran for his life.
Wide stretches of meadow land spread before him. He saw no tree that he
could climb, no hole where he might hide; he just had to keep running.
The boy was a good runner, but it stands to reason that he could not
race with a fox!
Not far from the bay there were a number of little cabins, with candle
lights shining through the windows. Naturally the boy ran in that
direction, but he realized that long before he could reach the nearest
cabin the fox would catch up to him.
Once the fox was so close that it looked as if the boy would surely be
his prey, but Nils quickly sprang aside and turned back toward the bay.
By that move the fox lost time, and before he could reach the boy the
latter had run up to two men who were on their way home from work.
The men were tired and sleepy; they had noticed neither boy nor fox,
although both had been running right in front of them. Nor did the boy
ask help of the men; he was content to walk close beside them.
"Surely the fox won't venture to come up to the men," he thought.
But presently the fox came pattering along. He probably counted on the
men taking him for a dog, for he went straight up to them.
"Whose dog can that be sneaking around here?" queried one.
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