Free Miracles on Maple Hill (Harcourt Young Classics) by Virginia Sorensen

as they started for home. Now that the saw had ceased to whine, the silence seemed immense and wonderful. They could hear the rustling of the trees that still stood up straight into the air.
    Suddenly, just as they came to the hummocky place, Joe clutched Marly's arm. And then, without warning, he laid his hand hard across her mouth, whispering, "Sssssh!"
    It was lucky he saw it first or she might have yelled the way she did when she saw the deer. Joe whispered, "Look!"
    Up on one of those bumpy hummocks, just standing with its huge bushy tail straight out behind, was a red fox. It stood looking down the hill, one paw lifted like a puppy paying attention to everything. Then it leaped suddenly to another hummock and stood there, looking. The sun was down, and a weird light was over everything, so the fox seemed to have a shine all over.
    Marly and Joe didn't move. Neither did the fox. Finally, then, without a sound, looking like a colored shadow, the fox slipped from the hummock and was gone. It disappeared into the ravine, by the brook.
    "I'll bet she's got a den around here," Joe said. His voice was low, and when he walked, he walked easy in a certain way he knew, the way he had learned Indians walked. Marly couldn't hear him past ten yards. She wanted to call, "Don't go out of sight, Joe," because dark was starting and there was that strange light, rather eerie, as night fell over Maple Mountain. But she didn't call. She didn't make a sound.
    In a minute she was glad she hadn't. Joe came slipping back out of the shadows, beckoning.

    "Ssssh! And don't fall over anything!" he said.
    "Joe, what is it?"
    "Sssssh ..."
    At one place the hill went suddenly down, rocky and steep. At the top Joe took hold of her arm hard, and then he pointed with his other hand.
    In the dusk were five little foxes, playing together. They tumbled about like puppies. They chased each other. They made little growly sounds, pretending to fight. They were all red, except for their black pointed noses and their sharp black ears, and each one had a white tip on its long red tail.
    Joe and Marly watched until they couldn't see a thing but the white tips on the tails. Then these too vanished.
    Joe led Marly toward home, over the hummocks, holding her by the hand. She had never loved him so much in all her life. "Joe, if it hadn't been for you, I'd never have seen anything like that. Not
ever,
" she said.
    "Why not? I see things all the time," he said. But she could tell he was pleased that she had said it.
    The Chrises and Fritz were at the house when they got back. As soon as Marly got into the door and saw them, she cried, "Guess what we saw, Joe and me, up by the high pasture. Some
fox...
" And then she said, suddenly, "Ouch!" because Joe had given her a good big pinch.
    He hadn't done it soon enough. She already had the word out of her mouth.
    Fritz leaned forward in his chair. "Foxes, huh? So that's where they are!" He turned to Mr. Chris. "I knew they were around close somewhere, didn't I, Chris? I can go in the morning. Maybe if I go before light, I can grab the whole bunch."
    Grab
them? Marly felt her eyes go wide. "Fritz, you don't mean you want to catch those little foxes, do you?" she said. "Why, this one has five babies, the cutest little puppies—"
    She saw Joe's look. Oh, she never knew when to keep her mouth shut! That's what his look said to her, as plain as day.
    "Five little ones, huh? No wonder she's been busy," Mr. Chris said. "How many chickens does that take every day? Every day for a solid week that she-devil has been at my chickens. We put the flock in the coop last night, and she got in under the wall. Or her mate it was. If they aren't the cleverest—"
    "And that dog, Tony, doesn't even notice anymore," Chrissie said. "I tell Chris he's too old for a watchdog now. He sleeps like a stone."
    Marly's mouth felt dry. "What are you going to do?" she asked. She didn't dare even look at Joe.
    A little silence fell. Everybody suddenly