Funny Frank Read Online Free PDF Page A

advice on what to do.
    As he peered down the darkening orchard, he saw the figure of Mildred approaching.

    “Isn't Mum coming?” he asked her.
    “Don't know, I'm sure,” said Mildred huffily as she went by.
    I'd better go down and see what she'sdoing, thought Frank. It'll be dark soon. But then he saw his mother turn and begin to walk up the orchard toward him.
    Then he saw a bushy-tailed red shape emerge from the nettle patch and follow.…

Chapter Eleven
    “Mum!” yelled Frank at the top of his voice. “Behind you! Look behind you!” And Gertie, doing as she was told for once, came scuttling toward him, wings flapping madly, squawking in panic.

    Chickens have always run away from foxes, and Frank should now have fled too. For a moment he was paralyzed with fear, knowing that he'd be too slow to escape. But then, unable to bear the sight of his terror-stricken old mother, he set off bravely straight toward the oncoming fox.

    “Keep going, Mum!” he cried as Gertie dashed past, and then he marched on toward the old enemy, lifting his great yellow webs high and stamping them down again while loudly crying, “Frank! Frank!”
    The fox stopped in his tracks. What kind of chicken was this that was coming directly at him, shouting some kind of war cry? What kind of chicken was this that wore a coat of green armor, that had huge webbed feet and smelled strongly of duck pond? The old fox's nerve broke, and he turned tail and slunk away.

    Right then Jemima came out into the orchard to shut the ducks and chickens up for the night. She heard her cockerel's cries and ran, just in time to see the worsting of the fox. “Oh, Frank, Frank!” she called, and then she hurried to pick him up.
    “What a braveboy you are!” she said as she carried him to the duckhouse. But when she came to its door, he kicked and struggled and squawked and shouted his name in an angry voice. So she took him to the henhouse, and he jumped out of her arms and dashed in.

    On one of the perches, a breathless Gertie had been telling Mildred what had happened.
    “There was a fox—” she panted.
    “I told you, didn't I?” said Mildred. “I told you it was getting late!”
    “Oh, be quiet and listen,” said Gertie, “because if it hadn't been for Frank, you would never have heard my voice again.”
    “Oh dear, oh dear,” said Mildred.
    “He saved my life!” said Gertie. “Hecharged at that fox so that I could have time to escape. I only hope he died quickly. Oh, my brave Frank, he gave his life for mine.” She closed her eyes and sat in silent mourning.

    “I don't think he did, dear,” said Mildred, for at that moment Frank came dashing in through the henhouse door, which Jemima closed behind him. Gertie opened her eyes to see, standing in the gloom, the rubber-clad figure of her son. “It's a ghost!” she murmured to Mildred in horror.

    “I don't think it is, dear,” said Mildred.

    “I'm not a ghost, Mum,” said Frank.“I'm solid flesh and blood.”
    “And rubber,” said Mildred.
    “Yes, I think that's what scared that old fox. He'd never seen a cockerel like me.”

    “There's never
been
a cockerel like you, my boy!” cried Gertie. “You saved Mummy's life, you're a hero!”
    Frank looked down his beak modestly.
    “And it's lovely to have you back here with us instead of being with those old ducks,” said Gertie.
    I daresay it
was
his funny gear that frightened that fox, she thought drowsily as she drifted toward sleep. But I wish he'd get rid of it.…

Chapter Twelve
    The very next day Jemima's father went to market and found just what he'd been looking for.
    “Come and see what I've got for you,” he said to his daughter when he arrived home. He took a crate out of the back of the Land Rover.
    “Oh, Dad!” cried Jemima. “Is it a girl-friend for Frank?”
    “Yes. What d'you think of her?”

    Jemima lifted out of the crate a pullet ofa particularly pretty color. She was not brown like all the other hens