John Breck 
Sins of Silvertip the Fox 

Excerpt: "Never before, in the early, early spring, had there been so much excitement down at Doctor Muskrat’s Pond. Of course, spring’s the season for visitors. They were always on the lookout for old friends winging up from the south. The Beautiful Duck and his mate, who’d warned Nibble Rabbit about the Terrible Storm, stopped in to wish everyone a happy summer. Then they laughingly beaked their way northward through a flurry of late snow. Bad weather couldn’t scare them now. They kept a lookout for old enemies, too, as wise Woodsfolk always must. But there was one visitor who puzzled them. Was he an enemy, or was he a friend? Doctor Muskrat himself couldn’t say. Or rather, he wouldn’t. But that wasn’t what started all the discussion. The visitor was Tommy Peele. And his old dog Watch said he owned the Woods and Fields. Now did that mean he owned the Woodsfolk who lived in them? That’s what everyone wanted to know. For the Woodsfolk were wild. Could a wild beast ever belong to any one? Doctor Muskrat had never heard of such a thing."