Mr. Bunny seemed to have forgotten that he was telling a story, and continued to gaze at the waving ferns as if his thoughts were very far away, until it appeared absolutely necessary to ask whether Mr. Towser succeeded in making very great trouble for him.
"Oh, it didn't amount to anything much," he said with a chuckle as of satisfaction, pulling himself up with a start such as he might have given at the moment he made the unpleasant discovery that Mr. Towser was on his track. "Of course it wasn't very great fun for me to run for my life at a time when I was scared nearly to death; but before the thing was ended I had a heap of fun. Say, what do you think of the Senator, anyway?
"Don't you know him? Of course you know Senator Bear! We call him the Senator because he doesn't amount to half as much as he thinks he does, and goes around pushing his chest outas if he were the most dangerous thing in the big woods, when all of us at the club know that he's only a big bunch of fur that doesn't dare to make any kind of fight, large as he is, unless Mr. Man gets him in a corner where it's a case of putting in the big licks to save his own skin. I do think a bear is about the most useless creature we have among us; he spends the whole winter long sleeping, and when he finally comes out of his den all he does is to go pottering around stealing honey from the bees, or watching for a chance to get hold of what some smaller fellow has gathered in.
"Mr. Crow says there are bears who really do amount to something—big, big fellows who wouldn't think anything of making one bite of a boy like Tommy Man, and who are the very worst kind of fighters; but we don't have any such in these woods. Why, do you know, there have been lots of times when I've really felt ashamed for the Senator because of his showing himself to be such a coward! Bobby Coon has thrown it in my face more than once that I'm the most scared thing to be found in the big woods, but I've seen the Senator run many a time at the littlest kind of noise when I'd heldmy ground, at least, until I'd found out what really was the matter.
"You can't make out why I should be talking about Senator Bear when I'd started to tell about Mr. Towser's chasing me, eh? Well, it's because the Senator got mixed up with Mr. Towser and me a good bit before that chase came to an end. I suppose you want me to go back and tell about it in what Mr. Crow would call a 'proper manner,'—he's mighty particular about the way he tells a story, and always kicks up a terrible fuss if one of us so much as wags an ear when he's holding forth with one of his long-winded yarns.
"Let me see, I'd got to where Mr. Towser took after me, without paying any attention to Bobby Coon, and I was making my legs move the best I knew how, being all out of breath at the beginning of the race because of having started so suddenly. Well, I kept my nose pointed straight ahead, and if I'd run far in that direction I'd brought up in the swamp where I'd found more water than dry land, though I didn't think of anything like that at the time.
"Mr. Towser made certain he'd got me that time and once, when I looked back over myshoulder, I saw that he was laughing. Now, do you know that helped me to put in the big licks more than anything else could have done? I folded my ears back so's they wouldn't hold the wind, and straightened myself out till I wasn't much thicker than a streak of daylight, jumping through the bushes whenever I saw a chance, so's Mr. Towser would be forced to go a good ways round, and before many minutes went by I had all my wits about me.
"I don't want to say anything that may sound like bragging, but it's a fact that when I get right down to business in the woods there aren't many members of the club who can come anywhere near me for speed—there's no telling how fast I can run when it gets right down to a pinch, and I was needing all my feet just then, for Mr. Towser isn't anybody's fool when it comes to a race, owing to his legs being so long.
"Well, as I was saying, I went through every bush that stood in the way and had just made a leap that beat anything ever done by a member of my family when what do you think? I came within half an inch of jumping down the throat of Senator Bear, who was lying on the dry moss in the sun, enjoying himself. Of course, hecame up on his feet like a steel spring when I flew past him; but he was too clumsy to do me any mischief and then I pulled up mighty short, for I knew there'd be quite a surprise party when Mr. Towser came along.
"I dodged into a big bed of ferns, for it stood to reason that my race had been called off on account of general conditions, and there I waited, stuffing my paws into my mouth so's I shouldn't roar right out loud, for I was laughing till it really seemed as if there was danger I'd burst. The Senator was standing with his mouth half open, wondering if it were actually a rabbit or only a little bit of sunlight that had given him such a start and then Towser came around the edge of the bushes full tilt, but pulling himself in mighty quick when he saw what he was up against.
"I saw the Senator's ears twitch, and knew he wanted to run; but there wasn't any time to get headway on, so he had to stop and do the best he knew how. Mr. Towser didn't claim to be any bear dog, and I reckon he'd have given the biggest bone he ever saw to have been out of the scrape without actually running away. There the two stood, one afraid and the otherscared, but both knowing there wasn't any chance of keeping the peace without owning right up to being cowards. I'll bet six of Mr. Man's biggest carrots that if I'd gone right out and coaxed them not to fight they'd thanked me with tears in their eyes for helping them out of a bad hole.
"The Senator came up on his hind legs, waving his fore paws in the air as if all he wanted was to make fur fly, and Mr. Towser growled in a way that would make your blood run cold; but neither of them moved out of his tracks. I was looking over the tops of the ferns, wondering who'd make the first move when suddenly somebody came up against me so strong that I was nearly knocked over, and a great deal more scared than I'd be willing to admit. Who do you think it was? Why, nobody but Bobby Coon, and I felt like pulling his tail real hard because he'd given me such a scare. Most likely I would have done it, for I'm awfully reckless when I'm angry, if it hadn't been that I wanted to keep my eyes on the Senator and Mr. Towser.
"Well, you know how foolish Bobby Coon can be without trying very hard, and instead of waiting to find out how the two would fix things,he whispered to me: 'Just hold your breath a minute and see me give those two great ninnies the scare of their lives!' Then, before I could say a word to stop him, he scratched around among the leaves at a furious rate, singing out as if he were just regularly thirsting for somebody's blood: 'Let me at 'em! I'm needing just about that much meat!'
"It was mean of Bobby to break the meeting up; but even though I was furious with him I couldn't help laughing till my sides really ached. Oh, dear! how those stupid things did run at the first word that foolish coon spoke! They were in such a hurry to get away that they tumbled over each other, and before you could say 'Jack Robinson,' provided you'd wanted to say it, there was nothing to be seen but their hind feet as they clipped it through the bushes!
"I gave Bobby a real serious scolding for breaking up the fun so soon, for I had been aching to see how much of a fight they would have made and, besides, I had the least little bit of a hope that the Senator might have done up Mr. Towser, for there are times when that dog makes the lives of us club members a burden with sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.
"LET ME AT 'EM""LET ME AT 'EM"
"If you could have seen Bobby Coon capering around after the Senator and Mr. Towser ran away from each other you'd thought he had done the whole trick. He threw out his chest as if he were the biggest thing in the woods, and began telling about what the Coon family had done in days past, till I got provoked and said right sharply:
"'Any one to hear you talk would think you dare do almost anything.'
"'I'd like to know what you can scare up that I don't dare do,' he cried, swinging his tail till the dry leaves flew around his head like Mrs. Man's bonnet.
"'Nobody could hire you to walk around Mr. Man's barn three times,' I said, and the words hadn't much more than left my mouth before I was sorry that I spoke, for I surely didn't want Bobby to come to any harm, and after the trick he had played on Mr. Man it would be all his life was worth to go near the farm buildings, because even if it could be done without his being seen by some of the people there Mr. Towser would be certain to smell him out.
"'I'd go round the miserable old house a dozen times and never turn a hair!' he cried,trying to speak mighty brave, but I could see that he wasn't hankering for any such job, so I said soothing-like:
"'I was only fooling with you, Bobby. Both you and I know there isn't a member of the club who'd dare to do such a trick as that, especially just now, when Mr. Towser is feeling mighty sore over his meeting with the Senator.'
"I truly believe that Bobby thought I was scared nearly out of my wits by the idea of such a thing and that made him bristle up worse than ever, so I'd think he was terribly brave.
"'I dare go all over this farm this very night!' he cried as bold as a lion. 'And if Mr. Towser tries to be funny with me, he'll wish he never had been born, for I won't stand any nonsense from that dog, and I wouldn't if he were as big as seven of the elephants Mr. Crow tells about.'
"'Now you're talking through your hat,' I said, and to tell the truth I was trembling all over at the thought of going where Mr. Towser could get the best of me without more than half trying.
"'You shall see whether I am or not!' he cried, washing his face and smoothing his fur as if getting ready to go to a coon party. 'I'll rambleall over the place as soon as it is dark, and if you've got the spunk of a flea you'll come to see me fool Mr. Man's folks.'
"I was so frightened at the idea of his being so foolhardy that I'd have gone right down on my knees to beg that he stop his nonsense, but just then who should come up but his cousin, Jimmy Hedgehog, and of course he had to know what we'd been talking about.
"I wanted to keep the whole thing a secret, so Bobby's folks shouldn't know what a spectacle he'd been making of himself, but that didn't satisfy the foolish fellow, and he must needs up and tell Jimmy all we'd said.
"Now if you know Jimmy Hedgehog a little bit, you know he's forever trying to stir up other people so that there'll be a row, and then if there's the least bit of a chance that he may get hurt, he rolls himself up into a little ball, with all his quills sticking straight out, when even Butcher Weasel wouldn't dare to touch him. Of course it didn't take him many seconds to understand that here was the best kind of chance for getting poor Bobby into a scrape, and he said, as if he thought I was to blame for having said anything against the foolish scheme:
"'Bobby isn't the coward you are, Bunny Rabbit, and if he says he'll have fun with Mr. Towser to-night, he means it. I'd like to see one of the Coon family go back on his word. If he goes, you and I will go with him, and then we can tell all the club members how brave he is.'
"Of course this was the kind of talk to make Bobby stick to his word, though he must have begun to understand by that time how foolish he was, and if you'll believe me, I didn't dare to say straight up and down that I wouldn't have anything to do with the silly business, for fear Jimmy would be forever telling at the club that I was the worst kind of coward to be found in the big woods—which I'm free to admit privately is the fact."
Once more Mr. Bunny paused in his story-telling to gaze pensively at the ferns, which were now bending the tips of their plumes beneath the heat of the sun, and it seemed no more than right that he should have ample time in which to reflect upon Bobby Coon's folly and his own timidity.
There was no necessity of reminding Mr. Bunny Rabbit that he had been telling a story, for, after gazing pensively at the ferns a few seconds, he continued meditatively, as if giving words to his thoughts rather than speaking to any one:
"Never again, not if I live to be as old as an elephant, and Mr. Crow declares that elephants stay and stay alive till the hills grow to be mountains, will I ever be so foolish as to take part in any silly thing simply because of being afraid to say that I don't dare stick my nose in where it doesn't belong. A fellow like me, who is moving about through the big woods a good deal, and who keeps his ears and eyes wide open, is certain to learn a good many things in the course of his life, and since Bobby Coon led me on that terrible chase, I have come to understand that it is folly, not bravery, to venture into danger simply for the sake of trying toprove that a fellow isn't afraid, when way down in his heart he knows that he is scared nearly out of his wits.
"All the members of the club say I'm the biggest coward to be found anywhere around, and suppose I am? Isn't it better to let the matter go at that than for me to prove myself foolish as well by doing what I know I've got no business to do? Of course it is; but I wasn't as wise when Bobby Coon declared he'd ramble all over Mr. Man's farm, while all of us knew that Dog Towser would be on watch as soon as the sun went down, and instead of saying that I wouldn't have anything to do with such folly, I made it look as if I were aching to be just as foolish as he was showing himself to be.
"I'm thinking that if Jimmy Hedgehog had minded his own business, poor Bobby would have come to realize that the farm wasn't any place for him, especially after he'd played such a trick on Mr. Man; but Jimmy must needs keep on telling me how brave Bobby was, and making the talk only to keep the poor fellow up to what he'd said he'd do. Do you know, that silly coon strutted around, throwing his chest 'way out, and telling what he'd do if Mr.Towser interfered with him, when we all know that he couldn't go up against one of that dog's paws. Once I got him away from Jimmy, and tried to show him that he would still be running the biggest kind of chances even if he contrived to sneak around the place without Mr. Towser's smelling him; but he had the bravery business on his mind and it was a clear waste of breath to say anything.
"I can tell you that I was trembling all over mighty bad when the sun went down; but yet I didn't dare go back home as I ought to have done, for fear Jimmy and Bobby would tell at the club that I'd shown myself a coward, so I waited with those two till it was real dark, and then Jimmy said, bristling up his quills to make himself look like the fiercest thing on feet:
"'Now's your time, Bobby. Get on to your job, and show the wood folks that you've got the good old Coon blood in your veins!'
"Just for a minute I hoped Bobby would back out, for he sniffed in the wind quite a spell until Jimmy, beginning to fear that he wasn't going to have the fun he'd laid out for himself, began to laugh in a mighty disagreeable way as he said:
"'If I'd thought you were only bragging when you told about rambling over the farm, I wouldn't have wasted my time around here.'
"'You didn't get any brag from me,' poor Bobby said, his voice trembling as if he wanted to cry. 'I'm going to do just as I allowed, and you two fellows want to follow me close, so's to make certain I wipe up the earth with Mr. Towser, if he has the nerve to show himself where I am.'
"Did you ever hear anything so foolish as that? A coon allowing that he could get away with a dog like Mr. Towser! I had to follow when Bobby started; but I made out that I couldn't travel very fast owing to my left hind foot's being sore, and you'd better believe that I didn't try very hard to get a front place in the procession, though I could have run all around Bobby and Jimmy if I'd tried. You can set it down under your collar that I took good care to smell my way along mighty cautious, 'cause I wasn't aching to come up against anything that outclassed me.
"Well, Bobby kept straight on, heading for Mr. Man's barn, and I knew enough about the lay of the land to see that he'd strike the farmpretty near to where Mr. Towser's house stood, so my feet got sorer and sorer till, before we were very far from the bushes, it was about as much as I could do to hop. Jimmy kept egging Bobby on, and this took up his attention so much that he didn't give any heed to me for quite a spell, when I heard him whispering:
"'Come on, Bunny; do you want to miss all the fun?'
"It was on my tongue's end to tell him that all the fun we'd be likely to have that night would be what we might get out of seeing poor Bobby killed; but I thought we'd soon be having trouble enough without my trying to stir up any more just then, so I said, talking as if it were all I could do to keep from crying:
"'If your tongue was aching same as my foot is, you couldn't even yip.'
"Then I hung back a little more, and it seemed as if poor Bobby must have run ahead considerably faster, for in another minute I heard Mr. Towser growling furiously, and at the same time came a squeak which told for a certainty that Bobby Coon had come to an end of his rambling. That dog must have got the scent of us while we were a long distance away,and laid low till all he had to do was snap his teeth together on Bobby's back.
"There was no chance for Bobby to play the same trick that had fooled Mr. Man, for I'm allowing he didn't have time to do more than let out the squeak we'd heard before he was really and truly dead. He had shown Jimmy and me that he dared to ramble around the farm; but how much had he gained by it? Why, there isn't a member of the club who doesn't say that he deserved to be killed for making such a simpleton of himself, though according to my idea, Jimmy Hedgehog is the one who ought to have got the worst of that mix-up.
"Well, the killing of poor Bobby didn't satisfy Mr. Towser. He had the scent of us, and after giving what was left of Bobby a toss in the air to make certain there was no life left in any of the pieces, he came for us at full tilt, thinking to make a clean job of the party. You can put it down as a fact that my left hind foot got well mighty quick just then, and without waiting to see how Jimmy was getting along, I lit out, knowing I was up against the race of my life.
"As nearly as I can make out, Mr. Towsermust have come afoul of Jimmy when he first started for me, and you can put it down in your hat that that hedgehog knew how to take care of himself, even if he did egg others into danger, so I suppose that he rolled himself into a ball with all his quills sticking straight up. Then you can guess that the dog didn't do much smelling of that prickly bunch, for he's nobody's fool; but, after looking at it a minute, turned all his attention to me.
"Now it's a fact that Jimmy wouldn't do me a good turn if he had the chance; but this time he surely saved my life by being just where he was, for if Mr. Towser hadn't stopped he'd surely caught me on the meadow where there isn't the least little bit of a chance to dodge. Even as it was, I had to move my feet mighty fast in order to keep ahead of him, and when we came to the edge of the woods I was leading by four or five lengths, with the odds big in my favor because of the bushes. But I had to keep on moving all the time, just the same, and was precious near being winded when, slaperty, bang! I fell into a hole, nearly scraping the skin from one ear as I struck the bottom.
"You'd thought that I'd naturally havechuckled mightily at giving Mr. Towser the slip so neatly; but it's a fact that I felt really ashamed, for it did seem ridiculous that one of my family would fall into a hole while running. Where was I? Well, if you'll believe it, I'd struck Grandfather Fox's hole, and he wasn't at home on account of having his hide nailed up on Mr. Man's barn, so there I was all by my lonesome, with Mr. Towser scratching gravel at a great rate; but I knew he could wear his claws way down to the flesh before getting in, for Grandfather Fox knew how to dig a house that would protect him from dogs.
"I didn't have to wait so very long before Mr. Towser got tired of scratching, and then I crept out, counting on going straight home, for it stood to reason that Mrs. Bunny and Sonny Bunny would be worried because I'd been away so long; but before I'd taken half a dozen hops whom should I hear calling me but Cheeko's oldest boy.
"'You're to go straight up to the club, Mr. Rabbit,' he said when I stopped short to look over my left shoulder for luck. 'Mr. Crow has called a meeting right away, and all the members of both sections are expected to be on hand.Bobby Coon is dead, and old Mr. Slowly Turtle is ready to swear that he heard Jimmy Hedgehog stumping the poor fellow to tackle Mr. Towser.'
"When I got to the big oak it seemed as if every member of the club was waiting for me, and I felt really bashful when the president croaked:
"'Here comes Mr. Rabbit, and now we shall be able to get at the truth of the matter, for even though he hasn't very much courage, he will always tell the truth.'
"Just think of that! It was the same as being called a coward after all I'd done to prevent it, and if I'd behaved myself in the first place, poor Bobby might have been alive at that very minute! Yes, Jimmy Hedgehog was there, and you could see that he was feeling mighty grouchy, for he'd rolled himself into a ball, with his quills sticking out in every direction. I could just see the tip of his nose and one eye, and by the way he looked at me I knew he was practically threatening to serve me out if I should say anything he didn't like.
"Mr. Crow didn't give me any chance to look around after he saw me eyeing Jimmy, for hecalled me up to the foot of the tree, and all hands crowded near, as if I were the fellow who was having a trial, instead of being only a witness.
"'It has been reported to me as the president of this club that you heard young Hedgehog urging Bobby Coon to trifle with Mr. Towser, by doing which he lost his life. You are accused of being in Mr. Coon's company at the time, and those who saw you claim that you did not even so much as raise your voice against the advice which Jimmy Hedgehog was giving his cousin. We demand from you a straightforward account of the whole matter, for, as members of the Fur and Feather Club, it is our duty to learn if one member has acted toward another member in an unbrotherly fashion.'
"You might have knocked me down with a feather by the time Mr. Crow finished his long-winded speech. I wasn't so blind but that I could see Jimmy wasn't the only one who would get it warm, and yet I give you my solemn word I hadn't the slightest idea of telling anything but the honest truth. I got up on my hind legs to answer the president, when Mr. Jay shouted, excitedly:
"'Look out for your skins! Here comes that disreputable Professor Hawk!'"
Mr. Bunny had no more than ceased speaking as if to take a long breath, when the Professor sailed slowly by, and the story-teller watched curiously until he had disappeared from view in the distance.
"I just wish I could wring that old fellow's neck!" Mr. Bunny cried angrily as he shook one paw in the direction of Professor Hawk, who was slowly circling around with his eyes apparently fixed on Mr. Rabbit. "'Squire Owl, the old one as well as the young one, is about as bad a bird as we members of the Fur section care to meet; but yet I think that old pirate is worse than all the Owl family put together, for the 'Squire's folks can't do much mischief except in the night, and the Hawk gang are at it all the time.
"Of course I couldn't wring his neck even if I got a good hold with all four paws, because he can give a fellow a terrible drubbing with his wings; but if I were strong enough, and could bite as Butcher Weasel can, I'd give him all he wanted, even if I had to spend my time, night and day, for a week in order to do it. More than twenty times I've torn my coat mightybadly through jumping into a thorn bush to get out of that fellow's way, and such sort of business gets tiresome after a while.
"The worst part of Professor Hawk, so far as we members of the Fur section are concerned, is that his eyes are so sharp. He can sail around in the sky so high up that a fellow can't see him, and yet keep a mighty good watch on all that takes place beneath him! Fly! He can beat any bird I know of at that way of getting around, and when he drops down for a young rabbit or a squirrel, the chances are that it's good-bye then.
"Of course it doesn't do any good for me to sit here and scold about the Professor; he'll keep on at his murderous business just as long as there are animals in the big woods for him to eat, so I'll get on with the story I was trying to tell when he stuck his beak in where it didn't belong. Just keep your eye out for the old fellow, for it wouldn't bother him a bit to pick me off this log with you sitting close by, and call it a good joke.
"Let me see—I'd come to where the club meeting was broken up by the Professor, and I'd gone into a thorn bush head first. Well, youcan set it down as a fact that I wasn't in any hurry about coming out from cover till the word had been given that he had gone, and even then I took good care to have a sharp look around before showing even so much as the end of my nose. I was the last one out, and when I hopped through the bushes Jimmy Hedgehog set up a great shout about my being the biggest coward of the crowd. What was the use of answering him back? It wasn't because of being so terribly brave that he stayed out in the open while all the other members of the club were hunting for cover; but he knew that so long as he was rolled into a ball, with his quills sticking out in every direction, the Professor wouldn't dare to meddle with him.
"I'm thinking one reason why he made so much noise about my being a coward was that he hoped to make the others forget they had met to overhaul him for egging poor Bobby on to his death. If that was the scheme in his mind, it didn't work, for in less than half a minute after I showed myself, Mr. Crow got right down to business, and it wasn't so very long before all hands knew the story as well as I did. Mr. Blue Jay perched himself on thevery top of the oak tree, where he could sound the alarm in case the Professor showed himself again, and Cheeko's oldest child was stationed in a bush at the edge of the clearing to give warning if Butcher Weasel came sneaking along, so we weren't afraid of being taken by surprise.
"Some of the animals say that Mr. Crow doesn't know as much as he tries to make out; but he was sharp enough to get in all the facts concerning the murder of poor Bobby, and when the matter was ended every member of the club knew just who was to blame for what had happened over on the farm. More than once while I was answering the question the president asked, Jimmy wrinkled up his nose at me, as much as to say that he would serve me out for telling tales on him; but I couldn't help myself, could I? They called me a coward, and perhaps there's some truth in what they say, but I'll never give one of them the right to say I'm a liar and that's what could have been said if I hadn't told the story just as it was.
"Well, after the trial was over, Mr. Crow hopped to the very tiptoppest branch of the tree and gave out what I suppose you'd call the sentence. He said that Jimmy Hedgehog wasn'tto be considered a member of the club till he'd shown plainly and positively that he was sorry because he had urged Bobby to go where Mr. Towser was, and that while he was deprived of the club privileges, no member would be allowed so much as to speak to him. More than that, he wasn't to put his paw anywhere near the big oak. It was that part of it which seemed to make Jimmy more angry than anything else, and he cried out, as he actually shook his fist at the president:
"'I'd like to know how you can stop me from coming near this blooming old tree in case I take a notion to hover round? I'll have you know, Jim Crow, that you don't dare to lay the weight of your wings on me, 'less you want to be filled so full of quills that you'd have to draw your breath crosswise! Do you think I won't come here if I feel like it? You make me tired with your club talk, and the sooner you take my name off the list the better I'll be pleased!'
"Then Jimmy shook himself till his quills rattled, and looked around to see if any members of the Fur section were going to call him to account for what he had said; but I noticed that he was all ready to roll himself into a ballat the first move that might be made toward him. Of course, it mixed us all up to have such talk as that right in meeting; but there wasn't any use in making a row with a fellow you couldn't hit on account of his quills, so no one said anything, though I noticed that Mr. Crow hopped about mighty lively, which showed how angry he was.
"Jimmy swelled around a few minutes, shaking himself every once in a while as if he were the only thing of any account in the big woods, and then off he strutted, looking over his shoulder now and then to learn if any one had the nerve to follow him. You could have heard a nut drop just so long as he was in sight; but when it was certain he couldn't hear what was said all hands began to talk about what ought to be done with a fellow who had made himself so disagreeable.
"'Leave him to me,' Mr. Crow said in his very youngest voice as soon as it was possible to make himself heard. 'I want you to understand that I'm not any bump on a log, and before I'm through with Jimmy Hedgehog he'll wish he'd kept his tongue between his teeth. I'm the president of this club, and there isn'tany ordinary-sized member of the Fur section who can bulldoze me.'
"It almost frightened me to hear the president speak in that way, for, while I haven't any love for Jimmy, it made me feel rather bad to think how tough it would be for him when Mr. Crow started out on his trail. Every one of the wood folks seemed to think that something more than suspending him from the club should be done to the member who had spoken out in meeting as Jimmy had, and while they were telling Mr. Crow what he ought to do I slipped off, for I knew that Mrs. Bunny was probably getting a bit angry because I'd been away from home so long.
"Now do you know, it never came into my head that Jimmy Hedgehog would try to do me a bad turn because I had told what he said to poor Bobby. I had to answer the questions which the president asked, or I'd sure been brought up with a round turn, and I never said a word more than just enough to satisfy Mr. Crow; but for all that it seems Jimmy had it in for me good and hot.
"I hopped along home with my ears well back over my shoulders so I could hear ifanybody was after me, and was thinking what a nice time I'd have with some of Mr. Man's carrots that I'd brought in the day before, when what should I stumble over but a place on the moss which looked as if there'd been mischief of some kind done there lately. I had an idea I could smell blood ever so faintly, but even then I didn't suspect anything was wrong at home till I crept in through the hallway, and there was poor little Sonny Bunny all curled up as if he'd been tied in a knot, while his mother was washing the blood spots off his coat.
"'What's the matter?' I asked, feeling as faint as ever a rabbit could, and Mrs. Bunny said, speaking as if it were all my fault:
"'It's something to do with that precious club of yours, and if you don't take yourself out of it this very day Sonny Bunny and I'll leave this hole for good and all!'
"Mrs. Bunny never did like the idea of my joining the club; but she hadn't come out quite so strong before, and it staggered me so much that, just for the moment, I forgot that my poor little Sonny seemed to be in trouble. It was quite a spell before I could coax her to tell what had happened, and when she did speakI found out how mean a sneak Jimmy Hedgehog could be without trying very hard.
"It seems that poor Sonny was lying on the moss sunning himself, at the very place where I fancied it was possible to smell blood, when along came Jimmy. Of course, Sonny stayed where he was, never thinking one of the Hedgehog family would do him any harm, and without saying a word Jimmy lay down on the poor little fellow, rolling over on him as many as six times. There's no need for me to say that my dear little rabbit looked, when Jimmy got up, a good deal like one of Mrs. Man's pin-cushions, for quills were sticking out all over him.
"'You can tell your father that that's what he gets for tattling about me,' Jimmy said in a terribly ugly voice, 'and if he doesn't mind his business from now on I'll come and fix your mother the same way!'
"Poor Sonny was so frightened and hurt that he couldn't say a word, and there he lay, not daring to move because every time he wiggled the least little bit the quills would stick into him worse than ever, till his mother found him. She had just finished pulling out the quillswhen I came in, and, of course, felt a good deal excited; wouldn't even let me touch Sonny, but declared that until I'd left the club for good and all I couldn't come where she or the children were.
"It wasn't the least little use for me to promise that I'd take my name off the list of members next morning; she insisted that I do it that very same minute, and, if you'll believe me, nearly drove me out of my own home, threatening to pour hot water on me if I didn't notify the president right away that I was through with joining clubs.
"When Mrs. Bunny gets really mad there isn't any sense in trying to argue with her, for she won't listen, and, seeing that I was driven out of the hole, there was nothing left but to do as she had said. You can't think how bad I felt about being obliged to do it, for I knew all the members would laugh at me, or say I didn't dare to stand up for my rights; but there wasn't any other way out of the scrape, as I figured it, so off I went, hopping mighty slow, and trying to think up what I could say to make the other fellows believe I'd got tired of going to the club meetings.
"I suppose because I was so mixed up in my mind I didn't look after myself as I would have done at almost any other time, and all of a sudden there was one of Grandfather Fox's grandchildren standing right in front of me, so near that I could have touched him with my paw! Now you'd better believe I was frightened, and I had good reason to be, for if he made one snap I was a gone rabbit, as I couldn't make the first jump without his nabbing me!
"He licked his chops, thinking, I suppose, that a bit of fresh rabbit would taste mighty good, and I couldn't help saying to myself that I was the freshest thing in the big woods, else I'd have had better sense than to have run straight into that impudent young fox as I had. He was a member of the family with which I wasn't very well acquainted, but when I understood by the swinging of his tail that he was getting ready to pounce on me I said, as if he were the best friend I ever had in the world:
"'Good afternoon, Mr. Fox. Your grandfather was an old acquaintance of mine, and I'm mighty glad to meet a grandson of his who looks so much like him.'
"Mr. Fox grinned, but he never said a word,and I made up my mind right off quick that there wouldn't be any need for me to tell Mr. Crow to take my name off the club list, for in two or three minutes more there wouldn't be enough left of me to talk about."
At this point Mr. Rabbit ceased speaking abruptly, moving his ears to and fro nervously as if he had heard something disagreeable, and common courtesy demanded that the silence should not be broken save by himself.
While one might have counted twenty Mr. Rabbit remained in a listening attitude, and then, shaking his ears with a gesture which was very like that of mental relief, said with a smile as he stroked his whiskers swaggeringly:
"Do you know, just for a minute I thought the smell of young Mr. Fox was in the air. When I got rid of that fellow's grandfather I said to Mrs. Bunny that a full half of all our troubles had disappeared out of the big woods, with the evidence of the good fortune nailed up on Mr. Man's barn; but I had entirely forgotten that the old rascal left behind him a regular gang of children and grandchildren, and I truly believe they are the worst to be found anywhere in this world, to say nothing of their being able to run twice as fast as their grandfather ever could even in his best days.
"I wonder why it is that the Fox family have such a hankering for rabbit pie, stew, or evenplain rabbit? Of course, they don't turn up their noses at a good plump partridge, and they know how to catch him, too, when the snow is deep; but I verily believe there's nothing goes quite so near the right spot in a fox's stomach as rabbit meat. Mr. Crow says that years and years ago, when the mountains were only grown into little hills, Clote Scarpe, the Great Spirit who made all the birds and animals, used to walk around listening to any complaint his creatures might make. I wish he would come around the big woods now! You can set it down as a fact that I'd beg him to fix it so that the first taste of rabbit would make a fox so sick that he'd come pretty near turning himself inside out, and then there'd be a little peace for my family.
"No; it's as you say, Clote Scarpe doesn't pay very much attention to us wood folks now, and it wouldn't surprise me a little bit if it were all one of Mr. Crow's yarns—I mean about the Great Spirit's listening to our troubles, for if anything like that ever had happened, it seems as if some of my people would have fixed it for us long ago. Yet, if you'd listen to Mr. Turtle, he'd tell you that years and years ago, before even therocks had grown, one of his greatest, greatest grandfathers, who didn't have any hard shell on his back, went to Clote Scarpe and had himself fixed so that none of the animals could bite him, and that's the reason why he's got a house to live in this day that even Jimmy Hedgehog can't harm.
"Don't be afraid that I won't finish my story I began a while ago. Speaking of the Fox family brought my mind to what Mrs. Bunny and I have talked over many and many a time, and I couldn't seem to help telling you about it. Now I'll go on about the fix I found myself in when I was going up to the club to tell the president that I'd have to give over being a member because it was making so much trouble for me at home. And do you know, that very scrape with young Mr. Fox was what broke up our meetings at Crow's Corner? It's a fact, though perhaps the same thing might have happened in some other way.
"Well, there I was standing face to face with young Mr. Fox, and he grinning at me in a way that said just as plain as words could have done what a good time he'd have eating me. Goodness, I'm trembling even now to think of whathe might have done before I had a chance to wag my ear if he'd known that I was the one who led his grandfather into the trap where Mr. Man could get hold of him so easily! When he didn't even speak after I'd talked to him so sweetly the idea came into my head that perhaps I might jump right over his back and so get out of the hole in that way; but it seemed as if he must have known what was in my mind, for he said with another of his beastly grins:
"'Don't try to do anything like that, Bunny Rabbit, for I'm a good deal more spry with my feet than ever grandfather was, and I'd catch you on the fly.'
"'Perhaps you're making a mistake as to what I was thinking about,' I said innocent-like, as if I didn't have sense enough to go home when it rained. 'I was saying to myself that you had quite the most beautiful tail I ever saw on one of your family.'
"Do you know, that struck him just right, and for the life of him he couldn't help turning his head to look at it, though, between you and me, it wasn't anything extra in the way of a tail; except for the size, Cheeko had a better one—more bushy and with much finer hair. YoungMr. Fox took all I said in sober earnest and began waving that fly-brush of his to and fro so he could see it the more plainly and then was come the time I'd been playing for!
"The very minute he turned his head I gave the jump of my life, and it was as many as ten feet straight in the air, beating the Rabbit record by more than five inches. I sailed right over a big alder bush, and when I came down on my feet, young Mr. Fox had just got it into his head that I'd played him a trick. Now you can set it down as a fact that I didn't linger around there any very great while!
"I was off like a runaway streak of lightning the very instant I had the ground under my paws, and, of course, young Mr. Fox started after me; but I had a good three yards the start of him, and to a rabbit who holds the record for running, as I do, that was a mighty long distance. Then again I knew all the crooks and turns in our part of the big woods, while Grandfather Fox's grandson wasn't very well acquainted in that part of the country.
"Before I'd much more than struck my gait I knew I could give him the slip whenever I wanted to, and it seemed as if it would do thefoolish fellow a world of good to teach him a lesson that he wouldn't forget right away, so I set about doing it to the Queen's taste. First I took a turn over by the pond, where the ground was so wet in spots that he'd sink in two or three inches at every leap, while, by skimming along the edge, I was tiring him out, which was what I didn't want to do till he'd got it considerably harder than he had up to that time.