First she tried to move the box, but it was too heavy for her to stir.
Then she began scratching away the earth at its edge, only to find that it had been placed upon a big, flat stone, to prevent a rabbit from burrowing out.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "FUZZY CREPT UNDER THE BOX."]
This discovery almost drove her frantic, until she noticed Chatter Chuk, who stood trembling near by.
"Here!" she called; "it was you who led my child into trouble. Now you must get her out."
"How?" asked the red squirrel.
"Gnaw a hole in that box--quick! Gnaw faster than you ever did before in your life. See! the box is thinnest at this side. Set to work at once, Chatter Chuk!"
The red squirrel obeyed. The idea of saving his friend was as welcome to him as it was to the distracted mother. He was young, and his teeth were as sharp as needles. So he started at the lower edge and chewed the wood with all his strength and skill, and at every bite the splinters came away.
It was a good idea. Mrs. Wuz watched him anxiously. If only the men would keep away for a time, the squirrel could make a hole big enough for Fuzzy Wuz to escape. She crept around the other side of the box and called to the prisoner: "Courage, dear one! We are trying to save you.
But if the men come before Chatter Chuk can make a hole big enough, then, as soon as they raise the box, you must make a dash for the bushes. Run before they can put in their hands to seize you. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mother," replied Fuzzy, but her voice wasn"t heard very plainly, because the squirrel was making so much noise chewing the wood.
Presently Chatter Chuk stopped.
"It makes my teeth ache," he complained.
"Never mind, let them ache," replied Mrs. Wuz. "If you stop now, Fuzzy will die; and if she dies, I will go to Juggerjook and tell him how you led my child into trouble."
The thought of Juggerjook made the frightened squirrel redouble his efforts. He forgot the pain in his teeth and gnawed as no other squirrel had ever gnawed before. The ground was covered with tiny splinters from the box, and now the hole was big enough for the prisoner to put the end of her nose through and beg him to hurry.
Chatter Chuk was intent on his task, and the mother was intent upon watching him, so neither noticed any one approaching, until a net fell over their heads, and a big voice cried, with a boisterous laugh:
"Caught! and neat as a pin, too!"
Chatter Chuk and Mrs. Wuz struggled in the net with all their might, but it was fast around them, and they were helpless to escape. Fuzzy stuck her nose out of the hole in the box to find out what was the matter, and a sweet, childish voice exclaimed: "There"s another in the trap, Daddy!"
Neither the rabbits nor the squirrel understood this strange language; but all realized they were in the power of dreadful Man and gave themselves up for lost.
Fuzzy made a dash the moment the box was raised; but the trapper knew the tricks of rabbits, so the prisoner only dashed into the same net where her mother and Chatter Chuk were confined.
"Three of them! Two rabbits and a squirrel. That"s quite a haul, Charlie," said the man.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ""WHERE IS MY CHILD?""]
The little boy was examining the box.
"Do rabbits gnaw through wood, Father?" he asked.
"No, my son," was the reply.
"But there is a hole here. And see! There are the splinters upon the ground."
The man examined the box in turn, somewhat curiously.
"How strange!" he said. "These are marks of the squirrel"s teeth. Now, I wonder if the squirrel was trying to liberate the rabbit."
"Looks like it, Daddy; doesn"t it?" replied the boy.
"I never heard of such a thing in my life," declared the man. "These little creatures often display more wisdom than we give them credit for.
But how can we explain this curious freak, Charlie?"
The boy sat down upon the box and looked thoughtfully at the three prisoners in the net. They had ceased to struggle, having given way to despair; but the boy could see their little hearts beating fast through their furry skins.
"This is the way it looks to me, Daddy," he finally said. "We caught the small rabbit in the box, and the big one must be its mother. When she found her baby was caught, she tried to save it, and she began to burrow under the box, for here is the mark of her paws. But she soon saw the flat stone, and gave up."
"Yes; that seems reasonable," said the man.
"But she loved her baby," continued the boy, gazing at the little creatures pitifully, "and thought of another way. The red squirrel was a friend of hers, so she ran and found him, and asked him to help her. He did, and tried to gnaw through the box; but we came too soon and captured them with the net because they were so busy they didn"t notice us."
"Exactly!" cried the man, with a laugh. "That tells the story very plainly, my son, and I see you are fast learning the ways of animals.
But how intelligent these little things are!"
"That"s what _my_ mother would do," returned the boy. "She"d try to save me; and that"s just what the mother rabbit did."
"Well, we must be going," said the man; and as he started away he picked up the net and swung it over his shoulder. The prisoners struggled madly again, and the boy, who walked along the forest path a few steps behind his father, watched them.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE PRISONERS SCAMPERED AWAY."]
"Daddy," he said softly, coming to the man"s side, "I don"t want to keep those rabbits."
"Oh, they"ll make us a good dinner," was the reply.
"I--I couldn"t eat "em for dinner, Daddy. Not the mama rabbit and the little one she tried to save. Nor the dear little squirrel that wanted to help them. Let"s--let"s--let "em go!"
The man stopped short and turned to look with a smile into the boy"s upturned, eager face.
"What will Mama say when we go back without any dinner?" he asked.
"You know, Daddy. She"ll say a good deed is better than a good dinner."
The man laid a caressing hand on the curly head and handed his son the net. Charlie"s face beamed with joy. He opened wide the net and watched the prisoners gasp with surprise, bound out of the meshes, and scamper away into the bushes.
Then the boy put his small hand in his father"s big one, and together they walked silently along the path.
"All the same," said Chatter Chuk to himself, as, snug at home, he trembled at the thought of his late peril, "I shall keep away from old Juggerjook after this. I am very sure of that!"
"Mama," said Fuzzy Wuz, nestling beside her mother in the burrow, "why do you suppose the fierce Men let us go?"
"I cannot tell, my dear," was the reply. "Men are curious creatures, and often act with more wisdom than we give them credit for."