"Thomas," said Doctor Rabbit, laughing, "you must not eat so many of those peanuts. Why, there will be none left for me!"
Then little Thomas Woodchuck and the whole family laughed, and they all felt better. But Doctor Rabbit gave Thomas three big black pills and told him to swallow them all at once. Thomas did, and they were so bitter he tried to spit them out after he had swallowed them, but he could not do it, of course, and so they went right to work curing him.
"You will be quite well tomorrow, Thomas," Doctor Rabbit said cheerfully, and the whole Woodchuck family breathed easier.
Then Mrs. Woodchuck said, "Doctor, I hear two terrible foxes have come into our woods."
Doctor Rabbit frowned at Mrs. Woodchuck to make her keep still about the foxes near Thomas, for fear he might be frightened. He was always very careful about this when visiting his patients. "Well, I must be going. Goodbye, Thomas," Doctor Rabbit said, just as if he had not heard Mrs. Woodchuck.
Then when he was out in the kitchen he whispered very low to Father and Mother Woodchuck: "Yes, two terrible foxes have come into the Big Green Woods, but I did not want Thomas to hear. But don"t you worry, Mrs. Woodchuck," Doctor Rabbit went on, because he saw how troubled she looked, "don"t you worry a bit, I thought of a scheme to get rid of Ki-yi Coyote and also of Tom Wildcat, and if Farmer Roe does not get rid of Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail, I will. Good morning!" And Doctor Rabbit slipped out of the door and was gone.
LISTENING TO THE BRUSHTAILS
It was a mighty good thing that Doctor Rabbit kept a sharp lookout on his way home from the Woodchuck house. If he had not been watching he might have run right into Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail, who stood talking behind a large elm tree.
Doctor Rabbit heard them and saw them at the same time. He was so close that he was afraid even to run. So he crept noiselessly under a dense leafy thicket near at hand. Doctor Rabbit was pretty badly scared, because there was not a briar patch anywhere near. So he did the safest thing. He crouched down on the ground, kept still, and listened.
Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail, talking behind the tree, never dreamed, of course, that there was anybody close by listening. They talked pretty softly, but Doctor Rabbit was so near that he could hear every word they said. Brushtail was talking. "Yes," he said, "that dog has a very sharp nose, and he is bound to find our den sooner or later. So I think, Mrs. Fox, we had better move you and the children clear out of these woods. I"ll take you to a new den in the woods away off up the river. There is not much in the way of rabbits and woodchucks and chickens up there, but I"ll keep on spending most of my time down here. You see, I can catch the rabbits and woodchucks and chickens, and carry them up to you."
"Very well, dear," said Mrs. Brushtail, "I think that is an excellent plan. When shall we move?"
"This very day," Brushtail said. "We"ll get the young foxes right away and start off with them. The sooner we get them out of here, the better it will be for all of us."
Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail trotted off toward the thicket in which they had their den. Doctor Rabbit was still a little scared, but he believed he would follow at a distance and see for himself whether Mr.
and Mrs. Brushtail actually did move the little foxes.
Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail went into the thicket, and in a very short time came out again. And sure enough, each of them carried a little fox by the back of its neck.
They walked across the shallow Murmuring Brook and laid the two little Brushies down on the other side in a thicket. Then they came back and carried the other two little Brushies over in the same way.
As they went past him this last time Doctor Rabbit heard Brushtail say to Mrs. Brushtail, "You can just wait with them in the thicket on the other side of Murmuring Brook until I carry two of them up the river to the new den. When I come back we can carry the other two."
You see, foxes can carry their baby Foxes by the back of the neck and not hurt them at all.
Well, Doctor Rabbit was glad and hungry at the same time. He now hurried right over to the nice, tender blue gra.s.s under the big sycamore tree. There he found Chatty Red Squirrel, Cheepy Chipmunk, and quite a number of his other friends, who all wanted to know at once if Doctor Rabbit had found out anything more about Mr. Fox.
Doctor Rabbit did know a great deal, as you know, and he told his friends he would tell them. But he added that he was so hungry he would have to eat while he talked. Doctor Rabbit is a great person to eat gra.s.s, anyway.
"It seems as though I never can get enough!" he said every now and then.
DOCTOR RABBIT TELLS SOME GOOD NEWS
Chatty Red Squirrel, Cheepy Chipmunk, and all the rest of Doctor Rabbit"s friends who were gathered under the big sycamore tree were certainly very happy when Doctor Rabbit told them that Mrs. Brushtail and all the little Brushies were leaving the Big Green Woods for good.
"As the matter stands now," Doctor Rabbit said, "we"ve n.o.body but Brushtail to look out for. But he"s surely enough! I should say he is!
And if Farmer Roe does not get him soon, I"m going to keep right on thinking of some plan to get him out of here. We can"t scare him as we did Tom Wildcat. Brushtail is too cunning for that. He"d just laugh at us if we painted signs and put them up on our doors, no matter _what_ was painted on the signs. I heard Brushtail tell Mrs. Brushtail that he would not live in that thicket any more. He said he would get himself a new den not far off and probably a little nearer to the Murmuring Brook. So you see we could not lead Yappy to Brushtail now if we wanted to. And I am afraid Yappy will be a good while in finding Brushtail"s new den. I may find it," Doctor Rabbit continued, "but I"d never risk trying to lead Yappy to it, and Jack Rabbit has a sprained foot, so he can"t. But from the way he talked to me, I don"t think he"d be willing to try it even if his foot weren"t sprained."
Brushtail the Fox seized her by the neck
"Possibly," suggested Chatty Red Squirrel, "Brushtail will not have a fallen tree near his new den, nor any other way of making Yappy lose the trail. And possibly Yappy will smell along old Brushtail"s trail and find him right in his den."
"Don"t you ever think Brushtail will be foolish enough to walk straight along the ground to his den," said Doctor Rabbit. "He"s far too wise for that, no matter where his den is. No, sir, he will make big jumps sidewise and walk back on his trail and walk in big circles, and better still, walk for a distance in the Murmuring Brook. Ah!
he"ll do a whole lot of things before he goes into his den. Of course," Doctor Rabbit said softly, "it is possible Farmer Roe may trap old Brushtail. I saw him working with a trap only this morning."
A FOOLISH OLD HEN
Several days after Doctor Rabbit had talked to his friends under the big sycamore tree he was hopping along near the edge of the Big Green Woods when he saw Brushtail the Fox hiding behind a tree and looking toward Farmer Roe"s house.
Doctor Rabbit crept under a big brush pile and looked in the same direction. What do you suppose Brushtail was watching? Well, he was looking at a big Plymouth Rock hen coming across the field right toward the place where he lay hidden.
Now, if Doctor Rabbit had had something better than a brush pile to hide under, he might have made some sort of noise and warned the hen.
But if he had made the least sound, Brushtail would have come diving under that brush pile in a second, for he isn"t afraid of brush piles as he is of briar patches.
Pretty soon the hen reached the woods. She stretched up her neck and looked around, but not seeing anything she started into the woods for some crickets. She had gone only a few steps when Brushtail the Fox bounded out, seized her by the neck, and ran off through the Big Green Woods.
Doctor Rabbit followed along behind, going hoppity, hoppity, hoppity, and presently he saw Brushtail splashing along in the Murmuring Brook.
He was trotting along in the brook for a distance, for, you see, a hound cannot smell a fox"s tracks in the water; and so Yappy could not track him.
Doctor Rabbit stopped and looked.
He saw Brushtail finally cross to the other side of the Murmuring Brook. Brushtail then turned and looked back to see if anybody was following him. He did not see anyone, so, still holding the dead hen in his mouth, he trotted out of sight among the trees.
Of course Doctor Rabbit knew what Brushtail was going to do. He was going to take that hen up the river to Mrs. Brushtail and the little Brushies.
When Brushtail had pa.s.sed out of sight, Doctor Rabbit did not go home at once. No, he sat down to think. He was trying to think out a way to drive old Brushtail out of the Big Green Woods. He sat there and thought ever and ever so long. Sometimes he thought so hard he scratched his head without knowing it. At other times he curled his mustache.
So he thought and thought, but after a long time he said he would have to give it up for this time. He was not discouraged, for he could tell from the various things he had thought of that something would turn up after a while to help him work out a plan that would get rid of Brushtail the Fox. That was one fine thing about Doctor Rabbit--he would not give up. He kept right on trying.
Well, for the next two days Doctor Rabbit was busy doctoring the little Chipmunk children. They had got into Farmer Roe"s apple orchard and had eaten a lot of green apples, in spite of the fact that Mother Chipmunk had told Jimmy Chipmunk, her oldest, that he and the rest of the children should not eat green apples.
DOCTOR RABBIT LAYS A TRAP
The day after Doctor Rabbit cured the little Chipmunk children, he thought of a new plan for catching Brushtail the Fox, and he decided to try it at once.