"It"s a fox! a fox! It"s that old fox!" shouted Farmer Roe"s boy.
"Catch him, Yappy! Catch him! catch him!" The second big hound turned Brushtail back so that he almost ran into Farmer Roe before he saw him.
Farmer Roe threw a stick at Brushtail but missed him.
"Catch him, Yappy, catch him!" shouted Farmer Roe. "He"ll steal all my hens if you don"t."
Away they all ran after Brushtail the Fox--Farmer Roe and his boy yelling, and both hounds barking.
"My!" exclaimed Doctor Rabbit as he sat on the fallen tree, "I certainly do hope they"ll catch him!"
And just at that moment it looked as if they _would_ catch Brushtail.
He was in such a great hurry that in trying to jump across a wide ditch in the woods he fell right into it. And Yappy was almost upon him.
"Yappy"s got him!" shouted Farmer Roe"s boy. "Yappy"s got him!"
But Brushtail was not to be caught so easily. He sprang out of that hole in a flash, and away he ran like the wind.
As Doctor Rabbit watched, Brushtail ran out of sight in the woods, and the barking of the hounds and the voices of Farmer Roe and his boy sounded farther and farther away. Doctor Rabbit sat and waited, for he thought they might turn Brushtail back and run him past the fallen tree. But after a while they seemed farther away than ever, and he could just barely hear Yappy barking on the trail. Doctor Rabbit just sat still and waited. He knew that Brushtail the Fox was one of the slyest creatures in the woods, and he was pretty sure now that he would get away for this time at least.
"I should not be surprised if he came sneaking back right around here.
And still," Doctor Rabbit said hopefully, "Yappy _may_ get him. I"ll just wait for a time and see what does happen."
Several times as Doctor Rabbit sat there he heard a noise in the bushes near by and each time he looked quickly in that direction. But it must have been the wind blowing the leaves, for he did not see anything.
Once, however, Doctor Rabbit was really startled. A big woodrat ran through some dead leaves and made a good deal of noise. He stopped and looked at Doctor Rabbit and asked, "Are you waiting for some one?"
"Yes," Doctor Rabbit replied, "I"m waiting for Brushtail the Fox; I"m expecting him any time."
"Brushtail the Fox!" exclaimed the Woodrat. "Well, _I"m_ not going to wait for him!" And he hurried away as fast as he could.
Then Doctor Rabbit heard another noise. Some creature was creeping through the bushes not far off. He was coming nearer, too.
THE BIG GRAY GOOSE GETS AWAY
Doctor Rabbit sat on the trunk of the fallen tree and never moved a muscle as he listened to the animal creeping through the thicket.
Every now and then it would stop, and there was not a sound; then it would move again, and all the time it kept coming nearer and nearer.
Doctor Rabbit has a way of twitching his nose most of the time, but as he sat there he did not even move his nose. No, sir! He was as still as the tree trunk on which he sat. He kept his eyes right on the place from which the sounds of the creeping animal came.
And then his heart gave a thump and beat very fast--for out of the thicket came old Brushtail himself! He looked all about carefully, and then sat down panting, tired out from his long run.
But after he was somewhat rested, Brushtail got up and grinned. He looked out in the woods in the direction where Yappy and the other hound were still running and barking.
"Ha! ha! ha!" Brushtail chuckled softly. "They"ve lost my trail. I knew they would when I walked down the Murmuring Brook. Well," he continued, "I"ll just look around a bit for something to eat. Perhaps I can find that big fat rabbit."
It happened that Brushtail started right for the fallen tree where Doctor Rabbit sat, and Doctor Rabbit was just about to spring off and run when something else happened. Farmer Roe"s big gray goose came near. She was eating some tender green gra.s.s blades and never dreamed that a fox was near. But Brushtail saw her and started creeping toward her.
Doctor Rabbit could not bear to see that big gray goose gobbled up, so he shouted as loud as he could, "Look out, Gray Goose! Brushtail the Fox is going to get you! He"s coming! He"s coming!"
Now, as you may know, a tame goose cannot fly very far, but many of them can fly a short distance, and fly fairly high too. The gray goose was terribly frightened, and instantly began flapping her great wings.
She flew just high enough in the air so that Brushtail missed him when he sprang. If the Murmuring Brook had not been near, that gray goose would surely have been caught, because, as I have said, she cannot fly very far; but as it was she managed to fly across the brook. Then she came to the ground again and ran screaming and flapping her wings toward Farmer Roe"s. She got out of the woods in a few moments and Brushtail the Fox did not catch her.
Now when Doctor Rabbit shouted, Brushtail turned quickly and saw him, but knowing that he could not catch both of them, he sprang for the gray goose. But Brushtail did not swim across Murmuring Brook. He knew it would take him too long, and he saw that he could not catch the gray goose after all. So he turned from the edge of the brook and started back after Doctor Rabbit.
My, but Brushtail was angry at Doctor Rabbit!
"It was that big fat rabbit that made me miss my dinner!" snarled Brushtail.
"I saw him sitting on that fallen tree. It was he who warned that silly goose!"
And Brushtail ran swiftly to the fallen tree, and darted quickly all around it. He sprang into the near-by thickets and charged under some small brush piles. In fact, he raced around and hunted in every spot where he thought Doctor Rabbit might be hiding, and all the time he kept up an angry growl.
"I"ll get him; I"ll get him," Brushtail kept snarling. "I"ll get that big fat rabbit if it takes me a week!"
BRUSHTAIL THE FOX FINDS THE TRAPS
A few days after Doctor Rabbit had helped Farmer Roe"s big gray goose to escape from Brushtail the Fox, Doctor Rabbit saw something that interested him greatly. Farmer Roe was working at something out in the woods. There was a briar patch near by, so Doctor Rabbit crept into this and watched.
Yes, sir! Farmer Roe was actually setting a trap, or rather, he was setting four traps. And he was surely arranging things so that if Brushtail could ever be fooled at all he could be fooled here, or so it seemed, at least. Farmer Roe had chosen a low place in the woods, full of the finest white sand. He staked the traps and set them in the sand, and covered them all over with sand so that they could not be seen. Then he dragged an old cow"s head right in the center of the four traps.
Now, you see, it looked just as if some animal had been eating the cow"s head and had left it right in that nice fine white sand. And if Mr. Fox should happen along, it looked as if he might try to go right up to that head. Then he would be sure to step into one of those traps!
Well, all the rest of that day and most of the night Doctor Rabbit watched those traps and that cow"s head. At last, far along in the night, he heard a noise in the bushes close by. The moon shone very brightly through the trees, and on that patch of white sand and the cow"s head. A dark form came slipping out of the shadows and kept coming nearer. Pretty soon Doctor Rabbit saw who it was. It was Brushtail the Fox.
Brushtail sniffed toward the cow"s head and said, "Well, well, fresh beef! This is pretty fine!" And he began walking around and around that cow"s head. But he seemed a little suspicious, for he did not walk right up to the head. Still, he kept getting closer and closer.
And then, all of a sudden, he stumbled over something.
"h.e.l.lo! What"s this!" Brushtail exclaimed. He dug around a little in the sand, then said, "Oho, I see! It"s a stake I stumbled over, and here is a chain and--why sure enough! There"s a trap fastened to the chain. Ha! ha! ha! No beef to-night, thank you! I"ll just wait.
Perhaps some foolish animal will drag that head away and hide it. Then I"ll just help myself. Sooner or later I"ll get that head!" And Brushtail trotted away.
It was a queer procession!
But he did not go far until he stopped and sniffed again in the direction of the cow"s head.
"My!" exclaimed Brushtail, "That meat certainly does smell good, so good that I am almost tempted to go back and try to get it. But I"m afraid. I"ll just wait as I said. And I"ll get that cow"s head as sure as anything."
And laughing to himself because he believed he was so clever, Brushtail stole softly away into the woods.
Well, Brushtail _is_ clever, but some one else was just a bit cleverer, and that was Doctor Rabbit.