Mr. Fox rolled over and laughed. He couldn’t jump up the sides any more
than he could leap across the pit, and Mr. Fox knew it.
But in one corner Bumper spied a small hole which the water had made
in the soft earth. The pit was drained through this hole, and Bumper
immediately saw a way of escape.
What he should have done was to race for the hole the moment he
discovered it, but he hesitated until Mr. Fox’s keen eyes saw it too.
With a snarl of rage, the Fox reared on his hind feet, and when Bumper
started for the mouth of the hole he leaped into the pit. He reached
the corner first, and blocked the hole.
“Ho! Ho!” he laughed. “You thought you’d get out that way. Well, I’m
going to watch at this hole until morning. Then I’ll catch you and eat
you for breakfast.”
Bumper retreated to the other side of the pit. He looked all around for
another way out, but not finding any he squatted down in a corner to
think. Mr. Fox sat down in front of the hole, and licked his chops. He
could afford to keep his word and not attack Bumper until the two days
were up, for Bumper was a prisoner.
But pretty soon along came Sneaky the Wolf. He sniffed around and
smelling Mr. Fox came and looked down the pit. “Good morning, Mr. Fox,”
he said politely. “What are you doing down there?”
Now the sight of Sneaky alarmed the Fox. He dreaded the Wolf as much
as Bumper feared the Fox. He had an unpleasant idea that he would have
great difficulty in getting out of the pit.
“I was taking a nap, Mr. Wolf,” he replied in a trembling voice.
“Then I think I’ll come down and take one with you, Mr. Fox.”
“Oh, no, please don’t,” pleaded Mr. Fox. “You know the truce isn’t up
yet, Sneaky.”
“No, but it will be in the morning. I can afford to wait until then for
my breakfast.”
And with that Sneaky leaped down into the pit. He trotted around,
grinning and nodding his head. “What’s behind you, Mr. Fox?” he asked,
coming closer. “Oh, a hole! You thought you could escape through that.
If you don’t mind I’ll watch there until morning.”
Mr. Fox took the hint, and jumped away. He ran around the pit, and made
a few desperate efforts to leap out of it, but he couldn’t more than
reach three-quarters of the way up. Bumper watched him in silence, and
Sneaky grinned at every failure, and shouted with glee:
“Try it again, Mr. Fox! If you don’t succeed at first, try, try again.”
The jeering of Sneaky alarmed Mr. Fox so that he tried again and again
to scramble out of the pit. Then he sneaked off in a corner to think.
Right then, when Sneaky was so sure of his morning’s breakfast, Loup
the Lynx came along. One glance down the pit brought a horrid grin to
his ugly face. His eyes glowed, and his tail lashed with delight.
“Ah! Ha!” he cried. “How’d you get down there, Sneaky?” he called.
“Fell in, and can’t get out?”
“No, indeed,” replied Sneaky boldly, as his heart beat rapidly. “I can
leap out any time I want to.”
“Let me see you do it.”
“No, thank you, I’m satisfied where I am.”
“Well, then,” added Loup, “I think I’ll come down and keep you company
until morning. I’m going to be very hungry then. I’ve fasted for two
days now.”
And Loup the Lynx dropped into the pit. Sneaky made a desperate effort
to leap out, but he too failed. What Bumper and Mr. Fox failed in doing
was beyond his reach. He fell back repeatedly, while Loup doubled up
with glee and laughed until the forest rang with echoes of it.
“You can’t do it, Sneaky,” he shouted. “And in the morning I’ll have a
fine breakfast A pleasant night to you.”
Sneaky ran away and sat down in a corner to think, while Loup closed
one eye in sleep, but kept the other wide open. What happened to them
in the pit will follow in the next story.
STORY XV
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT
Meanwhile Bumper had been crouching in his corner, partly hidden from
view by a few leaves blown into the pit by the wind. Neither Sneaky
nor Loup had seen him, and Mr. Fox was so troubled by the presence of
his two enemies in the pit that he gave scant attention to the white
rabbit. He had no stomach now for breakfast or dinner. His one desire
was to get away safely before morning.
Unfortunately for Bumper, Loup had taken up his watchful position
directly in front of the small hole. If he would only move a little to
one side, the white rabbit could escape. While the hole was too small
for Mr. Fox or Sneaky to squeeze through, Bumper could easily get in it.
All night long Bumper kept a watchful eye on Loup and the mouth of the
hole. Once the Lynx got up and yawned, stretching his great, powerful
legs, but he didn’t change his place. The moon came out, partly
flooding the pit with its bright light. Bumper crouched in the shadows
and waited.
Mr. Fox and Sneaky were so quiet that Loup grew suspicious. He raised
his head and glared around him. One side of the pit was in dark shadow,
and he crept toward it to see if all was well with his victim.
This was Bumper’s opportunity. Quick as a flash he darted across the
pit. In the moonlight his white coat was hardly visible. It was not
until Loup heard the crunch of his feet on the sand that the Lynx was
aware of his presence. Then he made a dive for him, but Bumper scooted
into the hole and escaped.
“If I’d known that rabbit was down here,” growled Loup, “I’d kept watch
at that hole.” Then grinning wickedly, he added: “But a rabbit or two
doesn’t make much difference so long as I have you, Sneaky.”
Sneaky the Wolf made no reply, but sulked in his corner. He was
debating in his mind whether it wouldn’t be better to attack Mr. Fox,
and offer him as a peace offering. Perhaps Loup would be satisfied with
that, and then let him go.
“Loup,” he said, “Mr. Fox is down here, too. Now if you’ll promise to
let me go, I’ll catch him and give him to you for breakfast. He’s much
tenderer and fatter than I, and I’m sure you’d like him.”
“Ah! Ha! So Mr. Fox is down here, is he?” said Loup, licking his jaws.
“Then my breakfast and dinner’s all prepared for me.”
“But if you don’t let me go,” whined Sneaky, “I’ll help Mr. Fox to get
away.”
This threat amused Loup, and he rolled over and over with laughter.
“How would you help him, Sneaky?” he asked finally. “The two of you
together couldn’t get out of this pit. No, no, you’re prisoners, and
I’m doing you both a favor by eating you. If I didn’t you’d die down
here from slow starvation. Now you see how good I am to you.”
“Perhaps you can’t jump out either,” replied Sneaky. “No, I don’t
believe you can.”
“What a joke!” laughed Loup. “Just to show you, I’ll jump out, and then
back again.”
He crouched for the spring, the great muscles of his hind legs knotting
in big lumps. Then his body shot upward like a stone released from
a spring trap. But he didn’t reach the top. Oh, no, not by a couple
of yards! He clawed and scratched at the sides of the pit, but the
loose sand rolled down the side and carried him with it. Dumbfounded
and angered by this mishap, he made another spring, but again he fell
short.
Six times Loup tried it, and failed. Then he trotted around and tried
it on the opposite side of the pit. But he failed just as the others
had. He couldn’t leap out of the pit, try as he would.
“What did I tell you, Loup,” exclaimed Sneaky triumphantly. “We’re all
prisoners down here, and instead of fighting each other we should try
to think of some way of escape. Three minds are better than one.”
“What can you suggest, Sneaky?” asked Loup, whose defiant spirit was
considerably tamed now.
“Why, I don’t know. Perhaps if I could stand on your back, and Mr. Fox
on mine, one of us could get out. Mr. Fox surely could, and then he
could throw down something to help us out.”
“I wouldn’t trust you,” growled Loup. “Neither would I trust Mr. Fox.
He’d run away, and leave us here.”
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t, Loup,” replied Mr. Fox.
Loup considered. No, he wouldn’t trust either of them. Neither would
Sneaky or Mr. Fox trust him. Just because each had a bad reputation for
deceit, neither dared help the other to get out. It is generally so
with those who lie and deceive. There is little honor among thieves.
Meanwhile, Bumper had scurried through the hole, and found his way out
under the river’s embankment. The water from the pit drained through to
the river, and this accounted for the long tunnel.
“My, how thankful I am to get out with a whole skin!” he exclaimed. “It
was a narrow escape.”
He cleaned the dirt from his white fur, and glanced up happily at the
moon. “It will go hard with Mr. Fox and Sneaky,” he added. “I suppose
Loup will kill both of them.”
He shuddered at the very thought, and hopped along in silence. In
a short time he stopped again. He couldn’t get out of his mind the
thought of Mr. Fox’s fate and of Sneaky’s. After all they would suffer
just as much in being killed as he would. Of course, in a way they
deserved it, for they intended to kill him.
“Still, I can’t bear to think of them suffering so,” he reflected, “not
even if they did intend to eat me.”
Bumper was very tender hearted, and the more he thought of the terrible
fate of his two enemies the less he liked it. Finally, he sat upright,
and said: “I must see Buster the Bear. Maybe he can do something to
help Mr. Fox and Sneaky. Anyway I must tell him.”
After that he hopped along more rapidly, and long before morning he
found Buster’s den and knocked on the door. Buster wasn’t very pleased
at being roused out of his sleep in the middle of the night, and he
grumbled angrily.
“What do you want, Bumper? If it isn’t anything important go away, and
let me finish my nap.”
“It is important, Buster, or I shouldn’t disturb you,” was the reply.
Bumper told him the story of his adventures, which pleased Buster,
who soon lost all desire for sleep. Before Bumper was through he was
chuckling.
“And you say Loup, and Sneaky and Mr. Fox are in the pit now, and can’t
get out?” he queried.
“Yes, Buster, and I wish you could help Mr. Fox and Sneaky. They’ll be
eaten up by Loup in the morning.”
“Ha! Ha!” laughed Buster. “I must get around early to see the circus.
It will surely be worth seeing.”
“But aren’t you going to help Mr. Fox or Sneaky?” asked Bumper.
“That’s why I called to see you.”
“Help them?” grunted Buster. “What for? They’ll eat you up some day if
they get out.”
“Perhaps they will,” sighed Bumper, “but I can’t bear to think of Loup
killing them when they’re prisoners. They ought to have a fair show.”
“Yes, I suppose they should. Well,” yawning and stretching, “we’ll
see what can be done. I’ll go with you to the pit. I’ll be ready in a
minute.”
What they saw and did in the pit early in the morning will be told in
the next story.
STORY XVI
WHAT BUSTER DID TO LOUP, SNEAKY AND MR. FOX
Bumper and Buster reached the pit where Loup, Sneaky and Mr. Fox were
prisoners shortly before sunrise. They had started early, but it was
some distance through the woods. Buster crashed clumsily through the
bushes, and then crossed the clearing to the brink of the pit. He
looked down, and saw all three prisoners at the bottom looking very sad
and dejected.
“Hello, Loup!” he called. “Nice place to spend the night! Had your
breakfast yet?”
Loup glared back sullenly, for he knew that Buster understood his
plight.
“Got good company down there, too, Loup,” Buster added. “I see Sneaky
and Mr. Fox in the corner. But why so gloomy? Oh, I see, you can’t get
out! Got caught in a trap. Well, well, that’s too bad now, isn’t it?”
He sat down astride a fallen tree. He enjoyed the difficulties of the
three cowed and frightened animals.
“Bumper here told me how Mr. Fox frightened him and made him jump in
the pit,” he continued after a while, “and then how he jumped in after
him. Then along came Sneaky and jumped in to eat Mr. Fox up, and I
suppose you tried to get Sneaky, Loup. Well, well, that’s a big joke.”
“You wouldn’t think so if you were down here,” said Mr. Fox. “Oh,
Buster, if you’ll help me to get out I’ll always be your friend, and do
anything you ask of me.”
“Huh! I couldn’t trust you, Mr. Fox.”
“Oh, yes, you could, Buster! I’ll promise on my heart that I’ll do what
you ask of me.”
Buster’s little eyes twinkled.
“All right, Mr. Fox, I’ll try you. If I get you out will you promise
never to hunt the rabbits and small animals again?”
“Yes, Buster, I’ll do as you ask,” replied the Fox.
Buster remained quiet for a moment, and then got up and lumbered away.
When he returned he was dragging the end of a long tree. “This is
because Bumper pleaded for your life, Mr. Fox,” he said, pushing one
end of the tree in the pit. “Now come up, and make that promise again.”
Mr. Fox ran up the tree rapidly, and when he reached the brink Buster
stopped him. “On your heart you promise not to hunt the rabbits and
small animals any more?” the Bear asked before he would let him pass.
Once more Mr. Fox crossed his heart and promised.
“Then go, and if you break your word I’ll punish you.”
Mr. Fox trotted away and made a break for the thick woods.
“Now, Sneaky,” Buster added, “it’s your turn. Do you want to make the
same promise?”
Sneaky was so anxious to get out that he was ready to promise anything,
and when he reached the top Buster made him repeat it. “Remember you’re
on parole, Sneaky,” Buster cautioned, “and the first time you break
your word I’ll put you in a worse place than this pit.”
When Sneaky had disappeared, Buster addressed the Lynx. “I don’t know
about trusting you Loup,” he said. “I never knew a Lynx yet that could
keep his word. However, I’ll let you go. Give me your promise, and you
can come up.”
Loup promised again and again that he would let the rabbits and small
animals alone. Buster accepted his word as he had that of the others,
and Loup sprang away into the woods and disappeared from sight.
“I don’t know whether they’ll keep their word, Bumper,” Buster said
when they were alone. “But at any rate they’ve had a big scare, and
fear will keep them away for a time. I think your people will enjoy
peace for a time.”
“Yes, and all due to you, Buster,” replied Bumper. “I’ve tried to make
friends with all the birds and animals, but Loup, Sneaky and Mr. Fox
wouldn’t meet me half way.”
“Some people are that way, Bumper. They’re good only as long as the
policeman’s around. Hereafter I’ll be the policeman in this woods.”
Bumper nodded, for he believed that this was true.
“Then you’ve made friends with all the other animals?” Buster asked
after a while.
“Yes, Mr. Beaver and Billy the Mink and Washer the Raccoon are my
friends. And so are Gray Back the Weasel and Billy Porcupine and Sleepy
the Opossum.”
“How about me, Bumper?” grinned Buster when he stopped.
“Why, you’ve always been my friend, Buster, didn’t you know it?”
“Well,” growled Buster, “maybe I did and maybe I didn’t.” Then smiling
at the white rabbit he added: “You go home now and tell your people
there’s going to be peace in the woods hereafter. If you can agree
among yourselves, I’ll see that Loup and Sneaky and Mr. Fox don’t
bother you any more. If they do you just tell me.”
And Buster frowned so severely, and whacked a tree with one of his huge
paws so soundly, that Bumper jumped to one side, and then laughed at
his own fear. Indeed, Buster was one to be feared when angry, and he
could protect the small animals from their natural enemies. One blow
from those huge paws would knock Loup senseless and crush in the skull
of Sneaky or Mr. Fox.
“I think now,” Bumper said, “I’ll go home and tell my people and all
the animals and birds that peace has come into the woods. There will be
no more danger for them.”
So his efforts to seek peace in the woods had been rewarded. Bumper
the white rabbit had brought to his people something that was more to
be desired than the ability to fight and protect themselves. Billy,
Browny, Mr. Beaver, Gray Back and all the other small animals were
their friends, and all feuds and quarrels had been wiped out. There was
to be no more fighting. Each was to live his life without constant
fear of danger.
Can you wonder that Bumper was light-hearted and full of gladness? When
he met Rusty the Blackbird, he had to stop and tell him the good news,
and Rusty immediately flew away to spread it among all the birds.
By the time Bumper reached home, the birds were gathered there to
welcome him, and to listen to his story. Then came trooping through
the woods shortly after Pink Nose, Crooked Ears, Brindley the Lame
and Rolly Polly, with all their families. It was a great gathering of
rabbits and birds. And they made such a noise that Billy Porcupine
hurried out of his hole to find out what it was all about, and Gray
Back the Weasel and Browny the Muskrat came, and Sleepy the Opossum,
and Washer the Raccoon and Mr. Beaver and Groundy the Woodchuck.
Everybody of importance seemed to be there. They talked and listened,
and feasted and danced, until night time, and when they finally crept
away to their burrows and nests they vowed they would never quarrel or
fight among themselves again. Bumper had taught them to live in peace
and happiness, and they would follow his example.
But of course they had many adventures after that--all of them--and
particularly Bobby Gray Squirrel, whom Bumper had saved from the fire,
and if you want to hear what great things happened to him you should
read the book called
“Bobby Gray Squirrel.”
Bumper the White Rabbit
STORY I
WHERE BUMPER CAME FROM
There was once an old woman who had so many rabbits that she hardly
knew what to do. They ate her out of house and home, and kept the
cupboard so bare she often had to go to bed hungry. But none of the
rabbits suffered this way. They all had their supper, and their
breakfast, too, even if there wasn’t a crust left in the old woman’s
cupboard.
There were big rabbits and little rabbits; lean ones and fat ones;
comical little youngsters who played pranks upon their elders, and
staid, serious old ones who never laughed or smiled the livelong day;
boy rabbits and girl rabbits, mother rabbits and father rabbits, and
goodness knows how many aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins, second
cousins and distant relatives-in-law! They all lived under one big roof
in the
The continuation of this interesting story will be found in
BUMPER THE WHITE RABBIT
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WHITE TAIL THE DEER
STORY I
WHITE TAIL’S FIRST LESSON
High among the timberland of the North Woods White Tail the Deer was
born, and if you had stumbled upon his home in the thickets you would
have been surprised by a noise like the rushing of the wind, and then
by a very remarkable silence that could almost be felt. The first was
made by Mother White Tail as she deserted her young and took to quick
flight.
White Tail, crouching low down in the bushes, so still that he scarcely
moved a hair, would hide his beautiful head in the branches and leaves
like an obedient child. Left alone he knew that his one chance of
escape was not to move or whimper or cry.
That was the first lesson White Tail was taught by his mother--to keep
absolutely quiet in the presence of danger. When he was so small that
he could hardly hold up his head, she whispered to him: “Listen, White
Tail! When I give the signal that the hunters are coming, you must
flatten yourself down
The continuation of this interesting story will be found in
WHITE TAIL THE DEER
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WHITE TAIL’S ADVENTURES
STORY I
WHITE TAIL JUMPS STEPPING STONE BROOK
White Tail grew rapidly in size and strength, his long, clean limbs
showing taut muscles and great springing power; and his neck grew thick
and short, which is well for a buck, who must use it in savage thrusts
when the head is a battering ram. His horns were short and bony, but
they protruded in front like knobs against which it would be unpleasant
to fall.
But his antlers were his pride. They spread out fan-shape on his head,
crowning it with a glory that made Mother Deer supremely happy. At
times it seemed as if the antlers were too heavy for the head and neck,
but White Tail carried them easily, and when he shook them in sport or
anger any one could see they were just fitted to him.
In time he stood as high as Father Buck, and a head taller than Mother
Deer. The day the tip of his antlers reached an inch above Father
Buck’s, he felt a little thrill of pride.
The continuation of this interesting story will be found in
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WASHER THE RACCOON
STORY ONE
WASHER’S FIRST ADVENTURE
Washer was the youngest of a family of three Raccoons, born in the
woods close to the shores of Beaver Pond, and not half a mile from
Rocky Falls where the water, as you know, turns into silvery spray that
sparkles in the sun-shine like diamonds and rubies. And, indeed, the
animals and birds of the North Woods much prefer this glittering spray
and foam that rise in a steady cloud from the bottom of the falls to
all the jewels and gems ever dug out of the earth! For, though each
drop sparkles but a moment, and then vanishes from sight, there are a
million others to follow it, and when you bathe in them they wash and
scour away the dirt, and make you clean and fresh in body and soul.
Washer had his first great adventure at Rocky Falls, and it is a wonder
that he ever lived to tell the tale, for the water which flows over the
falls is almost as cruel and terrible as it is sparkling and inviting.
But
The continuation of this interesting story will be found in
WASHER THE RACCOON
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