SONNY BUNNY'S PERIL
It was possible to see Mr. Bunny Rabbit talking earnestly with his
wife amid the ferns for five minutes or more, and then he came back to
the old log, curling his whiskers and otherwise appearing to be well
satisfied with the world in general and himself in particular.
"My wife is such a nervous thing since Mr. Man's boy Tommy set his dog
on her," he said, hopping up on the log that he might the better be
seen. "Now she has got it in her head that Mr. Weasel has found his
way to our home, and ran all this distance up here to warn me about
being careful when I came to supper. She's old enough to know that I'm
keeping my eye out for that murdering villain, and the first time I
heard of his coming around where we live I'd move.
"I suppose it seems kind of queer to you that all us wood folk are so
afraid of Mr. Weasel; but if you were to see him out on one of his
killings, you'd understand it very readily. It would seem just a
little bit different if he picked us small people up for dinner or
breakfast; but he does nothing of the kind. He commits murder just to
please his wicked self, and oftentimes doesn't stop to suck a single
drop of blood from his victim. A desperately wicked old fellow is Mr.
Weasel, and even the 'Squire and the Professor are afraid of him.
"Yes, yes, I'm going to tell you how much trouble I got poor little
Sonny Bunny into, through trying to help Cheeko Squirrel after he had
so needlessly poked his nose into danger. I couldn't help saying just
a word about that miserable weasel, because of all the fright my wife
had on his account, and now for the story I began so long ago:
"You'll remember that my wife sent the poor little fellow to Cheeko
with some herb tea, and when I got back with the things for dinner she
was terribly worried because he hadn't come home. I'm willing to
confess that I didn't feel really easy in mind myself, for he was too
young to be out in the woods alone after dark, never having been
taught to take care of himself in the night, and off I scuttled the
best I knew how, which wasn't slow; but trying to make myself believe
that Sonny stayed to cheer Cheeko.
"I was hopping along mighty fast when whom should I see just ahead of
me on the path but Mr. Fox, standing with his head cocked over on one
side as he always holds it when he's up to some mischief. I was in a
terrible hurry, but it seemed safer to stop a bit till I'd found out
what he was up to, and lucky it was that I did.
"Old Mr. Fox had his mind so taken up with the business on hand that
he didn't hear me when I crept under the ferns where I could see all
that was going on. He stood looking down sideways, as if trying to
make up his mind just what to do, and then, suddenly, he began to
scratch the dirt at a terrible rate. Of course, I knew he wasn't
building a new house at that time of night, and after twisting my neck
till I got a cramp in it trying to see, it popped into my head that he
was working at the very place where Mr. Weasel killed my poor brother
the summer before. Then I got mighty nervous, for I knew that none of
our family was using the hole unless they'd gone in since I came from
Cheeko's new flat.
"'You might as well come out and save me the trouble of digging for
you, Sonny Bunny,' Mr. Fox said, as he stopped to catch his breath,
and my hair stood right up on end, for I began to understand that my
little Sonny Bunny, meeting Mr. Fox on the way home, had dodged in
there to get out of his way.
"'It'll be the worse for you if you make me do all this work,' Mr. Fox
said, breathing loud, for he didn't like to dig so hard for one small
rabbit, and I just really held my breath, I was so afraid Sonny Bunny
would think he could make matters any easier by trusting to that
treacherous fox. But the little fellow had good sense and lay still as
a mouse, so the miserable villain began digging again.
"Oh me, oh my, how hard I did try to think up some plan to help poor
Sonny Bunny out of the scrape, for of course it wouldn't have been any
use to make a fight with a fellow so much bigger than I was, and at
last it seemed as if I'd struck just the plan.
"I snooped around through the bushes, holding my breath mighty hard,
for Mr. Fox has a good pair of ears, till I was among a lot of
raspberry vines not so very far from the old oak. I crept 'way in
among them, although I got some pretty bad scratches, and when I was
so far in that there was no danger the 'Squire could get hold of me, I
sung out the best I knew how:
"'Oh, please, Mr. Crow, send somebody to help me, for I'm near choked
to death here among the raspberry bushes and am afraid Mr. Weasel will
come along before I can get out!'
"Then Mr. Fox stopped digging and pricked up his ears, making his
voice sound mighty soft as he asked, as if he were my best friend:
"'Who is in trouble?'
"'It's Bunny Rabbit!' I cried, making believe I thought it was Mr.
Crow who spoke. 'Please send somebody here right quick, dear Mr.
Crow!'
"'I'm coming right away,' Mr. Fox said, still making his voice soft,
and then I heard him come pattering along.
"Then was the time when Sonny Bunny should have scooted for dear life,
but the little fellow hadn't had experience with bad wood folks and
laid snug when he might have got away. It seemed to me that I was in a
pickle, for if Mr. Fox came up while I was in the raspberry bushes
I'd be likely to go home to supper with him, unless I got a fair
chance to show how fast I could run, so I kept on yelling for help and
Mr. Fox he kept trying to soothe me so's the rest of the folks who
might be hungry shouldn't come up to invite me to a stew.
"You'd better believe I made the dirt fly, trying to back out of the
place I'd gone into with the idea of helping Sonny Bunny, and it
seemed as if I were getting into a worse hole every minute, when I
heard something that made my blood run cold--it's a great wonder my
hair didn't turn white. It was that soft, whirring noise the 'Squire
makes when he flies and it looked as if I'd miss my share of the
lettuce and carrots I'd spent so much time gathering.
"I might as well confess that I got all mixed up with knowing that Mr.
Fox was after me on one side and somewhere in the air was the 'Squire
watching for a chance to stick his big claws in my back, to say
nothing of the fact that Mr. Weasel might have heard what was going
on.
"I just shut my eyes and waited, wondering which one would get at me
first, and then, suddenly, I heard a screech from Mr. Fox, with a
yell from the 'Squire, at the same minute. I opened my eyes in a hurry
and poked my nose out to see what had happened, but there was such a
mix-up that it was quite a while before I could see anything but fur
and feathers swinging around together like mad.
"You can guess that I didn't think about trying to save myself from
being scratched by the thorns on the raspberry bushes; but dug out as
quick as any rabbit ever did in this world, and oh, what a row I found
going on! It seems that the 'Squire had caught sight of Mr. Fox, and,
thinking it was me, dove down on him without stopping to make sure
what he was tackling, burying his claws so deep that he couldn't pull
them out in a hurry. Just at that very minute Mr. Weasel, who sure
enough had heard me yelling, sneaked up, and there's no need of saying
that he made a spring for the 'Squire, catching him by the neck.
"Now you know that when Mr. Weasel once gets a grip he doesn't let go
in a hurry, leastways, not until he's got the upper hand of whoever is
between his teeth, and there the three were floundering around in a
way that would have made me laugh till I cried, if it hadn't been for
poor little Sonny Bunny, who was most likely crouching in his uncle's
old home so frightened that he didn't even know what his name was.
"I said to myself that if I missed this chance of getting away I might
not have another, so off I started, but feeling mighty sorry that I
couldn't stop to see the end of the row. Do you know that I had to go
to the very lower end of my poor brother's house in order to get Sonny
Bunny? He was so scared that it didn't seem as if he heard me when I
hollered for him to come out, and I was forced to drag the little
fellow by the back of the neck so far that it made my jaws ache, for
he isn't as much of a light-weight as he used to be.
"After a while I managed to shake some sense into him, and off we
started for home, knowing by the yelps and hootings that the fight was
still going on, with Mr. Weasel holding his tongue all the while, but
most likely sawing a good deal of wood. We found Sonny's mother in
what was just the same as a fainting fit when we went into the house;
she had worried so much about us both that she couldn't stand it any
longer, and off she went into a regular spell the minute she heard
the patter of our feet on the dry leaves.
"Of course it took some time to bring her around all right, for I'm
not a very good hand at such things, and Sonny is too young to be of
much use in time of sickness, so I suppose the fight was ended before
we had matters straightened out at home; but I wanted to sneak around
through the bushes to see how the thing wound up, and I'd have done
it, too, if Sonny's mother hadn't caught me by the ear, declaring that
she'd suffered enough for one night, and I must stay with her and the
baby.
"I'd have given a good deal to know how the row ended; but it was no
use to argue with Mrs. Rabbit, so I put on my slippers and scurried
around to help get dinner, for, goodness knows, it was time all three
of us had something to eat. Nothing could have been better than those
carrots, and I had eaten two, at the same time thinking what a fool
I'd been for not bringing back more, when suddenly Sonny's mother
threw up both paws as if she were dying, and before there was time to
ask what had come over her, I heard the sound of some one scratching
at our front door.
"I didn't dare even to wait long enough to quiet Mrs. Bunny, but off I
ran through the hallway, which is very long in our house, as you may
suppose, and before reaching the door I could smell Mr. Foxy Fox as
plainly as I smell you this minute. Frightened? It seemed as if I
couldn't put one paw before another, and for two or three minutes it
looked as if I'd go home for supper with Mr. Fox. How he got out of
the scrape with the 'Squire and Mr. Weasel I couldn't guess, except
that those two were so busy with each other that he contrived to slip
off quietly; but it didn't make very much difference to me just how it
happened, for I had troubles of my own to look after.
"One thing was certain: that rascally old fox would have to do some
digging before he could get at us, and I ran back to Mrs. Rabbit, who
had pulled herself together a bit, holding her gently by the ears as I
explained what was going on."
At this point Bunny stopped as if overcome by sad thoughts, and
stroked his whiskers softly with one paw. To have broken in on his
train of thought just then would have been downright cruelty;
therefore it seemed necessary to wait until he was ready to continue
the painful story.