A MEETING OF THE CLUB
Mr. Bunny Rabbit remained silent a long while, as if occupied with
painful thoughts, although in view of what he said later, it was
difficult to understand why he should have been sad, for there have
been but few of his family who, having received a visit from Mr. Fox,
live to tell the tale.
Then he continued:
"Mrs. Bunny was so frightened by what I told her that it looked very
much as if she would die of fright; but Sonny Bunny and I rubbed her
ears hard, until we finally brought her around to that point where she
was able to look danger in the face as one of our kind should, but, I
am sorry to say, seldom does.
"'If you could prevent the old robber from getting in for a time,
Sonny and I might be able to dig out at the other end,' she said at
length, and I fancied her idea was a good one; but how it might be
possible to keep Mr. Foxy Fox back was a hard question to answer.
"However, it was a case of putting my best foot forward, and I crept
back down the hallway, so frightened that I had the hardest kind of
work to walk straight. The murdering old scoundrel was scratching dirt
at a lively rate when I came as near the front door as I dared, and it
didn't take more than half an eye to see that he'd soon be able to get
considerably more than his nose inside.
"Then the idea came to me that I might do a little scratching, and,
turning around until my tail was pointed straight for the front door,
I kept my hind feet at work till Foxy began to cough and choke at a
rate that made me feel as if I were doing a pretty good job.
"'Look here, you long-eared old hopper, you! Stop kicking up so much
dust, or I'll chew you into shoe-strings when I get at you!' he cried,
and I knew from the sounds that he was trying to wipe the dirt from
his eyes.
"'Yes, and that's what you count on doing whether I kick up a dust or
not,' I said, speaking as if I were as brave and big as Senator Bear.
'If you eat rabbit stew for supper to-night, you'll have to work for
it, that's what!'
"It was quite a spell before he went to work again, and I sat there
ready to use my hind feet the minute he had his nose anywhere near the
door, knowing all the while that Mrs. Bunny and Sonny were working for
dear life at the other end of the house.
"I hadn't much more than begun to scratch gravel again when I heard
the sharpest kind of a yelp from Mr. Fox, and I couldn't help laughing
out loud, for I thought I'd most likely sent a stone into his eye; but
I soon found out that wasn't the cause of it.
"Now what do you think had happened? Why, Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog
Towser had happened along just in the nick of time, so far as I was
concerned, and dear me! how he was jumping into Mr. Foxy Fox! Talk
about fighting! I never heard such a row. As I afterward learned,
nearly every member of our club was awakened by the racket, and you
might have searched them all without finding anything like pity for
Foxy.
"We never had any love for Mr. Towser before; but now it seemed as if
he were the very nicest kind of animal that ever lived. I knew Mr. Fox
was bound to get the worst of it, so back I ran to tell Mrs. Bunny.
When she heard the good news, instead of sitting down with me to
laugh, she said real sharp-like:
"'Don't get to feeling good too soon, Bunny. Nobody knows how many
wicked animals will come around to see what is going on, and when Mr.
Towser finishes the job we may find ourselves nearer to a stew than
before. Sonny and I have nearly finished making another door, and the
best thing you can do is to close up the front one while Mr. Foxy Fox
and Mr. Towser are so busy. Then we'll go over and visit your cousins
till we can build a new house, for I wouldn't stay in this one another
night.'
"When Mrs. Bunny really sets her mind on anything, the easiest way for
me is to give in to her, and back I went, scratching the dirt against
the door the best I knew how, though I was aching to listen, so's to
know how long Mr. Fox held out.
"I hadn't more than done my part of the work in good shape when Mrs.
Bunny came to tell me that she and Sonny Bunny had fixed things at the
other end, so I went with her because she was dragging me by one ear
in a way that wasn't comfortable. We found my cousins hopping around
outside their home listening to the row, for Foxy was taking on at
such a rate that you might have heard him half a mile away, and none
of us went to bed until the sudden stillness told that Mr. Foxy Fox
wouldn't steal another chicken, nor ever disturb a member of our
family.
"It wasn't more than daybreak next morning when Mr. Crow sent one of
Cheeko's brothers around to tell the members of the club that there
was to be a meeting, on important business, as soon as the sun came
out strong enough to prevent any of the 'Squire's family from showing
themselves.
"I didn't stop for breakfast, but started right off, and on arriving
at the big oak found almost everybody I knew, except those club
members who don't care to meet at meal time. Mr. Crow was perched on
the very tiptoppest branch of the tree, looking as if he had so much
business on hand that he couldn't speak without forgetting some of it,
and I asked little Cocky Robin if he knew why the meeting was to be
held.
"'Don't you know what happened last night?' he asked, looking as if he
thought something was wrong in my head.
"'I've got good reasons to know, seeing's how I was right in the
thick of it,' I said, bristling up my fur so's to make me look mighty
fierce. 'If it hadn't been for me Mr. Towser wouldn't have had such a
chance at Mr. Fox.'
"'What did you have to do with it?' he asked, cocking his head in what
I always thought a most impudent manner. Do you know, he puts on more
airs and graces than a peacock, simply because he's the only bird that
has a red vest to go with a brown coat? Of course I told him the whole
story, though there wasn't any need for me to say that I'd been
frightened nearly out of my wits, and before I'd finished Mr. Crow
called the meeting to order.
"You know how well the old fellow loves to talk, and it seemed on this
morning as if his tongue ran on wheels. He began by telling all about
the row which Mr. Weasel kicked up with the 'Squire, and it seems,
according to his story, that the head of the Owl family had been
killed, as he had a good right to be after Mr. Weasel got a grip on
his neck. Then he spoke about the trouble Mr. Foxy Fox had caused us
members of the club, and announced that the long-tailed villain was
dead, too, with his skin, most likely, nailed up on Mr. Man's barn
that very minute.
"Never a word did Mr. Crow say about what I'd done toward fixing Foxy
so he couldn't do any more mischief, and try as I might, I couldn't
get in a word edgewise in the way of explaining that if it hadn't been
for me Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog Towser wouldn't have had a chance to
get the best of Mr. Foxy Fox.
"All hands of us were pretty well tired out before Mr. Crow got right
down to the business of the meeting, and I was seriously thinking of
hopping off home without waiting to hear why we had been called
together, when he came to the point.
"'There's no more influential club in the big woods than the Fur and
Feather Association,' he said, speaking in a dreadfully hoarse voice
because of having talked so long that his throat was dry. 'It is time
we took an active part in outside affairs, else we may expect to lose
many a night's sleep by such a rumpus as was kicked up last night.'
"'What do you count on doing about it?' Mr. Blue Jay, who had come in
late, asked with a laugh. 'If Mr. Weasel meets 'Squire Owl when he's
out on one of his killings, how can we stop him from murdering the
pompous old bird who has done some harm to nearly every one of us?
And if Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog Towser comes across Mr. Foxy Fox when
he's up to mischief, how can we lend a hand, even if we want to? It
seems to me that last night's work was a good thing for us members of
the Fur and Feathers, and we're the last who should be mourning over
it.'
"Mr. Crow looked at Mr. Jay savagely; but it takes more than a hard
look to disturb that blue-coated fellow, and instead of being
frightened, he actually laughed in the president's face.
"'We haven't come together to mourn because the 'Squire and Mr. Foxy
Fox got themselves killed,' Mr. Crow said, ruffling up his feathers
till he looked a good deal like Mr. Porcupine. 'Our duty is to take
such measures as will prevent people like Mr. Weasel and Mr. Man's boy
Tommy's dog Towser from disturbing the peace. This part of the big
woods belongs by rights to this club, and we must take such steps as
will prevent evilly disposed people from jumping down on those of us
who mind our own business without working harm to any one else.'
"Now do you know that seemed to sound very comical to Mr. Jay, and he
didn't have any better manners than to laugh right out in meeting,
making such a racket with that shrill voice of his that you'd have
thought more than a dozen birds were trying to see which could make
the most noise.
"Mr. Crow waited till the ill-mannered Jay had quieted down a bit, and
I could see that the old fellow had all he could do to keep his
temper, which is not to be wondered at when you consider that the
president of the club was only trying to protect the members against
those who had no business in that part of the big woods. Then he said,
turning to some of us of the Fur section, who were not so impudent as
to interrupt:
"'There is no reason why we should not forbid certain birds and
animals from venturing on these premises, and once that has been done
we shall live in peace, to say nothing of being able to sleep the
whole night through without interruption.'
"There was so much good sense in this remark that I clapped my paws to
show my appreciation of it, when suddenly we heard a dreadfully rough
voice cry:
"'Are you foolish creatures really thinking it'll do any good to
forbid our doing this or that?'
"Looking up quickly, whom should I see but the Professor, who was
slowly circling around the tree as if trying to make up his mind which
of us he would invite to breakfast. Oh me! oh my! what a scurrying
there was to get under cover! I went into the thorn bushes head first,
nearly scratching my eyes out, and Cheeko's brother followed close at
my heels, while as for Mr. Jay, he flew off with a screech, for more
than one member of his family had gone to dinner with the Professor
and never come back.
"Then, if you'll believe it, that miserable hawk lighted on the very
lowest branch of the tree, where he could have an eye on all of us who
had taken to cover, and Cheeko's brother said to me, his teeth
chattering with fear so badly that I could hardly understand a word:
"'Now we're in the soup for certain! If one of us makes the littlest
kind of move that villainous old Professor will pounce down. I wish
Mr. Crow had attended to his own private matters instead of calling us
together where, rather than protecting ourselves, we're likely to
give that old scoundrel a breakfast.'
"'Keep under the sharpest thorns, no matter how badly your coat may be
torn,' I whispered, and the Professor cocked his eye at me in a way
that told he was figuring how he could best get his claws in my back."
At this moment Mr. Bunny chanced to see a particularly tempting bunch
of clover, and he leaped toward it, without seeming to consider that
it would have been more polite first to bring his story to a close.