JIMMY HEDGEHOG'S ESCAPE
Mr. Bunny Rabbit hopped around his little Sonny, rubbing noses with
him, smoothing the rumpled fur on his back, and otherwise behaving as
if he had not seen him for a very long time. When these marks of
affection had been displayed, Sonny rose on his hind feet as if to
look his father directly in the face, and, wrinkling his nose in a
peculiar manner, seemingly began to tell a very long story, to which
Mr. Bunny listened attentively, wagging his ears now and then in token
of admiration or disapproval.
When Sonny had finally come to an end of the recital, he crouched on
all fours directly under his father's nose and began nibbling at some
young raspberry leaves which were growing conveniently near at hand,
looking very much as if he was waiting for an answer to his long story
or explanation, whichever it may have been.
Mr. Bunny stroked his chin as if in deep thought for several seconds;
peered cautiously around for signs of danger, scrutinized closely
every bush and clump of ferns in the vicinity, after which he began to
talk earnestly to Sonny Bunny. It surely seemed as if he were giving
him certain explicit directions concerning what should be done, for
when he had come to a close the father and son rubbed noses once more,
after which the youngster hopped away while Mr. Bunny resumed his
position of story-teller on the log.
"Nice looking young rabbit, isn't he?" Mr. Bunny asked as he watched
solicitously until Sonny disappeared from view amid the foliage. "No
fellow could ask for a better son than my little Sonny Bunny; I can
count on his doing exactly what I tell him, and he never goes away
from home without asking permission from his mother or me.
"Why did he come? Oh, his mother sent him to tell me that Mr. Man had
just gone out with his gun, and Towser tagging on behind. She was
afraid he had started off to find me simply because I took a few
carrots and some lettuce the other day. I'll have my eye on him sharp
enough; but it was taking a big risk to send little Sonny out at such
a time. I explained to him exactly the route he must take when going
home, and cautioned the dear fellow about going into the open without
first making certain that crafty dog wasn't anywhere near at hand.
"Oh, yes, you want to hear the rest of the story about Cheeko. Well,
there isn't a great deal more to tell, I'm sorry to say--that is,
about his being trapped by Mr. Man's boy Tommy, though he did get away
after a long and painful experience which has taught him a valuable
lesson, so Mr. Crow says.
"As I was saying when Sonny Bunny interrupted us, I yelled for Jimmy
Hedgehog to tip the little house over with his nose; but you know what
a clumsy thing he is, and it seemed as if I should fly before he got
ready to make a try. While he was poking around to see how it could be
done the easiest, I scratched away the dirt with my hind feet, making
a hole for it to tumble into, and, last, when Jimmy had made up his
mind, I shouted for Cheeko to look after himself when the thing fell,
so's to be ready to jump out the minute the door opened.
"Now you'd better believe Jimmy and I worked hard and fast, for there
was no telling how soon those miserable boys might be back, and all
the time old Mr. Crow was perched on the top of the oak tree, giving
orders as if he were the captain of the biggest vessel that ever
floated.
"'Get your noses further under the house!' he screamed when it seemed
to me as if my whole head was in the dirt, and I'd strangle to death
if I'd rooted the least bit deeper. 'Why don't you have some get up
and go to you?' he yelled again and again until I just couldn't stand
it any longer, even if he was the president of the club, and up and
told him I wouldn't ruffle a hair till he got through with his foolish
noise.
"That made him real kind of huffy, and while he was shaking himself to
make his feathers stand out like Jimmy's quills, we rooted at the
house till it surely seemed I'd dropped a stitch in my back, and over
she went, plump into the hole I'd dug. Now wouldn't you have thought
that the door would open when the thing fell? Cheeko declared that he
couldn't see the least little bit of a crack when it tipped, and
after that it was all over, so far as Cheeko Squirrel was concerned,
because the house was bottom up, resting on the top of the door in
such a way that a dozen rabbits and hedgehogs, with more'n a hundred
crows to boss 'em, couldn't have moved it.
"Jimmy and I rooted and rooted the best we knew how, with Cheeko
coaxing and crying all the time, promising never to be impudent to us
again if we'd only get him out of the terrible fix; but it was no use.
He was in a bad box and there was nothing we could do to help him.
"'We've both worn the skin all off our noses and can't stir it a
little bit,' I said, feeling mighty sorry for the little fellow, even
if he had been rude to me whenever I had tried to do him a good turn.
"'Try it just once more, Bunny, dear!' he cried, and his voice sounded
as if there were tears in it. 'Don't let that wicked boy, Tommy, carry
me off to one of his miserable prisons!'
"'You wouldn't take the advice of those who were older and more
experienced in the world and now you must pay the price for being
headstrong,' Mr. Crow cawed, and it made me provoked to hear him
reading a lesson to poor Cheeko when he was in such a peck of trouble,
so I said, speaking as easy as I knew how:
"'There's no use telling him about what has been done, Mr. President.
He knows all that only too well, and we'd better spend what little
time we've got before Mr. Man's boy Tommy comes back in trying to make
him feel better.'
"'He would have the dose, no matter what we could say, and, according
to my way of thinking, it's high time he was brought up with a sharp
turn, for he had got it into his head that he owned pretty near all
the big woods,' Mr. Crow said, and then he flew off to watch for
Tommy, so's to give us fair warning, for however sharp the old fellow
may talk his heart is always in the right place when it comes to
helping us wood folks who behave ourselves.
"Well, Jimmy and I kept on trying to turn the box over again until we
heard Mr. Crow calling out that the boys were coming and then it was
up to us to get out of the way unless we were willing to go further
with Cheeko than would be at all pleasant.
"'We've got to skip,' I whispered to him, putting my mouth close to
the crack of the door and before I could get away he cried, oh! so
mournfully:
"'Please don't leave me, Bunny, dear, when I'm in such terrible
trouble!'
"Dear knows, I'd have stayed by him until the cows came home if I
could have done the poor fellow any good, but I couldn't, and the
tears almost blinded me as I hopped off into the bushes just in time
to be well hidden before that gang of young ruffians came up.
"'Hurrah! We've got a squirrel!' Mr. Man's boy Tommy cried as he
picked up the box and squinted into it. 'Hurry and we'll put him into
that cage we made yesterday!'
"Then off the whole crowd ran, and poor Cheeko with them. I'd
forgotten all about Jimmy Hedgehog, because of feeling so sorry for
Cheeko, and was wiping my eyes with my ears, when he squeaked, poking
his nose out of the hole he had dodged into when the boys came up:
"'What's the reason we shouldn't go and see what they do with Cheeko?
It won't be much of a trick to keep out of sight and follow them at
the same time.'
"I hadn't anything in particular to do just then, and, if you'll
believe it, I forgot that Mrs. Bunny had told me, not more than half
an hour before, that Mr. Man was out trying to kill something.
"Off Jimmy and I went, Mr. Crow calling after us as he saw us hopping
along in the direction of Mr. Man's barn:
"'You'd better take care of your own hides, instead of following that
foolish Cheeko, who hasn't got a thing more than he deserved!'
"'You're a hard-hearted old bird!' Jimmy cried, and a deaf man could
have told by the sound of his voice that he was angry. 'There's just a
chance that we can help the poor fellow.'
"'Help nothing!' Mr. Crow cried sharply, and off he flew, as much as
to say that he washed his claws of us both.
"Well, I couldn't help feeling just a bit nervous after the old bird
had warned us; but yet, strange as it may seem, even then I didn't
think of what Mrs. Bunny had told me about Mr. Man. I followed Jimmy,
though, and it didn't take us long to come up so near the robbers that
we could hear them telling what they counted on doing with poor
Cheeko. From all I could make out, they had some kind of prison with
a wheel in it, and there he'd be made to run round and round till he
couldn't run any more.
"Of course we had to hang back when coming within sight of the barn,
and then I coaxed Jimmy to go back to the old oak; but he allowed he'd
see the last of Cheeko no matter what might happen, and it really
seemed as if I ought to stay with him after all he'd done in the way
of helping me with the little house, so I told him I'd hang round for
a spell; but I'd draw the line at going any nearer the barn.
"Well, we stayed there in the bushes a while without being able to see
very much, although we could hear the boys talking, and then Jimmy
said, speaking as if he were all out of patience with me:
"'I'm going to see what they are doing; if you're afraid you can wait
here till I come back.'
"I said all I could to prevent him from running his nose into danger,
as Cheeko had done, but he wouldn't listen, so I crept further into
the bushes and off he toddled. How long I stayed there it would be
hard to say, but it seemed as if two or three hours had passed when I
heard Mr. Crow saying, his voice sounding as if he were a long
distance away:
"'Look out for your hide, Jimmy Hedgehog, for here comes Mr. Man with
a gun and a dog!'
"Then of course I remembered what Mrs. Bunny had told me and although
I was so frightened that my teeth chattered I couldn't help creeping
out a bit to see what Jimmy was doing. I had just got into a place
where it was possible to have a full view of the barn, when whom
should I see but that foolish Jimmy standing on his hind legs looking
from one side to the other, but never behind him where was Mr. Man
creeping along as if he were making ready to shoot.
"Oh me! oh my! how I tried to scream for him to turn around, but my
lungs are not very strong, as you know, and I couldn't have made him
hear me if he hadn't been half as far away, but Mr. Crow was on the
watch and he screamed as he flew down almost directly across Jimmy's
face:
"'Can't you see an inch behind your back, silly beast? I've been
telling you over and over again that Mr. Man was out looking for such
as you!'
"You never saw a hedgehog jump as Jimmy did then! He hadn't paid any
attention to anything except what the boys were doing, and now he
made up for lost time. It seemed to me as if he turned more than four
somersaults before he struck the ground, and even while he was leaping
bang! went Mr. Man's gun. I couldn't see whether my friend had been
hit or not--dear, dear, you'll have to excuse me a minute more, for
there is Mrs. Bunny shaking her ears at me. Now, what do you suppose
she has got on her mind?"
Then Mr. Bunny jumped off the log hurriedly running toward a bunch of
ferns which were swaying to and fro, although there was not a breath
of wind stirring and there was nothing to be done save wait until he
should be at liberty to conclude the story.