Doctor Rabbit hurried away from his home toward the place where he
heard Chatty Squirrel scolding Brushtail the Fox. Doctor Rabbit, to
tell the truth, was afraid to venture out there so close to Brushtail,
but then, he reasoned, he would have to go sooner or later and get
something to eat, so he might as well venture out now and see what the
old villain was doing.
Doctor Rabbit kept in the path that led past several briar patches,
and this made him feel pretty safe. The nearer Doctor Rabbit came to
the place where Chatty Squirrel was scolding, the louder sounded
Chatty's angry voice. Doctor Rabbit crept close, and slipped into a
briar patch. Not more than twenty feet away, lying on the ground as
still as if he were dead, was Brushtail the Fox. But he did not fool
Doctor Rabbit in the least. Doctor Rabbit knew instantly what
Brushtail wanted: he wanted Chatty Squirrel.
Because Brushtail lay so still and paid not the least attention to his
scolding, Chatty Squirrel became really puzzled. He stopped scolding
and said to himself, "Now I wonder if that old scamp _is_ dead. He
certainly lies there very still, anyway. I believe I'll just slip down
on the ground for a minute and see. If he's just playing dead, he'll
come after me when I get on the ground. Then I'll know for sure, and
I'll go back up the tree in a hurry."
Chatty Squirrel scrambled down the tree, and as soon as he reached the
ground he began scolding Brushtail the Fox. He thought, of course,
that this would make Brushtail jump up if he were only playing dead;
but Brushtail paid no attention to Chatty. He lay as still as a dead
fox. Chatty Squirrel ran a little way toward him, but was afraid to
venture far. Just then he happened to see Doctor Rabbit hiding under
the briar patch, motioning for him to come over, and looking as though
he knew something very funny.
There happened to be another tree by the briar patch, so Chatty
Squirrel sprang right over to see what Doctor Rabbit wanted. Doctor
Rabbit whispered something in Chatty's ear, and then they chuckled
softly to themselves. The more Chatty thought about what Doctor Rabbit
had said, the more he laughed--not very loudly, of course, because he
did not want Brushtail the Fox to hear.
"Hurry along now before he gets up!" Doctor Rabbit whispered, and away
ran Chatty Squirrel back to the tree he had left. Chatty scrambled
back up the tree in a hurry, and began scolding Brushtail louder than
ever. He did not say a word about Doctor Rabbit, of course; he just
went right on scolding as if nothing had happened.
Now Brushtail the Fox was not dead, and as he lay there very still he
thought every minute Chatty Squirrel's curiosity would get the better
of him and Chatty would come down the tree and close enough so that he
could pounce upon him. But Chatty did just exactly what Doctor Rabbit
had told him to do.
"I wish," he said aloud, "that I knew whether Mr. Fox is really dead.
He lies so still I believe he is, and if he lies there much longer I
shall have to go down and see. Yes, I'll have to go down and poke him
and see!"
Brushtail the Fox could scarcely keep from smacking his lips when
Chatty said this, but he did not move, of course. He lay perfectly
still, not even winking an eye, for he was very hungry, and he hoped
Chatty Squirrel would decide to hurry and come down.
And all the time that Chatty Squirrel up in the tree was scolding,
Doctor Rabbit was working at something in the near-by thicket. Chatty,
you see, was going to keep Brushtail's attention until Doctor Rabbit
played a good joke on old Brushtail.