Now, this was what Doctor Rabbit was doing in the near-by thicket. He
gathered some moss, and rolled it into a big ball. Then he took a
bottle of medicine from his medicine case. The bottle had ammonia in
it--spirits of ammonia, it was--and Doctor Rabbit poured the
medicine all over and through the big ball of moss.
My, but that ammonia smelled strong! I should say it _did_ smell
strong. It was so strong, in fact, that Doctor Rabbit had to turn his
head partly away from the moss while he poured the medicine on it. Now
Doctor Rabbit had to be very, very careful. He picked up the ball of
moss in his front paws and walked toward Brushtail the Fox, who lay on
the ground with his eyes shut tight.
Chatty Squirrel kept up a very loud scolding as Doctor Rabbit slipped
up to Brushtail. Then when he was very near, Doctor Rabbit threw that
moss with all the terribly strong ammonia right on Brushtail's head
and over his nose. Brushtail got such a big whiff of the medicine that
he almost strangled. My, how he did jump and yell! He was terribly
scared, because he did not know for a minute what had happened.
Then he heard Chatty up on the limb laughing and shouting for joy.
Doctor Rabbit ran back to the edge of the thicket, and he was laughing
too. It certainly did look funny to see Brushtail the Fox standing and
staring at that moss as if he thought it was something alive.
When Brushtail saw that a joke had been played on him he was terribly
angry. He knew, of course, he could not get Chatty, so he made a rush
for Doctor Rabbit.
But Doctor Rabbit skipped into the thicket, picked up his medicine
case and shouted, "Good day, Mr. Fox! I guess you won't have Chatty
for breakfast! You'd better eat the moss ball."
And away Doctor Rabbit ran. In a twinkling he was out of sight in the
leafy woods.
Brushtail the Fox ran after Doctor Rabbit as fast as he could go, but
it was no use. He could not find him. Now it happened that Doctor
Rabbit had not gone far at all. He was not far from home, so he just
hid behind a big log. And he was watching Brushtail the Fox all the
time.
My! How he did jump and yell!
After a time Brushtail sat down and kept still. His sharp eyes,
however, were looking in every direction. He thought he might see
Doctor Rabbit by keeping quiet and looking about him.
Doctor Rabbit, as I have said, was so close to his home that he knew
he was safe, so he walked quietly from behind the log, holding his
medicine case and acting just as though he did not know that Brushtail
the Fox was anywhere about.
Brushtail quickly lay down and was as quiet as possible.
Then Doctor Rabbit stopped, looked back, and said pleasantly, "It's a
nice morning, Brushy."
That surely surprised Brushtail, but when he saw Doctor Rabbit's home
tree not far away, he knew he could not catch him. So he smiled and
said, "I've just been playing with you all the time. Do come on over
to my home, Neighbor Rabbit. I have something very fine there to show
you. We'll have some good times together."
"Ha! ha! ha!" wise Doctor Rabbit laughed, as he started toward his big
tree. "Yes," he continued, "I suppose you have some very cruel teeth
to show me, Mr. Brushtail, but I can see them quite as well as I care
to. Ha! ha! ha!" And Doctor Rabbit ran for his tree.
Brushtail ran after him, too, but Doctor Rabbit ran fast and reached
his home in safety. There he peeked out and saw Brushtail steal into
some bushes.