Of course Doctor Rabbit was greatly surprised to see Mrs. Brushtail in
the thicket. And still, after he thought about it, he was not so
surprised either. You see, it was spring and just the time of year for
Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail to find themselves a new home if they needed
one.
Mrs. Brushtail stood there looking about in every direction with her
sharp eyes. Then she gave a great spring and landed on the limb of the
fallen tree. She walked along the limb until she came to the end of
it, and then jumped, as Brushtail had done, as far out as she could,
only Mrs. Brushtail did not jump _toward_ the thicket, she jumped away
from it. She stood again looking all around and listening for a
minute, then trotted away through the woods toward Farmer Roe's, and
was soon out of sight.
Doctor Rabbit thought to himself, "Mrs. Brushtail is going over to the
edge of the woods nearest to Farmer Roe's. She's going to hide there
and see if some foolish hen doesn't come out into the woods to hunt
bugs and grasshoppers."
And he made up his mind that as long as he was safe he would just wait
where he was and see if Mrs. Brushtail would come back.
Well, he did not have to wait very long. As he sat in the briar patch
listening, he heard a terrible cackling over toward the edge of the
woods nearest Farmer Roe's. It sounded as if chickens were very much
frightened and were running in every direction. In a short time Doctor
Rabbit saw Mrs. Brushtail coming through the woods. And sure enough,
she had one of Farmer Roe's big white hens in her mouth.
Mrs. Brushtail held the hen by the neck, and after making a wide
circle and jumping to one side as far as she could she came to the
fallen tree. When she looked up at the high limb she seemed puzzled.
You see, she could not jump so high with the hen. But she was pretty
wise. She laid the hen upon the trunk of the tree, then jumped upon
the limb above, and reaching down, picked up the hen and walked out
along the limb toward the leafy thicket. Then she sprang into the
thicket and disappeared.
How Doctor Rabbit did want to see the inside of that thicket! And what
made him all the more curious was that he was certain he heard a
number of growls after Mrs. Brushtail disappeared in there. And the
growls did not sound like Mrs. Brushtail's voice, or like Brushtail's
either.
Yes, sir, there was something very interesting going on in that
thicket, and Doctor Rabbit made up his mind he must see what it was,
if possible. He wondered where Brushtail was. Doctor Rabbit disliked
to go any nearer the thicket unless he knew where that sly old fox
was.
"But," he said to himself, "likely enough Mr. Brushtail is in the
thicket with Mrs. Brushtail and is helping her eat that chicken.
Anyway, it's only a little distance to that tree with a hole in the
base and a lot of prickly vines around it. I'm going to run for it!
The distance is so short that Brushtail would not have time to get me
even if he saw me. I'll get to the tree, and if Brushtail should come
after me I'll run into the hole at the base of the tree. I'll find out
about old Brushy before he knows it. And the first thing they know
they will be going out of these woods in a hurry. But I must be very,
very careful. I should say I must! I must watch every second. My, how
those animals in that thicket do growl! It sounds almost as if they
were quarreling."