Of course Doctor Rabbit was greatly disappointed when Brushtail the
Fox discovered that there was a trap set in the sand, because he had
thought surely Brushtail would be caught. Then, after Brushtail had
gone away, Doctor Rabbit suddenly thought of something. Yes, sir! It
came to him in an instant--a plan to get rid of Brushtail the Fox!
And the plan was suggested to Doctor Rabbit by Brushtail's remark,
"Perhaps some foolish animal will drag that head away and hide it.
Then I'll just help myself."
Well, as soon as it was daylight, Doctor Rabbit hurried right over to
Jack Rabbit's, told him what his plan was, and brought Jack Rabbit
back with him. Then Doctor Rabbit hurried around through the Big Green
Woods telling his friends. He told Stubby Woodchuck, Cheepy Chipmunk,
Chatty Red Squirrel, Frisky Grey Squirrel, Robin-the-Red, O. Possum,
busy Blue Jay, Jim Crow, and quite a number of others. He asked them
all to come about the middle of the forenoon to the place where Farmer
Roe had placed the cow's head, as he would need every one of them at
about that time.
Immediately Doctor Rabbit and Jack Rabbit hurried away toward Farmer
Roe's back lot. They squeezed under a board fence and began looking
for something.
"Here it is!" Doctor Rabbit said, picking up a stout piece of rope
that had been part of a clothes-line.
"I knew it was in here somewhere," Jack Rabbit said, "for I saw it
just yesterday."
"Now," said Doctor Rabbit, "let's go back to the woods and find that
slim hickory tree that has a grapevine hanging from the top."
They ran into the woods, and after a little search found the hickory.
They hid the rope they had found and hurried over to the cow's head in
the sand. There they found all the other little creatures. After a
great deal of very careful work, Doctor Rabbit, Jack Rabbit, and O.
Possum managed to get the cow's head outside the circle of traps. Then
every one of Doctor Rabbit's friends helped to pull and push the cow's
head. It was a queer procession!
After quite a while they succeeded in pushing and pulling the cow's
head to the slim hickory tree. Doctor Rabbit told them now to push it
into a near-by thicket, and they did.