TOMMY PEELE’S FRIENDS STAND UP FOR HIM
Of course Nibble Rabbit wouldn’t eat the pile of meal Tommy Peele left
for Doctor Muskrat.
But he thought he was going to have a terrible time to keep all those
foolish young muskrats, who were scuttling round in the marsh trying
to start their spring love affairs, from doing it. He forgot that
everything around the place where Tommy had set it still smelled of
the little boy and his dog. So not another beast dared come near it.
Chaik the Jay and Chewee the Chickadee stole a few beakfuls, but
Nibble knew Doctor Muskrat wouldn’t mind that. And he wanted company.
So he told them all about how Tommy had caught the doctor and let him
go again. And how Tommy had thrown away the trap.
Chaik raised and lowered his crest, just as we sometimes do our
eyebrows, when we’re puzzled about anything. “He was lucky,” Chaik
said. “I’ve seen beasts suffer in a trap for whole days before they
died. And I never heard of any before that got out of one alive. I
believe that human is queer. Sometimes I think he’s trying to think
the way we woods folk do.”
“I know it,” chimed in Chewee. “When it was so terribly cold I was
having an awful time. The ice had frozen over the cones so I couldn’t
even pick a living among the pine trees. And do you know what he did?
He tied a big lump of fat pork away out on the end of a springy
branch, so that fat house cat couldn’t reach it. Just for me! Wasn’t
that clever” And he began hopping about in the excited way he has
whenever he gets to talking.
“Well, he most certainly is trying to make friends with us,” Nibble
observed. “Only catching us in traps isn’t a very comfortable way of
doing it. You fellows will have to help me convince Doctor Muskrat.”
Help! He needed it. It was two whole days before the doctor poked his
head out of the hole where Watch had smashed the crumbly ice. The wise
old beast wasn’t using his front door any more.
“Come on,” called Nibble cheerfully. “See what Tommy Peele left you to
say he was sorry he bit you.”
“Not I,” growled the doctor. “I’ve had enough of his jaws.” He spread
out his paddle paw. The good roots he stores in his medicine chest had
nearly healed it, but his little toe was gone. “I’m going to move away
as soon as I can travel.”
“Don’t do that,” pleaded Nibble. “If he bit your foot you certainly
bit his. Now he doesn’t mean ever to use those jaws again. He threw
them into that very hole.”
Pop! Down went the doctor to have a look. And his face was mighty
surprised when it popped up again. “It’s the truth!” he said. “Those
jaws are biting the mud. We needn’t worry so long as we can keep an
eye on them. Nibble, I’ll just dip a whisker into that present Tommy
Peele left for me!”
And he liked the meal quite as well as Nibble had—better, in fact. “I
tell you what, Nibble,” he said as he stopped for breath, “this was
mighty thoughtful of that Man. Now I wonder if he knew that I couldn’t
dig or swim with my paw hurting me, because his paw was hurting him? I
hope not.”
And that was very nice of him, because it was all Tommy’s fault in the
beginning. Tommy had deliberately set that trap.
Chaik the Jay swallowed such a big beakful of meal that he had to
crane his neck over it; then he blinked very seriously because Nibble
was giggling at him. “Do you s’pose we could all trust Tommy the way
Nibble can if we all were friends with him?” he demanded.
“Of course, of course!” chirped the enthusiastic Chickadee.
“Hm!” sniffed old Doctor Muskrat a bit gruffly, “that sounds very well
from you birds. You have wings so you can fly away from him.”
“Certainly,” Chaik retorted, “but I’ve never seen him swim.”
“Hmm, hmm!” the doctor snorted again. And he hitched himself on his
three sound legs over to a big stone that had grown warm in the sun
and spread himself out flat like a small furry rug. He meant to think
it over. But he felt so comfortable and full that he fell into a
snooze.
Nibble was snoozing, too, snuggled up beside him, but he awoke when he
heard Tommy’s tall rubber boots splattering through the slush. His
father had put a patch on the hole, when he was mending an automobile
tire, so it was as good as ever. Nibble nudged the doctor and then
hurried over to greet Tommy, jumping the splashiest puddles and
pattering right through the little ones because he didn’t want his
friend to think Chaik and Chewee were the only ones who’d take the
trouble. And Tommy took an ear of corn out of his pocket and shared it
between them.
Then Tommy ordered Watch to stay back while he tried to speak to
Doctor Muskrat. And the old doctor didn’t flash right into the
water—as he really meant to. He sat up, holding his poor paw in front
of him, and squinted his eyes to get a good look at the little boy. He
didn’t even jump when Tommy laid down the other ear of corn, nor when
Watch came sneaking disobediently up behind him because he wanted to
poke his nose into what was going on. For Tommy caught him by the fur
and pointed that inquisitive nose straight at the doctor. “There,” he
ordered, “take a good smell so you’ll know him again. That’s my
muskrat!”
And Nibble was so pleased he took a leap and kicked his furry heels so
high that Tommy laughed at him. “You’re safe! You’re safe!” he
rejoiced. “Isn’t it almost worth being caught for?”
[Illustration: Tommy’s tall rubber boots spattered through the slush.]
And Doctor Muskrat considered his sore paw and then he considered the
little boy. And he looked very thoughtful.