Doctor Rabbit and Brushtail the Fox.

by Thomas Clark Hinkle.

BRUSHTAIL THE FOX COMES TO THE BIG GREEN WOODS

Doctor Rabbit and Cheepy Chipmunk were sitting in Doctor Rabbit's front yard talking. They laughed a good deal as they talked, for it was a lovely morning in the beautiful Big Green Woods, and everyone felt happy.

Finally jolly Doctor Rabbit said he believed he would run over to the big sycamore tree to eat some more of the tender blue gra.s.s that grew there. It seemed as if he could eat there all day and all night, he said, because that gra.s.s was so good. Cheepy Chipmunk said he was getting hungry again too, and he guessed he would be going home to eat the fresh ear of corn he had found that morning.

Cheepy Chipmunk got up and was starting away, when Doctor Rabbit seized him and said in a low, frightened whisper that scared Cheepy half to death, "Come back and sit down and keep as still as anything.

Look out there, will you!"

Very badly startled, Cheepy Chipmunk came back and sat down, and his eyes followed Doctor Rabbit's eyes. Cheepy saw an animal such as he had never seen before. This animal looked somewhat like a dog, but Cheepy knew right away he was no dog. He was not quite so large as Ki-yi Coyote, and was of a reddish-brown color, with a large, bushy tail. The animal was walking along under the trees not far away, and did not even look in the direction of Doctor Rabbit and little Cheepy Chipmunk.

But, although he could not tell why, Cheepy knew at once that that reddish-brown animal walking along out there under the trees was very dangerous to chipmunks and rabbits and any number of other little animals. Yes, sir, Cheepy Chipmunk was dreadfully frightened at once, for he was certain his life and the lives of Stubby Woodchuck, Chatty Red Squirrel and all his other friends were in great danger. But he had never seen such an animal before, so of course he did not know what it was.

While Doctor Rabbit and Cheepy Chipmunk looked, the strange animal walked along just as if he were not interested in anything. He did not even look toward Doctor Rabbit and Cheepy Chipmunk. This fooled innocent Cheepy, and he whispered to Doctor Rabbit, "He has not seen us; let's slip into your house! I don't want him to catch sight of us."

"Keep right still!" Doctor Rabbit whispered in reply. "Just sit still.

Yes, he has seen us--don't you fool yourself about that. But he knows well enough he can't catch us now. He's made up his mind he'll wait until he gets a better chance. But we won't let him know we see him.

We'll have to try to deceive him at every turn. Yes, sir, Cheepy, we've got to watch out every minute now; we certainly have. He's one of the most cunning animals there is. I'm sorry he's come into our woods."

Cheepy Chipmunk was so frightened that his teeth were chattering as he asked, "Who is he?"

"He's Brushtail the Fox," Doctor Rabbit said. "I saw him a number of times in the woods up along the Deep River where I used to live. We'll see more of him--we can count on that. And now, Friend Cheepy, you must stay right here at my house until we are sure Brushtail has stopped watching us out of the corner of his eye."

CHATTY RED SQUIRREL IS HEARD SCOLDING LOUDLY

Doctor Rabbit was right. Brushtail the Fox had seen exactly who was in Doctor Rabbit's front yard, but he did not act as if he knew there was any one within a mile of him. No, he just kept right on walking slowly under the trees. And then all of a sudden Chatty Red Squirrel almost made him look up. Chatty was high up in a big hackberry tree, and from this safe perch he scolded Brushtail as loudly as he could.

"Get out of these woods!" Chatty Squirrel shouted angrily. "You have no right in here. You are just sneaking around trying to catch somebody. But you can't. I won't let you. I'll tell on you. Look here, everybody. Here is old Brushtail the Fox. I know you, Mr. Brushtail.

I've seen you before in the woods up along the Deep River. Look out, everybody! Brushtail is around. He's right under this tree, right this minute. I can see him. Look out for Mr. Brushtail! Here he is!"

Well, Doctor Rabbit and Cheepy Chipmunk watched and listened while Chatty Squirrel scolded Brushtail the Fox so loudly. But Brushtail paid no attention whatever to Chatty. The fact was that he did hear every word Chatty Squirrel said and he was pretty angry about it, too, because you see he did not want all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods to know he was around. He wanted to get one or two of them for breakfast before they even dreamed he was anywhere near.

But even if he was angry, Brushtail knew, of course, that he could not climb that tree after Chatty Squirrel, so he just ground his teeth and walked on. He decided that he would make Chatty pay for this, indeed he would. He would catch him the very first of all. And so as Doctor Rabbit and Cheepy Chipmunk looked and listened, Brushtail, without saying a word, walked on and finally slipped out of sight among some leafy bushes.

"I'm going home this minute!" Cheepy Chipmunk exclaimed, his voice trembling with fear; and away he went for his stump as fast as he could run.

After Cheepy had gone, Doctor Rabbit said to himself, "Well, I do declare! So Brushtail the Fox has found the Big Green Woods, and likely enough intends to live here. If he does we'll certainly all have to watch out every minute. Indeed we will. I'm glad Chatty Squirrel is scolding so loudly. Perhaps our friends will all hear and be on the lookout."

Chatty Squirrel, who had followed along in the branches of the trees and kept sight of slinky Brushtail, was now heard quite a distance away, scolding louder than ever.

"I wonder what Chatty is scolding about out there now," Doctor Rabbit said. "It sounds as if he were still talking to Brushtail. Perhaps Brushtail has stopped out there, and possibly he has caught something and is eating it. I'm going to slip out that way and see. I'll take the path that leads past several briar patches, and if Mr. Fox runs for me I'll just slip into a briar patch. If he tries to follow me in there he knows what he'll get. He'll get his eyes scratched out with the briars. My, how Chatty is scolding! He's scolding Brushtail, too.

Brushtail must be doing something unusual or Chatty would not talk so excitedly."

BRUSHTAIL THE FOX PLAYS "POSSUM"

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.

BRUSHTAIL GETS A SCARE

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.