"Never again, not if I live to be as old as an elephant, and Mr. Crow declares that elephants stay and stay alive till the hills grow to be mountains, will I ever be so foolish as to take part in any silly thing simply because of being afraid to say that I don't dare stick my nose in where it doesn't belong. A fellow like me, who is moving about through the big woods a good deal, and who keeps his ears and eyes wide open, is certain to learn a good many things in the course of his life, and since Bobby c.o.o.n led me on that terrible chase, I have come to understand that it is folly, not bravery, to venture into danger simply for the sake of trying to prove that a fellow isn't afraid, when way down in his heart he knows that he is scared nearly out of his wits.

"All the members of the club say I'm the biggest coward to be found anywhere around, and suppose I am? Isn't it better to let the matter go at that than for me to prove myself foolish as well by doing what I know I've got no business to do? Of course it is; but I wasn't as wise when Bobby c.o.o.n declared he'd ramble all over Mr. Man's farm, while all of us knew that Dog Towser would be on watch as soon as the sun went down, and instead of saying that I wouldn't have anything to do with such folly, I made it look as if I were aching to be just as foolish as he was showing himself to be.

"I'm thinking that if Jimmy Hedgehog had minded his own business, poor Bobby would have come to realize that the farm wasn't any place for him, especially after he'd played such a trick on Mr. Man; but Jimmy must needs keep on telling me how brave Bobby was, and making the talk only to keep the poor fellow up to what he'd said he'd do. Do you know, that silly c.o.o.n strutted around, throwing his chest 'way out, and telling what he'd do if Mr. Towser interfered with him, when we all know that he couldn't go up against one of that dog's paws. Once I got him away from Jimmy, and tried to show him that he would still be running the biggest kind of chances even if he contrived to sneak around the place without Mr. Towser's smelling him; but he had the bravery business on his mind and it was a clear waste of breath to say anything.

"I can tell you that I was trembling all over mighty bad when the sun went down; but yet I didn't dare go back home as I ought to have done, for fear Jimmy and Bobby would tell at the club that I'd shown myself a coward, so I waited with those two till it was real dark, and then Jimmy said, bristling up his quills to make himself look like the fiercest thing on feet:

"'Now's your time, Bobby. Get on to your job, and show the wood folks that you've got the good old c.o.o.n blood in your veins!'

"Just for a minute I hoped Bobby would back out, for he sniffed in the wind quite a spell until Jimmy, beginning to fear that he wasn't going to have the fun he'd laid out for himself, began to laugh in a mighty disagreeable way as he said:

"'If I'd thought you were only bragging when you told about rambling over the farm, I wouldn't have wasted my time around here.'

"'You didn't get any brag from me,' poor Bobby said, his voice trembling as if he wanted to cry. 'I'm going to do just as I allowed, and you two fellows want to follow me close, so's to make certain I wipe up the earth with Mr. Towser, if he has the nerve to show himself where I am.'

"Did you ever hear anything so foolish as that? A c.o.o.n allowing that he could get away with a dog like Mr. Towser! I had to follow when Bobby started; but I made out that I couldn't travel very fast owing to my left hind foot's being sore, and you'd better believe that I didn't try very hard to get a front place in the procession, though I could have run all around Bobby and Jimmy if I'd tried. You can set it down under your collar that I took good care to smell my way along mighty cautious, 'cause I wasn't aching to come up against anything that outcla.s.sed me.

"Well, Bobby kept straight on, heading for Mr. Man's barn, and I knew enough about the lay of the land to see that he'd strike the farm pretty near to where Mr. Towser's house stood, so my feet got sorer and sorer till, before we were very far from the bushes, it was about as much as I could do to hop. Jimmy kept egging Bobby on, and this took up his attention so much that he didn't give any heed to me for quite a spell, when I heard him whispering:

"'Come on, Bunny; do you want to miss all the fun?'

"It was on my tongue's end to tell him that all the fun we'd be likely to have that night would be what we might get out of seeing poor Bobby killed; but I thought we'd soon be having trouble enough without my trying to stir up any more just then, so I said, talking as if it were all I could do to keep from crying:

"'If your tongue was aching same as my foot is, you couldn't even yip.'

"Then I hung back a little more, and it seemed as if poor Bobby must have run ahead considerably faster, for in another minute I heard Mr.

Towser growling furiously, and at the same time came a squeak which told for a certainty that Bobby c.o.o.n had come to an end of his rambling. That dog must have got the scent of us while we were a long distance away, and laid low till all he had to do was snap his teeth together on Bobby's back.

"There was no chance for Bobby to play the same trick that had fooled Mr. Man, for I'm allowing he didn't have time to do more than let out the squeak we'd heard before he was really and truly dead. He had shown Jimmy and me that he dared to ramble around the farm; but how much had he gained by it? Why, there isn't a member of the club who doesn't say that he deserved to be killed for making such a simpleton of himself, though according to my idea, Jimmy Hedgehog is the one who ought to have got the worst of that mix-up.

"Well, the killing of poor Bobby didn't satisfy Mr. Towser. He had the scent of us, and after giving what was left of Bobby a toss in the air to make certain there was no life left in any of the pieces, he came for us at full tilt, thinking to make a clean job of the party. You can put it down as a fact that my left hind foot got well mighty quick just then, and without waiting to see how Jimmy was getting along, I lit out, knowing I was up against the race of my life.

"As nearly as I can make out, Mr. Towser must have come afoul of Jimmy when he first started for me, and you can put it down in your hat that that hedgehog knew how to take care of himself, even if he did egg others into danger, so I suppose that he rolled himself into a ball with all his quills sticking straight up. Then you can guess that the dog didn't do much smelling of that p.r.i.c.kly bunch, for he's n.o.body's fool; but, after looking at it a minute, turned all his attention to me.

"Now it's a fact that Jimmy wouldn't do me a good turn if he had the chance; but this time he surely saved my life by being just where he was, for if Mr. Towser hadn't stopped he'd surely caught me on the meadow where there isn't the least little bit of a chance to dodge.

Even as it was, I had to move my feet mighty fast in order to keep ahead of him, and when we came to the edge of the woods I was leading by four or five lengths, with the odds big in my favor because of the bushes. But I had to keep on moving all the time, just the same, and was precious near being winded when, slaperty, bang! I fell into a hole, nearly sc.r.a.ping the skin from one ear as I struck the bottom.

"You'd thought that I'd naturally have chuckled mightily at giving Mr. Towser the slip so neatly; but it's a fact that I felt really ashamed, for it did seem ridiculous that one of my family would fall into a hole while running. Where was I? Well, if you'll believe it, I'd struck Grandfather Fox's hole, and he wasn't at home on account of having his hide nailed up on Mr. Man's barn, so there I was all by my lonesome, with Mr. Towser scratching gravel at a great rate; but I knew he could wear his claws way down to the flesh before getting in, for Grandfather Fox knew how to dig a house that would protect him from dogs.

"I didn't have to wait so very long before Mr. Towser got tired of scratching, and then I crept out, counting on going straight home, for it stood to reason that Mrs. Bunny and Sonny Bunny would be worried because I'd been away so long; but before I'd taken half a dozen hops whom should I hear calling me but Cheeko's oldest boy.

"'You're to go straight up to the club, Mr. Rabbit,' he said when I stopped short to look over my left shoulder for luck. 'Mr. Crow has called a meeting right away, and all the members of both sections are expected to be on hand. Bobby c.o.o.n is dead, and old Mr. Slowly Turtle is ready to swear that he heard Jimmy Hedgehog stumping the poor fellow to tackle Mr. Towser.'

"When I got to the big oak it seemed as if every member of the club was waiting for me, and I felt really bashful when the president croaked:

"'Here comes Mr. Rabbit, and now we shall be able to get at the truth of the matter, for even though he hasn't very much courage, he will always tell the truth.'

"Just think of that! It was the same as being called a coward after all I'd done to prevent it, and if I'd behaved myself in the first place, poor Bobby might have been alive at that very minute! Yes, Jimmy Hedgehog was there, and you could see that he was feeling mighty grouchy, for he'd rolled himself into a ball, with his quills sticking out in every direction. I could just see the tip of his nose and one eye, and by the way he looked at me I knew he was practically threatening to serve me out if I should say anything he didn't like.

"Mr. Crow didn't give me any chance to look around after he saw me eyeing Jimmy, for he called me up to the foot of the tree, and all hands crowded near, as if I were the fellow who was having a trial, instead of being only a witness.

"'It has been reported to me as the president of this club that you heard young Hedgehog urging Bobby c.o.o.n to trifle with Mr. Towser, by doing which he lost his life. You are accused of being in Mr. c.o.o.n's company at the time, and those who saw you claim that you did not even so much as raise your voice against the advice which Jimmy Hedgehog was giving his cousin. We demand from you a straightforward account of the whole matter, for, as members of the Fur and Feather Club, it is our duty to learn if one member has acted toward another member in an unbrotherly fashion.'

"You might have knocked me down with a feather by the time Mr. Crow finished his long-winded speech. I wasn't so blind but that I could see Jimmy wasn't the only one who would get it warm, and yet I give you my solemn word I hadn't the slightest idea of telling anything but the honest truth. I got up on my hind legs to answer the president, when Mr. Jay shouted, excitedly:

"'Look out for your skins! Here comes that disreputable Professor Hawk!'"

Mr. Bunny had no more than ceased speaking as if to take a long breath, when the Professor sailed slowly by, and the story-teller watched curiously until he had disappeared from view in the distance.

CHAPTER XIII

DISCIPLINING JIMMY

"I just wish I could wring that old fellow's neck!" Mr. Bunny cried angrily as he shook one paw in the direction of Professor Hawk, who was slowly circling around with his eyes apparently fixed on Mr.

Rabbit. "'Squire Owl, the old one as well as the young one, is about as bad a bird as we members of the Fur section care to meet; but yet I think that old pirate is worse than all the Owl family put together, for the 'Squire's folks can't do much mischief except in the night, and the Hawk gang are at it all the time.

"Of course I couldn't wring his neck even if I got a good hold with all four paws, because he can give a fellow a terrible drubbing with his wings; but if I were strong enough, and could bite as Butcher Weasel can, I'd give him all he wanted, even if I had to spend my time, night and day, for a week in order to do it. More than twenty times I've torn my coat mighty badly through jumping into a thorn bush to get out of that fellow's way, and such sort of business gets tiresome after a while.

"The worst part of Professor Hawk, so far as we members of the Fur section are concerned, is that his eyes are so sharp. He can sail around in the sky so high up that a fellow can't see him, and yet keep a mighty good watch on all that takes place beneath him! Fly! He can beat any bird I know of at that way of getting around, and when he drops down for a young rabbit or a squirrel, the chances are that it's good-bye then.

"Of course it doesn't do any good for me to sit here and scold about the Professor; he'll keep on at his murderous business just as long as there are animals in the big woods for him to eat, so I'll get on with the story I was trying to tell when he stuck his beak in where it didn't belong. Just keep your eye out for the old fellow, for it wouldn't bother him a bit to pick me off this log with you sitting close by, and call it a good joke.

"Let me see--I'd come to where the club meeting was broken up by the Professor, and I'd gone into a thorn bush head first. Well, you can set it down as a fact that I wasn't in any hurry about coming out from cover till the word had been given that he had gone, and even then I took good care to have a sharp look around before showing even so much as the end of my nose. I was the last one out, and when I hopped through the bushes Jimmy Hedgehog set up a great shout about my being the biggest coward of the crowd. What was the use of answering him back? It wasn't because of being so terribly brave that he stayed out in the open while all the other members of the club were hunting for cover; but he knew that so long as he was rolled into a ball, with his quills sticking out in every direction, the Professor wouldn't dare to meddle with him.

"I'm thinking one reason why he made so much noise about my being a coward was that he hoped to make the others forget they had met to overhaul him for egging poor Bobby on to his death. If that was the scheme in his mind, it didn't work, for in less than half a minute after I showed myself, Mr. Crow got right down to business, and it wasn't so very long before all hands knew the story as well as I did.

Mr. Blue Jay perched himself on the very top of the oak tree, where he could sound the alarm in case the Professor showed himself again, and Cheeko's oldest child was stationed in a bush at the edge of the clearing to give warning if Butcher Weasel came sneaking along, so we weren't afraid of being taken by surprise.

"Some of the animals say that Mr. Crow doesn't know as much as he tries to make out; but he was sharp enough to get in all the facts concerning the murder of poor Bobby, and when the matter was ended every member of the club knew just who was to blame for what had happened over on the farm. More than once while I was answering the question the president asked, Jimmy wrinkled up his nose at me, as much as to say that he would serve me out for telling tales on him; but I couldn't help myself, could I? They called me a coward, and perhaps there's some truth in what they say, but I'll never give one of them the right to say I'm a liar and that's what could have been said if I hadn't told the story just as it was.

"Well, after the trial was over, Mr. Crow hopped to the very tiptoppest branch of the tree and gave out what I suppose you'd call the sentence. He said that Jimmy Hedgehog wasn't to be considered a member of the club till he'd shown plainly and positively that he was sorry because he had urged Bobby to go where Mr. Towser was, and that while he was deprived of the club privileges, no member would be allowed so much as to speak to him. More than that, he wasn't to put his paw anywhere near the big oak. It was that part of it which seemed to make Jimmy more angry than anything else, and he cried out, as he actually shook his fist at the president:

"'I'd like to know how you can stop me from coming near this blooming old tree in case I take a notion to hover round? I'll have you know, Jim Crow, that you don't dare to lay the weight of your wings on me, 'less you want to be filled so full of quills that you'd have to draw your breath crosswise! Do you think I won't come here if I feel like it? You make me tired with your club talk, and the sooner you take my name off the list the better I'll be pleased!'

"Then Jimmy shook himself till his quills rattled, and looked around to see if any members of the Fur section were going to call him to account for what he had said; but I noticed that he was all ready to roll himself into a ball at the first move that might be made toward him. Of course, it mixed us all up to have such talk as that right in meeting; but there wasn't any use in making a row with a fellow you couldn't hit on account of his quills, so no one said anything, though I noticed that Mr. Crow hopped about mighty lively, which showed how angry he was.

"Jimmy swelled around a few minutes, shaking himself every once in a while as if he were the only thing of any account in the big woods, and then off he strutted, looking over his shoulder now and then to learn if any one had the nerve to follow him. You could have heard a nut drop just so long as he was in sight; but when it was certain he couldn't hear what was said all hands began to talk about what ought to be done with a fellow who had made himself so disagreeable.

"'Leave him to me,' Mr. Crow said in his very youngest voice as soon as it was possible to make himself heard. 'I want you to understand that I'm not any b.u.mp on a log, and before I'm through with Jimmy Hedgehog he'll wish he'd kept his tongue between his teeth. I'm the president of this club, and there isn't any ordinary-sized member of the Fur section who can bulldoze me.'

"It almost frightened me to hear the president speak in that way, for, while I haven't any love for Jimmy, it made me feel rather bad to think how tough it would be for him when Mr. Crow started out on his trail. Every one of the wood folks seemed to think that something more than suspending him from the club should be done to the member who had spoken out in meeting as Jimmy had, and while they were telling Mr.

Crow what he ought to do I slipped off, for I knew that Mrs. Bunny was probably getting a bit angry because I'd been away from home so long.

"Now do you know, it never came into my head that Jimmy Hedgehog would try to do me a bad turn because I had told what he said to poor Bobby.

I had to answer the questions which the president asked, or I'd sure been brought up with a round turn, and I never said a word more than just enough to satisfy Mr. Crow; but for all that it seems Jimmy had it in for me good and hot.