Doctor Rabbit and Brushtail the Fox | Page 7

down. He decided that if necessary he would stay in the briar patch all day and watch. He knew Brushtail the Fox had some kind of a secret in that thicket--a den or something--else he never would have been so careful about getting into it.
Doctor Rabbit waited for about two hours, and he was already getting tired when all of a sudden he sat as still as a stone. In fact, he sat so perfectly still that I doubt if you could have seen him even if you had been looking right at him.
The reason why Doctor Rabbit sat still so quickly was that he saw a movement in the leafy thicket. Presently the bushes parted, and who do you suppose came out? No, it was not Brushtail--it was Mrs. Brushtail! And now Doctor Rabbit knew exactly why Brushtail had been so careful about getting into that thicket. It was Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail's home. And it was here, of course, that Farmer Roe's hens were disappearing, and this was where Doctor Rabbit and Stubby Woodchuck and all their friends would go if they didn't watch out! Yes, sir! This was where a great many of the little creatures of the Big Green Woods would disappear if Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail did not leave. While Doctor Rabbit was looking at Mrs. Brushtail she yawned, showing all of her long, sharp teeth. Although he was safe in the briar patch, Doctor Rabbit trembled. He was a little too close to old Mrs. Brushtail to feel quite comfortable.

MRS. BRUSHTAIL GETS A HEN
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