The Tale of Nimble Deer | Page 5

warned him. "Two
seconds' delay might be fatal," she added solemnly. "If we hear a twig
snap you mustn't stop to look nor listen."
"Yes!" said Nimble. But ten minutes later he couldn't have repeated a
word that his mother said--except that they were going to start for the
garden when the moon rose. That much he told Jimmy Rabbit when he
met him in the woods a little while afterward. And Jimmy Rabbit
agreed to get the news, somehow, to Fatty Coon and Cuffy Bear.
He was as good as his promise--even better. For Jimmy told everybody
he met that day. He explained about the excursion to the garden patch
and said that every one must be ready to start just as the moon peeped
over the rim of the world, for Nimble Deer's mother wouldn't wait for
anybody that wasn't on hand.
Nimble found that day a long one. He was so eager to get a carrot
between his lips that he thought night would never come. But darkness
fell at last. And some hours later his mother said to him, "Are you
ready?"
He was. So together they passed silently along the old runway which
led, as his mother knew, to the pasture fence. The woods were inky
black, for the moon had not yet risen. But Nimble's mother remarked
that she thought they would see it when they reached the open hillside.
Just before they came to the fence somebody spoke. Nimble's mother
jumped when somebody cried, "Good evening!" But she knew at once
that it was only Jimmy Rabbit.
"I see you're on time," he said. "I haven't been waiting long."
"Waiting?" Nimble's mother exclaimed. "Waiting for what?"
"For you!" he answered. "I heard you were going down to the garden

patch to-night; and I'm to be one of the party."
The good lady thought it queer. How did Jimmy Rabbit happen to have
heard of the excursion? She couldn't imagine. But he was a harmless
little fellow. Really she didn't mind having him go with her.
"Very well!" she told him. "But remember: You must be quiet!" And
she was just about to walk up to the fence when she gave a searching
look all around. "Bless me!" she muttered. "I never saw so many eyes
in all my life. Who are all these people?"
It was no wonder she asked that question. For no matter where she
turned, pairs of eyes burned in the darkness.
Strangely enough, nobody answered. Jimmy Rabbit didn't say a word.
And as for Nimble, he didn't seem to hear--nor understand--anything
his mother said.
"I repeat," she spoke again, "who are these people? Why have they
gathered here? The woods aren't afire, are they?" And she lifted her
nose and sniffed at the air. But she could find no trace of smoke.
Somehow Nimble began to feel ill at ease. He edged away from his
mother and tried to hide behind Jimmy Rabbit. And that was a
ridiculous thing to do; because Nimble was ever so much the bigger of
the two.
Presently his mother gave him a sharp look. And then he, too, raised his
muzzle and sniffed.
"I don't smell any smoke," he stammered.
"Do you know why there's such a crowd here?" she asked him sternly.
"I think," he said, "they expect to go to the garden patch with us."
And his mother wondered, then, why she hadn't guessed the secret
instantly.

VI
AN UNEXPECTED PARTY
Nimble's mother's plans went all awry. She had expected to give her
son a treat by taking him quietly to Farmer Green's carrot patch, so that
he might have his first taste of carrots. So it wasn't strange that it upset
her a bit when she found that there were dozens of other forest folk all
ready and waiting to go along with them. One extra member of the
party wouldn't have displeased her, especially when that one was
Jimmy Rabbit. But she had never gone near the farm buildings with
more than two others. And she didn't intend to break her rule now.
Besides, it annoyed her above all to know that her son had spread the
news of the excursion far and wide.
"Did you invite these people?" she asked Nimble in a low voice.
"No! Oh, no!"
"Then what brings them here?" she demanded.
"Their legs, I suppose," he replied.
"Be careful!" she said. "Be very careful!"
Then Nimble began to whine. And that was something he almost never
did.
"They said they'd like to come," he told his mother. "And I said maybe
you wouldn't mind."
"Well, I do mind," she declared firmly. "When I take a child to the
carrot patch for the first time I don't want company. One of this crowd
is more than likely