The Tale of Nimble Deer | Page 9

And
he turned away from the carrots, to go back and join Jimmy Rabbit. But
he hadn't gone far when he met Jimmy bounding along in a great hurry.
"Old dog Spot!" Jimmy Rabbit gasped as he whisked past Nimble.
"He's out to-night and he's coming this way."
In one leap Nimble sprang completely around and followed Jimmy
Rabbit across the meadow, up through the pasture and over the stone
wall into the woods. There they lost each other.

The next morning Nimble met his mother along the ridge that ran down
toward Cedar Swamp.
"I went down to the carrot patch last night," he told her. "And I must
say I don't see why you're so fond of carrots. They're not half as good
as some big green balls that I found in the garden. I call the carrot
leaves tough. But the big green balls have very tender leaves."
His mother gave him a queer look.
"Do you mean to tell me," she asked him, "that you ate only the leaves
of the carrots?"
"Why, yes!" said Nimble. "I saw nothing else to eat. There was no fruit
on them."
"Ho!" cried his mother. "You have to dig with your toes to reach the
carrots themselves. They're down in the ground. And to my mind
there's nothing any juicier and sweeter and tenderer than nice young
carrots, eaten by the light of the moon."
Nimble felt very foolish. And then he tossed his head and said lightly,
"Oh, well! It wouldn't have made any difference if I had dug the carrots
out of the dirt. They wouldn't have tasted right anyhow. For there was
no moon last night!"

XI
CUFFY AND THE CAVE
Nimble did not spend all his spare moments with the other Spike Horns.
Once in a while he met Cuffy Bear prowling about near the foot of
Blue Mountain. But Nimble never had a mock battle with Cuffy. Cuffy
Bear was a famous boxer. And in each of his paws he carried long
sharp claws. What if Cuffy should forget to pull in those claws
sometime, when he struck you a playful tap? Ah! That wouldn't be very
pleasant! This was what Nimble thought about the matter. So he never

butted Cuffy Bear nor pricked him with his spikes.
On the whole they found each other good company. Cuffy liked to see
Nimble jump. And Nimble liked to see Cuffy climb trees.
One day, late in the fall, that year when Nimble was a Spike Horn, he
strayed half way up the side of Blue Mountain. It was seldom that
Nimble wandered so far up the steep and thickly wooded slopes. But
old dog Spot was ranging about the lower woods. And for once Nimble
did not run for Cedar Swamp when he heard the old dog bay. Instead he
climbed steadily until he was sure that he had shaken Spot off his trail.
Nimble had stopped for a drink at the spring which marked the
beginning of Broad Brook and there he met Cuffy Bear, who was just
turning away from the ice-framed pool. "Aren't you a long way from
home?" Cuffy asked him.
"Yes! But I can get down to my favorite ridge quickly enough, when I
want to," said Nimble. "Do you live in this neighborhood?"
"I'm not quite sure," Cuffy Bear replied. "I've had my eye on a snug
den a little further up the mountain. I'm thinking of living there, if it
suits me.... Wouldn't you like to see it?"
Nimble told Cuffy that he would be delighted. So they started up the
mountain, after Nimble had had his drink.
Cuffy Bear led the way. And in a short time he stopped in front of a
cave. A tangle of bushes hid the mouth of it. You'd have passed right
by it without ever guessing that there was any cave there.
"This is it," Cuffy Bear told Nimble. "Come right in!"
"No, thank you. I'd rather not," said Nimble. "I don't care for caves,
myself, though this seems to be a good one."
"It's worth seeing," Cuffy Bear urged.
"No, thank you!" Nimble repeated.

"You don't mind if I take a look at it?" Cuffy Bear inquired. "Maybe I
can make up my mind--about living here--if I look at the cave once
more."
"Go inside, by all means!" Nimble cried.
"Will you wait here till I come out?" Cuffy asked him.
And Nimble promised that he would wait.
Cuffy Bear yawned as he turned away. And Nimble thought it strange
that he didn't take the trouble to beg pardon, nor to cover the yawn with
a paw. Only a very careless--or a very sleepy--person would forget
those things, Nimble knew.
Well, Cuffy crept inside the cave. And outside Nimble waited. He
waited