Chapter 3

Doctor Rabbit heard them and saw them at the same time. He was so close that he was afraid even to run. So he crept noiselessly under a dense leafy thicket near at hand. Doctor Rabbit was pretty badly scared, because there was not a briar patch anywhere near. So he did the safest thing. He crouched down on the ground, kept still, and listened.

Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail, talking behind the tree, never dreamed, of course, that there was anybody close by listening. They talked pretty softly, but Doctor Rabbit was so near that he could hear every word they said. Brushtail was talking. "Yes," he said, "that dog has a very sharp nose, and he is bound to find our den sooner or later. So I think, Mrs. Fox, we had better move you and the children clear out of these woods. I'll take you to a new den in the woods away off up the river. There is not much in the way of rabbits and woodchucks and chickens up there, but I'll keep on spending most of my time down here. You see, I can catch the rabbits and woodchucks and chickens, and carry them up to you."

"Very well, dear," said Mrs. Brushtail, "I think that is an excellent plan. When shall we move?"

"This very day," Brushtail said. "We'll get the young foxes right away and start off with them. The sooner we get them out of here, the better it will be for all of us."

Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail trotted off toward the thicket in which they had their den. Doctor Rabbit was still a little scared, but he believed he would follow at a distance and see for himself whether Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail actually did move the little foxes.

Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail went into the thicket, and in a very short time came out again. And sure enough, each of them carried a little fox by the back of its neck.

They walked across the shallow Murmuring Brook and laid the two little Brushies down on the other side in a thicket. Then they came back and carried the other two little Brushies over in the same way.

As they went past him this last time Doctor Rabbit heard Brushtail say to Mrs. Brushtail, "You can just wait with them in the thicket on the other side of Murmuring Brook until I carry two of them up the river to the new den. When I come back we can carry the other two."

You see, foxes can carry their baby Foxes by the back of the neck and not hurt them at all.

Well, Doctor Rabbit was glad and hungry at the same time. He now hurried right over to the nice, tender blue grass under the big sycamore tree. There he found Chatty Red Squirrel, Cheepy Chipmunk, and quite a number of his other friends, who all wanted to know at once if Doctor Rabbit had found out anything more about Mr. Fox. Doctor Rabbit did know a great deal, as you know, and he told his friends he would tell them. But he added that he was so hungry he would have to eat while he talked. Doctor Rabbit is a great person to eat grass, anyway.

"It seems as though I never can get enough!" he said every now and then.

DOCTOR RABBIT TELLS SOME GOOD NEWS

Chatty Red Squirrel, Cheepy Chipmunk, and all the rest of Doctor Rabbit's friends who were gathered under the big sycamore tree were certainly very happy when Doctor Rabbit told them that Mrs. Brushtail and all the little Brushies were leaving the Big Green Woods for good.

"As the matter stands now," Doctor Rabbit said, "we've nobody but Brushtail to look out for. But he's surely enough! I should say he is! And if Farmer Roe does not get him soon, I'm going to keep right on thinking of some plan to get him out of here. We can't scare him as we did Tom Wildcat. Brushtail is too cunning for that. He'd just laugh at us if we painted signs and put them up on our doors, no matter _what_ was painted on the signs. I heard Brushtail tell Mrs. Brushtail that he would not live in that thicket any more. He said he would get himself a new den not far off and probably a little nearer to the Murmuring Brook. So you see we could not lead Yappy to Brushtail now if we wanted to. And I am afraid Yappy will be a good while in finding Brushtail's new den. I may find it," Doctor Rabbit continued, "but I'd never risk trying to lead Yappy to it, and Jack Rabbit has a sprained foot, so he can't. But from the way he talked to me, I don't think he'd be willing to try it even if his foot weren't sprained."

Brushtail the Fox seized her by the neck

"Possibly," suggested Chatty Red Squirrel, "Brushtail will not have a fallen tree near his new den, nor any other way of making Yappy lose the trail. And possibly Yappy will smell along old Brushtail's trail and find him right in his den."

"Don't you ever think Brushtail will be foolish enough to walk straight along the ground to his den," said Doctor Rabbit. "He's far too wise for that, no matter where his den is. No, sir, he will make big jumps sidewise and walk back on his trail and walk in big circles, and better still, walk for a distance in the Murmuring Brook. Ah! he'll do a whole lot of things before he goes into his den. Of course," Doctor Rabbit said softly, "it is possible Farmer Roe may trap old Brushtail. I saw him working with a trap only this morning."

A FOOLISH OLD HEN

Several days after Doctor Rabbit had talked to his friends under the big sycamore tree he was hopping along near the edge of the Big Green Woods when he saw Brushtail the Fox hiding behind a tree and looking toward Farmer Roe's house.

Doctor Rabbit crept under a big brush pile and looked in the same direction. What do you suppose Brushtail was watching? Well, he was looking at a big Plymouth Rock hen coming across the field right toward the place where he lay hidden.

Now, if Doctor Rabbit had had something better than a brush pile to hide under, he might have made some sort of noise and warned the hen. But if he had made the least sound, Brushtail would have come diving under that brush pile in a second, for he isn't afraid of brush piles as he is of briar patches.

Pretty soon the hen reached the woods. She stretched up her neck and looked around, but not seeing anything she started into the woods for some crickets. She had gone only a few steps when Brushtail the Fox bounded out, seized her by the neck, and ran off through the Big Green Woods.

Doctor Rabbit followed along behind, going hoppity, hoppity, hoppity, and presently he saw Brushtail splashing along in the Murmuring Brook. He was trotting along in the brook for a distance, for, you see, a hound cannot smell a fox's tracks in the water; and so Yappy could not track him.

Doctor Rabbit stopped and looked.

He saw Brushtail finally cross to the other side of the Murmuring Brook. Brushtail then turned and looked back to see if anybody was following him. He did not see anyone, so, still holding the dead hen in his mouth, he trotted out of sight among the trees.

Of course Doctor Rabbit knew what Brushtail was going to do. He was going to take that hen up the river to Mrs. Brushtail and the little Brushies.

When Brushtail had passed out of sight, Doctor Rabbit did not go home at once. No, he sat down to think. He was trying to think out a way to drive old Brushtail out of the Big Green Woods. He sat there and thought ever and ever so long. Sometimes he thought so hard he scratched his head without knowing it. At other times he curled his mustache.

So he thought and thought, but after a long time he said he would have to give it up for this time. He was not discouraged, for he could tell from the various things he had thought of that something would turn up after a while to help him work out a plan that would get rid of Brushtail the Fox. That was one fine thing about Doctor Rabbit--he would not give up. He kept right on trying.

Well, for the next two days Doctor Rabbit was busy doctoring the little Chipmunk children. They had got into Farmer Roe's apple orchard and had eaten a lot of green apples, in spite of the fact that Mother Chipmunk had told Jimmy Chipmunk, her oldest, that he and the rest of the children should not eat green apples.

DOCTOR RABBIT LAYS A TRAP

The day after Doctor Rabbit cured the little Chipmunk children, he thought of a new plan for catching Brushtail the Fox, and he decided to try it at once.

Doctor Rabbit knew very well that somehow he must drive Brushtail out of the Big Green Woods. None of the little creatures would be safe for a moment until this was done. Yes, cruel, sly old Brushtail must be driven away, and everything depended on our clever Doctor Rabbit.

As Doctor Rabbit started hopping along through the woods he said quietly to himself, "Of course this scheme I have in mind may not work. But it is worth trying anyway. I won't tell any of my friends about it, and then if I don't catch Brushtail they won't be disappointed. But if I _do_ catch him!"

Right here Doctor Rabbit stopped and laughed and laughed. "My," he continued, "if I _do_ catch him, won't Stubby Woodchuck and Cheepy Chipmunk and all the others be surprised! Well, I should say they _will_ be surprised!"

And Doctor Rabbit went hopping along, chuckling to himself and feeling mighty fine. He is always happy when he has thought of a plan to get rid of some big, cruel animal.

Doctor Rabbit kept going until he came to a part of the Big Green Woods where the Murmuring Brook was widest and deepest. He knew just what he was looking for, too. You see, Farmer Roe's boy had been setting his fishing lines here every night. Each morning he would pull his lines out of the water, take the fish off, and then leave one or two of the lines lying on the bank until evening.

Doctor Rabbit wanted one of these fishing lines, and when he reached the place, sure enough, there was a long, stout fishing line lying right on the ground. There were some hooks on the end of the line, but Doctor Rabbit did not want these, so with his sharp teeth he cut them off. Then he picked up the line and took it some distance away to a big thicket. Here Doctor Rabbit began making a loop in one end of that fishing line and chuckling as he worked.

Well, in just a little while he had that loop all fixed. Then he spread out the loop, which was made so it would slip, on a nice patch of open ground near the thicket. The other end of the line he hid in the thicket. Then he went over to the edge of the Murmuring Brook. He moved along the edge of the brook and watched ever so carefully. Now what do you suppose Doctor Rabbit was looking for this time? Well, sir, he was looking for a live fish. He saw several and made a grab for them, but they all got away. But Doctor Rabbit is very patient, and presently he seized a nice one and carried it, wiggling in his mouth, back to the loop he had made in that line. He dropped the small fish in the center of the loop. The fish didn't jump much now; it only wiggled and flapped its tail a little, and that was just what Doctor Rabbit wanted it to do.

He ran into the thicket where the other end of the line was and waited for Brushtail the Fox to come along.

As Doctor Rabbit waited and listened he heard footsteps approaching. He peeped out to see who it was. It wasn't Brushtail at all; it was Ray Coon. And my, you should have seen Mr. Coon run for that fish when he saw it!

"Hurrah!" Ray Coon shouted. "Some one has lost a fish. Here's my breakfast right here!"

And he was just about to pounce upon the fish when he was almost scared out of his wits by Doctor Rabbit calling out, "Boo! Let that fish alone, Neighbor! I put it there to catch Brushtail the Fox! Come here, into the thicket."

And so Ray Coon, looking rather foolish, went into the thicket where Doctor Rabbit was hiding.

"Keep right still!" Doctor Rabbit whispered to his friend. "I was going to try to catch old Brushtail all by myself," he continued, "but now that you have happened along you'd better stay, for I may need some help."

"How are you going to catch him, Doctor Rabbit?" Ray Coon asked. And Doctor Rabbit just pointed one foot out toward the loop and the squirming fish. Then Ray Coon understood, and how he did chuckle! He was just as much amused as was Doctor Rabbit and they both laughed and laughed, but they had to be very quiet, of course, because at any minute Brushtail might come along.

Suddenly Doctor Rabbit peeked out and whispered, "Sh! sh! Keep as still as anything! There comes old Brushy now. And yes, he's coming this way!"

BRUSHTAIL THE FOX IS ALMOST CAUGHT

Doctor Rabbit and Ray Coon kept perfectly quiet in the thicket and watched Brushtail the Fox as he came creeping along. When he saw the fish lying in that loop, my, how wide Brushtail's eyes did open! The fish jumped and squirmed just enough to make Brushtail want it very badly. He was so delighted that he stood up on his hind legs and danced toward the fish.

"Ha! ha!" he laughed. "It was probably old Bald Eagle who flew over the woods and dropped his fish! Ha! ha! ha! That's luck for me--a fine fish for breakfast. And I did not have to get my feet wet to catch it." Then Brushtail began to sing:

"Great flying Bald Eagle caught a fish, And flew away to eat him; But down it fell through green treetops, And Brushy Fox will cheat him!"

Brushtail finished his song and jumped for the fish. He jumped, of course, right into that loop Doctor Rabbit had made in the stout fishing cord. Well, sir, just as soon as Brushtail's feet touched the ground inside that loop, Doctor Rabbit and Ray Coon jerked the line as quickly and as firmly as they could. The loop slipped up and caught Brushtail around the body. My, but he was surprised and scared! I should say he was! He forgot the fish instantly, and he yelled ever so loud, "Let me go," although he did not know, of course, just what it was that had caught him.

The way he yelled and started pulling to get away was so funny that Doctor Rabbit and Ray Coon laughed until they could scarcely hold the line.

They wrapped the line around their paws and held on as hard as ever they could. And my, how Brushtail did dig his claws into the ground and pull!

When he found he couldn't free himself he was more frightened than ever and shouted (because, you see, he could not see what held him), "You let go of me, you old ghost, or goblin man! You let go of me or I'll claw you to pieces! Let go of me or I'll come back there and pull all your hair out, and I'll throw you in the briars so far you'll never get out and they will stick you forever!"

And all the time Brushtail was talking this he was digging his claws into the ground and pulling with all his might.

Doctor Rabbit could not have held him alone, but Ray Coon is pretty plump and stout, and he helped a great deal. But Brushtail pulled so hard that he pulled them right out of the thicket before they knew it!

Doctor Rabbit was so anxious to hold Brushtail that he cried right out, "Hold him, Ray Coon! Hold on to him! Hold on to him!"

Then Doctor Rabbit saw his mistake, for when Brushtail the Fox heard that voice he stopped pulling and turned around quickly. When he turned toward them, Ray Coon seized the fish, and he and Doctor Rabbit ran for their lives. And Brushtail was close behind them.

Doctor Rabbit skipped away as easily as could be, and Ray Coon, with the fish in his mouth, started up a tree. Brushtail ran for Ray Coon and gave a big spring for him. He almost got him, too, for he bit him on the hind foot. But Ray Coon managed to get up on a limb just out of reach. Brushtail was so angry at losing the fish and being completely fooled that he jumped several times as high as he could, but he could not jump quite high enough. So Ray Coon just sat there and ate that fish right before Brushtail's eyes.

"This is an extra good fish," Ray Coon called down, as he gobbled it up. "It's extra good, Brushy. But you didn't want it anyway, did you? Ha! ha! ha!"

Then old Brushtail was angrier than before. He pulled the loop off of his body with his teeth and snarled, "All right for this time--you and that big fat rabbit fooled me. He's pretty clever, but he'll not fool me again. And the _next_ time I'll get both of you. I'll eat rabbit and coon both at one meal. In about three days I'll get both of you!" And with an angry growl old Brushtail the Fox went off into the woods.

After a while Doctor Rabbit ventured out of his hiding place and hopped over to the tree which Ray Coon had climbed.

"Brushtail has gone off toward the Murmuring Brook," Doctor Rabbit said. "Come on down and let me doctor your foot where he bit you. I see it's bleeding a little."

Ray Coon came right down and laughed as he said, "My foot isn't hurt much, Doctor, and it will soon be well if you put some of your yellow salve on it."

"Of course it will," Doctor Rabbit agreed, as he took some salve from his medicine case.

He bandaged Ray's foot in a few minutes. But all the time that he was bandaging it, he kept a sharp lookout for Brushtail.

"He's very sly," Doctor Rabbit said, "and I am certain that right this minute he is planning some scheme to catch us or some of our friends."

"That's so," Ray Coon replied, looking at the bushes around him somewhat nervously. "I do wish," he continued, "that we could think of some plan to get rid of him for good. Then we could live happily and have our fun as we used to do."

"Don't you worry, Neighbor Coon," Doctor Rabbit chuckled as he picked up his medicine case and looked at Ray Coon over his big glasses. "Don't you worry," he repeated, "I'll have a plan all in good time, and right now I'm going in the direction he went, to see what he is up to!"

Ray Coon seemed a little nervous again as he said, "Well, do be careful, whatever you do, Doctor, because he looked terribly cruel, you remember."

"Ha! ha! ha!" jolly Doctor Rabbit laughed as he started away, waving a paw at Ray Coon, "I'll take care of myself--never fear. And I'll take care of old Brushy Fox, too! Ha! ha! ha! Yes, I'll see what he's doing now. Perhaps I shall catch him right away." And Doctor Rabbit slipped away in the direction in which Brushtail had gone.

AN EXCITING CHASE

You remember that Doctor Rabbit started out to find Brushtail the Fox and watch him. Well, it was not long before Brushtail was found, and it certainly was exciting for Doctor Rabbit to watch what happened. This is the way it happened. It was Yappy who found Brushtail. Doctor Rabbit was hopping along, looking for Brushtail, when Yappy came tearing through the woods and almost ran into Brushtail.

You see, Brushtail saw Yappy coming, but he thought Yappy would pass by because he had not as yet smelled the trail. These things Brushtail always knows. But Yappy passed so close he smelled fox, and then Brushtail certainly did have to jump and run.

Doctor Rabbit just sprang up on the trunk of a fallen tree to watch the race. All of a sudden he saw Farmer Roe and his boy running toward Yappy, and with them was another big dog which joined in the chase after Brushtail.

"It's a fox! a fox! It's that old fox!" shouted Farmer Roe's boy. "Catch him, Yappy! Catch him! catch him!" The second big hound turned Brushtail back so that he almost ran into Farmer Roe before he saw him.

Farmer Roe threw a stick at Brushtail but missed him.

"Catch him, Yappy, catch him!" shouted Farmer Roe. "He'll steal all my hens if you don't."

Away they all ran after Brushtail the Fox--Farmer Roe and his boy yelling, and both hounds barking.

"My!" exclaimed Doctor Rabbit as he sat on the fallen tree, "I certainly do hope they'll catch him!"

And just at that moment it looked as if they _would_ catch Brushtail. He was in such a great hurry that in trying to jump across a wide ditch in the woods he fell right into it. And Yappy was almost upon him.

"Yappy's got him!" shouted Farmer Roe's boy. "Yappy's got him!"

But Brushtail was not to be caught so easily. He sprang out of that hole in a flash, and away he ran like the wind.

As Doctor Rabbit watched, Brushtail ran out of sight in the woods, and the barking of the hounds and the voices of Farmer Roe and his boy sounded farther and farther away. Doctor Rabbit sat and waited, for he thought they might turn Brushtail back and run him past the fallen tree. But after a while they seemed farther away than ever, and he could just barely hear Yappy barking on the trail. Doctor Rabbit just sat still and waited. He knew that Brushtail the Fox was one of the slyest creatures in the woods, and he was pretty sure now that he would get away for this time at least.

"I should not be surprised if he came sneaking back right around here. And still," Doctor Rabbit said hopefully, "Yappy _may_ get him. I'll just wait for a time and see what does happen."

Several times as Doctor Rabbit sat there he heard a noise in the bushes near by and each time he looked quickly in that direction. But it must have been the wind blowing the leaves, for he did not see anything.

Once, however, Doctor Rabbit was really startled. A big woodrat ran through some dead leaves and made a good deal of noise. He stopped and looked at Doctor Rabbit and asked, "Are you waiting for some one?"

"Yes," Doctor Rabbit replied, "I'm waiting for Brushtail the Fox; I'm expecting him any time."

"Brushtail the Fox!" exclaimed the Woodrat. "Well, _I'm_ not going to wait for him!" And he hurried away as fast as he could.

Then Doctor Rabbit heard another noise. Some creature was creeping through the bushes not far off. He was coming nearer, too.

THE BIG GRAY GOOSE GETS AWAY

Doctor Rabbit sat on the trunk of the fallen tree and never moved a muscle as he listened to the animal creeping through the thicket. Every now and then it would stop, and there was not a sound; then it would move again, and all the time it kept coming nearer and nearer.

Doctor Rabbit has a way of twitching his nose most of the time, but as he sat there he did not even move his nose. No, sir! He was as still as the tree trunk on which he sat. He kept his eyes right on the place from which the sounds of the creeping animal came.

And then his heart gave a thump and beat very fast--for out of the thicket came old Brushtail himself! He looked all about carefully, and then sat down panting, tired out from his long run.

But after he was somewhat rested, Brushtail got up and grinned. He looked out in the woods in the direction where Yappy and the other hound were still running and barking.

"Ha! ha! ha!" Brushtail chuckled softly. "They've lost my trail. I knew they would when I walked down the Murmuring Brook. Well," he continued, "I'll just look around a bit for something to eat. Perhaps I can find that big fat rabbit."

It happened that Brushtail started right for the fallen tree where Doctor Rabbit sat, and Doctor Rabbit was just about to spring off and run when something else happened. Farmer Roe's big gray goose came near. She was eating some tender green grass blades and never dreamed that a fox was near. But Brushtail saw her and started creeping toward her.

Doctor Rabbit could not bear to see that big gray goose gobbled up, so he shouted as loud as he could, "Look out, Gray Goose! Brushtail the Fox is going to get you! He's coming! He's coming!"

Now, as you may know, a tame goose cannot fly very far, but many of them can fly a short distance, and fly fairly high too. The gray goose was terribly frightened, and instantly began flapping her great wings. She flew just high enough in the air so that Brushtail missed him when he sprang. If the Murmuring Brook had not been near, that gray goose would surely have been caught, because, as I have said, she cannot fly very far; but as it was she managed to fly across the brook. Then she came to the ground again and ran screaming and flapping her wings toward Farmer Roe's. She got out of the woods in a few moments and Brushtail the Fox did not catch her.