Part 2

“Well,” said Blue Jay, “I looked into that hole pretty close, and I saw just how he managed it. He dug two holes in one side, where there were some small roots. Then he dug two more holes a little higher up. And then he dug two more a little higher up, and then he crawled up a little and dug two _more_ holes, and so on till he got to the top. There was a good deal of loose dirt in the hole, and I’ve an idea that Tom must have fallen back quite a number of times before he finally reached the top. He must have had a mighty hard time of it. As like as not he had to work most of the night.”

TOM WILDCAT INVITES DOCTOR RABBIT TO DINNER

While Doctor Rabbit and busy Blue Jay were talking, Doctor Rabbit said suddenly, “Sh! keep still; there he is now!” And sure enough, there was Tom Wildcat just a little way off near a stump, where he had pounced upon an unfortunate mouse that happened to be passing that way, and gobbled him up.

Tom Wildcat did not know there was anyone around, so he smacked his lips and smiled very broadly. It was only a small breakfast--in fact, just about enough for dessert for greedy Tom, but he never was particular; he would just as soon eat his dessert first as not. Indeed, I think he’d a little rather.

And now Tom came slipping along and looking for some signs of Doctor Rabbit. Then he happened to glance up and saw Doctor Rabbit looking from the upstairs window.

“Why, good morning, Doctor Rabbit!” he said in his most pleasing, company voice, just as if nothing had happened.

“Good morning to you, Tom.” Doctor Rabbit said it as pleasantly as if he and Tom were the best of friends.

“It’s a fine morning,” wily Tom said, looking up and smiling; but all the while he was chuckling inwardly.

“It’s a beautiful morning, just splendid. And I never saw you looking so fine,” Doctor Rabbit said.

Well, sir, Tom Wildcat was actually deceived when Doctor Rabbit told him he looked so fine. He is such a vain fellow he believes anybody who tells him he is good-looking. That’s one thing Tom Wildcat will always believe, because he _wants_ to believe it.

But he was not one bit deceived about anything else, for he remembered his recent experience in the hole.

Because old Tom is always trying to deceive others, naturally he sometimes deceives himself. He thought that by acting kind and polite to Doctor Rabbit he might fool him, and so get him for dinner. And it made his mouth water to look at Doctor Rabbit and think what a fine dinner he would make.

So he said gaily, “Well, we’ve had quite a good deal of fun lately; and ha, ha, ha! I’ve enjoyed it as much as anyone. In fact, I really like jokes, and I like you now better than ever, Doctor Rabbit. You’re the smartest and most sociable person in the woods. Do come over to my house and take dinner with me. I’m going to have the loveliest green peas, and beans, and lettuce, and ever so many more of the sweetest vegetables you ever tasted!”

O. POSSUM GETS SICK

When Tom Wildcat smiled and spoke about having all those nice vegetables for dinner, Doctor Rabbit knew well enough that he didn’t ever eat any such things. No, sir; all Tom Wildcat wanted was Doctor Rabbit. But Doctor Rabbit was just as cunning as was Tom, so he said, “It’s very kind of you to invite me over to dinner, Friend Tom, very kind, I am sure; but the fact is, I won’t have time. I really am too busy.”

“A good deal of sickness in the Woods, I suppose,” Tom Wildcat said, as pleasantly as could be.

“Yes, quite a good deal,” said Doctor Rabbit; “especially a good many accidents, lately.”

Tom Wildcat was so angry for a minute that he almost forgot to smile. He knew what Doctor Rabbit meant by _accidents_. He meant Tom’s getting his foot bitten by Farmer Roe’s big dog, and his falling into that hole. But by very hard work, crafty Tom did manage to keep on smiling as he said, “Well, I shall have to be going on, then. Possibly you can come over some other time and take dinner with me. Good morning, Doctor Rabbit!” And Tom Wildcat trotted off.

When he had disappeared, Doctor Rabbit sat down in his big chair and laughed and laughed. It would have made anybody laugh to see how hard it had been for Tom Wildcat to smile when Doctor Rabbit spoke about so many _accidents_ lately.

There was a great deal of excitement among the little creatures of the Big Green Woods now. It was bad enough to know that Tom Wildcat had come over from his hollow tree near the Deep River, but it was worse still to think that he had fallen into that hole and climbed out again.

Of course, they all had to go right on eating, because nobody can live without eating. And there was where the little creatures were in great danger. They were generally hunting something to eat, and there was always someone like Tom Wildcat watching for them, ready to pounce upon them.

The next day Doctor Rabbit was called to see O. Possum, who was sick. Mandy Possum came over in a great hurry and said O. Possum was having a severe pain in his stomach. Doctor Rabbit got his medicine case and went over to the Possums’ house with Mandy Possum as fast as he could.

Mandy said they would go in the nearest way, which was through the kitchen. She asked Doctor Rabbit to excuse her kitchen, as she had not had time to clean it up. Then as they went through the parlor, she told him to excuse that too, as she hadn’t had time to clean that up. As they passed through two other rooms, she said to excuse them; she knew they were pretty dirty, but she had not had time to clean them up. But Doctor Rabbit didn’t say anything, because no matter what time of day he came to Mandy Possum’s house, she always asked him to excuse the dirt, and always said she hadn’t had time to clean it up. Man doctors sometimes find it that way, too.

Well, they finally came to O. Possum, who was off in a corner bedroom. He lay in bed with some turpentine and a hot stove lid on his stomach. He began to groan terribly when Doctor Rabbit came in. “Oh my, oh my,” he groaned, “I know I’m going to die! Yes, I can feel it, and my wife wants me to die; she’s got turpentine and a hot stove lid on my stomach, and I’m roasting alive. Oh dear! Oh dear!”

DOCTORING O. POSSUM AND STUBBY WOODCHUCK

As soon as he looked at O. Possum Doctor Rabbit knew positively that he was not seriously sick, for he had seen him like that several times before. Doctor Rabbit said, “Let me see your tongue,” and O. Possum grunted and put his tongue out. It was badly coated. “I see!” said Doctor Rabbit, wisely. Then he examined his patient by thumping his chest and his stomach and his back, and finally said, “Friend Possum, what have you eaten lately?”

“Oh, I haven’t eaten anything to speak of,” O. Possum groaned. “Only a little piece of chicken.”

“Was that all?” asked Doctor Rabbit.

“Well, maybe I did eat _two_ little pieces,” O. Possum groaned again. “But that was all.”

“He ate a little pudding, too, Doctor,” ventured Mandy Possum, timidly.

“How much?” Doctor Rabbit asked.

“Just the smallest bit,” O. Possum began, but Doctor Rabbit interrupted him with, “Exactly how much?”

“Oh, not more than a small bowl full.”

“I see! I see!” exclaimed Doctor Rabbit, smiling, and his bright eyes twinkled. “Your bowls all hold a quart, Brother Possum. A bowl of pudding, two big pieces of chicken, some pie and some cake, and a plate of dumplings Mrs. Possum had left over from yesterday!” And Doctor Rabbit laughed, while O. Possum looked very, very much surprised, because that was exactly what he _had_ eaten, and he wondered how Doctor Rabbit could tell.

“The fact is,” Doctor Rabbit said, “you have been making a pig of yourself, and you have acute indigestion. Here, Friend Possum; take this tablespoonful of medicine.”

O. Possum swallowed the medicine, and then coughed and choked, and said, “Whew! that’s the nastiest tasting medicine I ever swallowed. Mandy, my dear, I’ll have to trouble you for a drink of water.” After he had taken the water, he said he felt a great deal better.

“I can feel that medicine taking right hold,” he said. “Yes, sir, I can _feel_ it, and I certainly am better.”

Doctor Rabbit looked with a wise glance over his glasses at Mandy Possum, and said, “Give him a tablespoonful of the medicine every hour until he has taken _five_ doses; and he must not eat a thing for two whole days.”

“Now, that’s pretty tough,” sighed O. Possum. He was already thinking about a big fat hen that Mandy Possum was going to cook that very day. But O. Possum said he realized he would have to do what the doctor ordered, and that ended it.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Sophy Woodchuck was there to say that Doctor Rabbit was wanted at her house at once, for Stubby Woodchuck was feeling pretty poorly.

Well, when Doctor Rabbit got over to the Woodchucks’ he found poor old Stubby in bed, and groaning just about the way O. Possum had been doing. And presently Doctor Rabbit found out Stubby’s trouble was about the same as O. Possum’s. He had gorged himself with too many nuts and other things he liked, until _he_ had acute indigestion.

In fact, Doctor Rabbit had found out long before that most of the sickness among the little creatures of the Big Green Woods was due to the fact that they _ate too much_.

So Stubby Woodchuck had to take a bottle of terribly bitter medicine, and he too had to go two whole days without eating a bite. He said he felt better after he had taken the first dose of medicine; and Doctor Rabbit said that he would have to be going. First, however, he took three bottles of medicine from his case, mixed them all together, and put them in one bottle. When it was mixed that way the medicine was terribly bitter, and Doctor Rabbit chuckled all the time. “I’m getting ready to throw this medicine right into Tom Wildcat’s mouth if he gets after me,” Doctor Rabbit explained, and then he slipped out of the door and went hoppity, hoppity, hoppity, as fast as he could go, toward home.

Now and then as he ran, Doctor Rabbit would stop and sit up and look and listen. He knew that every minute he must be watching out for Tom Wildcat.

STUBBY WOODCHUCK’S EXCITING ADVENTURE

In a few days O. Possum and Stubby Woodchuck were around again as usual, and one fine, bright morning Stubby went out for something to eat. Before he started, however, he got up on his stump and looked in every direction. He did not see anyone to be afraid of, so he concluded the first thing he would do would be to slip down to the Murmuring Brook for a nice fresh drink.

As he went along he stopped every now and then and looked back toward his stump, but everything seemed to be all right, and he went ahead. Then, when he had gone some distance, his heart suddenly seemed to come up in his mouth, he was so frightened. He was sure he heard a slight noise a little way ahead, among some bushes; and he was sure he saw a crouching form.

Well, poor Stubby was in a pretty bad fix. He looked back at his stump. Then he shivered; his stump was ever so far away. He darted a swift glance around to see if there wasn’t some hole handy, that he could run into.

All he could see was a small hole at the base of a tree a little way off. Stubby didn’t know, of course, whether he could squeeze into that hole or not, but he decided he must run and try anyway. Away he started, as fast as his legs would go, and then he _was_ frightened, for from behind those bushes came Tom Wildcat!

Stubby Woodchuck managed to reach the hole, but he was in a frenzy of fear. Try as he would, he couldn’t squeeze into that small opening. The very next second Tom Wildcat pounced on him. Poor Stubby was so scared he could not speak. First Tom held him between his paws and glared at him. Then he picked him up in his mouth and carried him out into an open space and set him down again. Stubby promptly started to run away, but Tom Wildcat just put his paw on him and pulled him back.

Old Tom did this exactly the way a cat sometimes plays with a live mouse before he gobbles him up.

“Well, young fellow,” Tom Wildcat said, with a terrible grin, “I guess I’ve got you at last.”

Stubby Woodchuck lay on his side and panted and panted, he was so frightened; but he was glad he was still alive, and he thought he might still find some way of escape. Then all of a sudden he _did_ think of something.

“Yes,” he said very weakly, “you’ve got me, Tom Wildcat; but I think when you know you’re going to die a little while after eating me, you’ll wish you hadn’t caught me.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” Tom Wildcat laughed. “Yes, I suppose I’ll die after eating you. Ha, ha, ha! Woodchuck is one of my favorite dishes. Ha, ha, ha!”

“Yes,” the clever Stubby said again, very weakly, “if I were healthy, that would be different, but I was poisoned a little while ago, and I was just going down for one last drink, so I could die in comfort!”

“What’s that?” exclaimed Tom Wildcat, jumping up with wide eyes and walking round and round Stubby Woodchuck. “How do you know you are poisoned?” he asked sharply.

“Because,” Stubby answered--and it sounded as if he were about gone--“because I was sick and Doctor Rabbit gave me the wrong medicine. He feels awfully bad about it, and said he could not bear to see me die!”

TOM WILDCAT GETS FRIGHTENED

While Tom Wildcat walked round and round Stubby Woodchuck, looking at him and getting more and more scared every minute, Stubby went right on talking. “Yes,” he said very weakly, “Doctor Rabbit gave me the wrong kind of pills. His calomel pills and his strychnine pills all being white, he made a mistake, and gave me strychnine; and he did not find out until it was too late. Oh, dear me! I can’t last long now. The poison is paining me terribly. Do eat me up quick, I beg of you! Eat me up quick! Yes, I can feel the poison working out through my skin; it is all through me and all over me!”

Well, sir, old Tom Wildcat had been surprised many times in his life, but this was the biggest surprise he had ever had. And he suddenly remembered he had had his mouth on Stubby Woodchuck. All this time Stubby kept one eye open just the smallest bit, so that he could watch the wily Tom.

When Stubby Woodchuck spoke about feeling the poison coming out on his skin, Tom Wildcat’s eyes grew wide with fear, and he began to spit and spit, because he thought that Stubby _was_ poisoned. Tom began to imagine he could taste something bitter in his own mouth. That’s what happens sometimes when people get to imagining things. Tom Wildcat spit ever so many times to make sure to get all the poison out of his mouth.

After a while he said pretty low, and to himself, although sharp-eared Stubby heard, “My goodness! I believe I do feel a little queer myself! Sakes alive! I wonder if I _am_ poisoned! Dear me! I wonder what I ought to do if I am! Maybe if I run around real fast, and get warmed up, that will help me. Anyway I’ll try it.”

And away Tom Wildcat ran, round and round in a big circle. But he did not go far off, so Stubby just had to lie quite still.

At last Tom stopped. “Maybe climbing a tree would help me,” he said, and away he went for a tree, then up into the tree; but he was right down again in no time, so Stubby Woodchuck could not move. Tom Wildcat was panting now, ever so hard. He came up and stood looking down at Stubby. Presently he said, “Well, I believe I’m feeling a little better, but I guess I’ll wait around here a while and see if I get to feeling queer again.”

Tom Wildcat then lay down, with his head between his paws, and was quite still for a long time.

After a while he stretched and yawned, and said, “Ho, hum,” and rubbed his eyes. Now the very minute old Tom rubbed his eyes, he didn’t have to _imagine_ something hurt him; he _knew_ it did--and I’ll tell you what it was. You remember that hot salve that Doctor Rabbit put on the foot the dog had bitten? Well, that hot salve keeps its strength for days and days, and when Tom Wildcat, not thinking, rubbed his eyes, he rubbed some of that hot salve right into one of them. It was in only _one_ eye, but my! how that eye did burn! One eye was certainly enough. Tom Wildcat let out a yell that could be heard all over the Big Green Woods; and then before he thought, he rubbed his eye again, and of course he rubbed in some more hot salve.

Well, it got to smarting and burning so badly that it nearly set Tom Wildcat crazy. With both eyes shut, and yowling terribly, he began running in every direction. The first thing he ran into was a brush thicket; then he backed out of that and started again, and presently butted his head against a tree.

By this time he had forgotten all about Stubby and everything else except that smarting and burning in his eye.

TOM WILDCAT MAKES A DISCOVERY

When Tom Wildcat began running around with his smarting eye, Stubby looked up mighty quick to see whether there was any chance of his running away. You see, he had to be very, very careful now about trying to get away, because he probably would be safe if he lay there long enough.

“And still,” Stubby said to himself, “Tom Wildcat might fool around and watch me, and just keep on watching me, to see if I die; and then when he sees I _don’t_ die, he might grow suspicious. And still,” he went on thinking, “if I should start to run, and old Tom should see me, then he _would_ know I’m not poisoned, and he’d finish me sure!”

So you see it was pretty hard for Stubby Woodchuck to decide what to do. Of course, if he could have been sure he could get back to his home in the stump, he would have jumped up and gone in no time. However, after he had watched the queer actions of Tom Wildcat for a while, Stubby began to be a little bolder. He thought Tom Wildcat had surely gone crazy this time. Of course he knew about the hot salve on Tom’s sore foot, but he had forgotten all about it; and even if he had remembered, he probably would not have thought _that_ was what made the old villain tear around so.

Stubby Woodchuck was afraid, too, that since Tom Wildcat was acting so crazy, he might suddenly decide to make a meal even on a _poisoned_ woodchuck. The more Stubby Woodchuck thought of this, the more frightened he was; and the next time Tom Wildcat ran into a thicket, and squawked, and began holding his paws over his eyes, Stubby bravely stood up. Then all of a sudden, right close by, Doctor Rabbit shouted, “Run, Brother Woodchuck! Run! run!” And away went clumsy Stubby toward his stump. He thought he was done for once, when Tom Wildcat came in that direction; but Tom Wildcat did not see Stubby at all, and he got safely to his stump.

He ran in and fell down on the floor, panting so he could not speak. Sophy Woodchuck hurried around and brought out the camphor bottle. After Stubby Woodchuck had smelled the camphor a little, he was able to sit up in a chair and tell his wife what had happened.

Just as Stubby finished his strange story, Doctor Rabbit burst in, and how he did laugh about Tom Wildcat’s tearing around so! And Doctor Rabbit was so glad, too, that his friend Stubby had escaped.

Doctor Rabbit said, “I was out in my front yard when I heard those terrible yowls of Tom Wildcat’s, and I hurried over to see what the trouble was. When I saw old T. Wildcat rubbing his eye with his sore foot, I knew right away it was that hot salve. And as soon as I saw my friend Stubby, I guessed what had _almost_ happened to him.”

“What became of Tom Wildcat?” asked Stubby Woodchuck.

“Well, sir,” Doctor Rabbit said, “he finally ran over the bank and fell into the Murmuring Brook, head over heels. He crawled out as wet as any rat you ever saw. But I think the water helped his eye, for he didn’t rub it any more--just looked around as if he felt terribly ashamed, and hoped no one saw him. And then he slipped over to where you had been, Friend Stubby, and you should have seen and heard him! ‘Gone!’ he said. ‘And he’s made a fool of me. He wasn’t poisoned at all! But just wait until the _next_ time, Stub Woodchuck! And that old fat Doctor Rabbit who helped him get away--I’ll attend to him. _Indeed_ I will.’”

“Well,” added Doctor Rabbit, “I knew I could get home as easy as anything, because I had a good start; so I yelled out and said, ‘Ha! ha! ha! Tom Wildcat, I guess we can’t fool you! Ha! ha! ha! Oh, no, not at all! Ha! ha! ha! Good day, Mr. T. Wildcat!’ Then I ran home so fast I know he didn’t get more, than a glimpse of me.”

DOCTOR RABBIT THINKS OF A NEW SCHEME

Sophy Woodchuck was very, very glad that her Stubby had come through his terrible adventure safely, but she said she would be troubled now as long as Tom Wildcat was around. “I certainly do wish we could think of some plan to get rid of him”, she said, and Doctor Rabbit chuckled.

“I have a plan, Mrs. Woodchuck,” he said. “It came to me only this morning, so you must give me a few days to get everything ready. And don’t you worry any more about Tom Wildcat being around. No, sir! Don’t you worry a bit! I’ve got an idea, and pretty soon old Tom will go tearing out of these woods, and he’ll _stay_ out! Indeed he will! Ha, ha, ha!” And Doctor Rabbit laughed until his fat sides shook.

This made the Woodchuck family feel pretty fine, and it made them curious, too. They knew that Doctor Rabbit was very wise in a good many things, and especially wise in planning ways to get rid of a very bad enemy. They remembered how he had got rid of troublesome Ki-yi Coyote. Of course Doctor Rabbit’s plan of getting rid of Tom Wildcat in that hole had failed; but we must admit it was a good scheme, anyway.

Well, of course the Woodchucks wanted to know right away what Doctor Rabbit’s new scheme was, but he only chuckled, and said he would have to be going now to get things ready. “I’ll need you and all our other friends and neighbors to help me,” Doctor Rabbit said. “None of you will have to do very much, but what you do, you must do exactly right. Now I am going to slip around among our friends and get them to promise to be ready at any time, and to do just what I tell them.”

“You certainly can count on us!” exclaimed Stubby and Sophy, in the same breath.

“I was sure of that,” Doctor Rabbit replied, and then bidding them a very good morning, he went swiftly away, hoppity, hoppity, to tell all the others.

In a short time all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods knew that Doctor Rabbit was working on a new scheme to get rid of Tom Wildcat. For several days Doctor Rabbit was mysteriously engaged in some kind of work at his house. He did not go out at all, except to Farmer Roe’s garden once or twice a day, to get some green peas to eat. And Doctor Rabbit would not say a word to anyone. He was surely busy.

Blue Jay and Jim Crow, and several others, came to Doctor Rabbit when he was in the pea patch one morning and wanted him to tell them what the scheme was; but he only laughed, and said he would have to be going right home, because he was so busy.

“Pretty soon I’ll be ready, and then I’ll tell you about it,” Doctor Rabbit said as he hurried away.

Finally, after a day or two, Blue Jay became so curious he could not wait any longer. So he hid in a tree near Doctor Rabbit’s house and watched. Perhaps Blue Jay ought not to have done this, but it seemed as if he just _couldn’t_ wait. He hid in the tree and watched all day, but he did not see anything until along toward evening. Then he saw Doctor Rabbit open his kitchen door. He had in his hand a bucket of paint and a paint brush. But that was all that Blue Jay saw, for Doctor Rabbit wiped the sweat off his face and went back into the house, shutting the door behind him.