CHAPTER X

FLOP EAR HELPS SOME MICE

Flop Ear did not know what was happening to him. All he knew was that he was going up, much higher than the time he had hopped into the wood basket, and had been lifted up by the boy. And something seemed to be squeezing him, as though a snake had him.

The rabbit knew about snakes. There were some big ones in the wood where he had once lived, and his father and mother had told him that a snake could squeeze a rabbit to death. Once Flop Ear saw a little snake crawling along, and it put its tongue out and in so fast that the rabbit could hardly see it.

“I guess a snake has me,” thought Flop Ear. “Oh, dear! I’m going to ask him to let me go.”

So in the loudest voice he could command, Flop Ear cried:

“Please, Mr. Snake, let me go, and don’t squeeze me so.”

“I am not a snake,” was the answer in a deep, rumbly voice, “and I had to squeeze you just a little bit to lift you out of the way. You were just going to be run over by one of the big circus wagon wheels, and I picked you up in my trunk and lifted you out of the way. Now you are safe, and I will set you down again.”

Flop Ear felt himself being gently lowered to the ground, and he laughed as he said:

“If you lifted me up in your _trunk_ then you must be an expressman or an elephant.”

“I am an elephant,” was the answer, and the big animal laughed.

“I am Flop Ear, a funny rabbit,” said our little white friend. “I am lost, and I just was talking to Dido, the dancing bear. He sent me up here to see Tum Tum, the jolly elephant. I should like to see him. Which of the elephants is he?”

“I am Tum Tum,” was the laughing answer.

“Oh, I am so glad to meet you,” said the rabbit. “And I am ever so much obliged to you for lifting me out of the way of the big wagon wheel. If it had run over me I guess I would have been hurt.”

“Hurt! I should say so!” cried Tum Tum. “You would have been made as flat as a pancake. But you are all right now, Flop Ear, and you had better run away, for more circus wagons are coming and I can not stay to lift you to one side, much as I should like to. So hop along.”

“I will,” answered Flop Ear. “Thank you again, and good-by! I am glad I met you.”

“And I that I met you,” said Tum Tum politely. “Good-by, and I hope you find your home again.”

So Flop Ear hopped to one side of the road where he would be safe.

The rabbit looked at the circus wagons moving along the road in the moonlight. There were many cages of wild animals, but the big elephants walked along by themselves, as did the camels and the horses. Pretty soon along came the cage of Dido, the dancing bear. Dido looked out and saw Flop Ear again.

“Well, little white rabbit, did you see Tum Tum?” asked the bear.

“Yes,” answered Flop Ear, “I did. And he saved me from being run over by lifting me up in his trunk.”

“Good!” cried Dido. “Tum Tum is always helping others. Once my wagon cage was held fast in the mud, and Tum Tum pushed it out with his big head. He is very strong.”

“He is indeed,” said Flop Ear. “Good-by, Dido.”

“Good-by, Flop Ear,” said the bear, and then his cage passed on.

“Well, that was quite an adventure,” said Flop Ear to himself, as he hopped back to the hollow tree where he had been sleeping. “It is not every rabbit who can see a circus in the middle of the night. I think I’ll eat some clover before I go back to bed.”

Flop Ear had to pass through a grassy field to get back to his hollow tree, and he stopped to nibble a few sweet heads of clover. Then he snuggled down in the soft leaves that made his bed, and was soon asleep again.

The morning sun peeped in on Flop Ear as he lay in the hollow tree. The white rabbit opened his eyes, and for a moment he could not think where he was.

“Oh, now I remember!” he said to himself as he looked over toward the road along which the circus had passed. “I remember about last night, and how Tum Tum saved me. I’ll have lots to tell Pink Nose and Snuggle if ever I get back to them. I wonder if I’ll ever find my home again?”

Flop Ear was hungry when he awoke, and he began to look for his breakfast. He did not do as you have to do, wait for a table to be set, and for something to be cooked. All Flop Ear had to do was to hop out of bed, down in among the clover and eat as much as he liked. He could gnaw bark from a tree, too.

But before he ate he took a nice drink of water from a little brook in the field, and washed his face and paws, just as you take a little bath before you have breakfast.

“Well, I wonder what will happen to me to-day?” thought Flop Ear, when he had eaten as much as he needed. “I don’t know whether I am hopping toward my home, or away from it. But still I must keep on. And I am not going near any more houses, for I do not want to be caught by a boy, and made to do tricks――though I will say that Jimmie was very good to me.”

Flop Ear saw a stump in the clover field, and he thought if he could hop up on that he could look around him and see which was the best way to go.

“It will raise me up higher, that stump will,” said Flop Ear. “Not as high as a bird, it is true, but still higher than if I were on the ground. I’ll see what I can look at up on the stump.”

With a big hop up went Flop Ear. Then he looked all around. On one side was woods, on the other a field, on another a running brook and on the last side was a road.

“I’ll see if I can cross the brook,” thought Flop Ear. “Then if there are any dogs around here they can’t so well follow me, at least for a while. Yes, I shall go over on the other side of the brook.”

The brook was not very deep, and Flop Ear could easily wade across it. On the other side he found some sweet roots to eat, and going on a little farther, he came to a field of cabbages.

“Oh! This is fine!” thought Flop Ear. “I shall have a good dinner here. I wish the rest of the folks were with me to enjoy it too. This is just fine.”

Flop Ear picked out a nice tender cabbage, and ate some of the leaves. It was as good to him as candy is to you, and much better for a rabbit.

“If I had a trunk, like Tum Tum, the elephant,” said Flop Ear, “I might carry a lot of this cabbage with me, and when I became hungry again I could eat it. But I can’t do that. I can only carry a little; so I’ll just have to hop on and hope that I’ll find another field of the green heads, or perhaps a field of carrots. They would be fine too.”

Once more the funny bunny hopped on, his one floppy ear hanging down, and the other one sticking up straight. A little toad in the grass laughed as the bunny hopped past.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Flop Ear.

“At you,” answered the toad. “You look so funny. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Not a bit,” said Flop Ear. “Laugh all you like,” and the toad did, while the rabbit hopped on.

Flop Ear had not gone very much farther when he heard a funny little squealing, squeaking noise.

“Ha! I wonder what that is?” he asked himself. “I never heard a sound like that before. I must see what it is.”

Flop Ear hopped on a little farther, and then he saw, near a big rock in the field, a box, and the squeaking noise seemed to come from that.

“Ha! A box!” exclaimed Flop Ear. “I’m not going near that. I was kept in a box once, and I don’t want that to happen again. I’ll get away from here.”

Flop Ear was just turning to hop away when he heard some voices speaking in the box.

“Oh, Mother dear!” a little voice said, “do you think we shall ever get out of here?”

“I’m afraid not, Switchy,” was the answer. “We are in this trap, and we can never get out. I have tried and tried, but the wood is so hard that I can not gnaw it with my small teeth.”

“Perhaps papa will come and gnaw us out,” said another little voice.

“I’m afraid he could not get us out, my children. Oh, dear! Why did I ever lead you into this trap.”

“Ha! A trap!” exclaimed Flop Ear. “These are animals, like myself, in trouble. I must see if I can not help them.”

The white rabbit hopped over close to the box, and looking in through some wire netting that was on one side, he asked:

“What is the matter in there?”

“Oh, Mother!” cried a squeaky voice. “Look, there is a big, white rabbit.”

Flop Ear, looking in the box-trap, saw a mother mouse and five little mice. They came close to the wire and the mother mouse said:

“Oh, we are in such trouble. We are a family of field mice, and our home is in a hole in the ground, not far away. A little while ago I went for a walk with my children. We came to this box. Inside was some nice cheese and, thinking of no harm, we went in and began to eat it. All at once the trap snapped shut and we could not get out. We are caught here, and, though I am a pretty good gnawer, I can not gnaw this hard wood.”

“Don’t worry,” said Flop Ear. “Perhaps I can help you.”

“Oh, if you only could,” said Mrs. Mouse. “My husband did not come walking with us, so he did not get caught in the trap. But he may come to look for us, and he will feel very sorry when he finds us caught.”

“Well, I have strong teeth, and I will soon gnaw a hole in that box so you can get out.”

And Flop Ear began to gnaw.