Part 4 (1/2)
”Thomas,” said Doctor Rabbit, laughing, ”you must not eat so many of those peanuts. Why, there will be none left for me!”
Then little Thomas Woodchuck and the whole family laughed, and they all felt better. But Doctor Rabbit gave Thomas three big black pills and told him to swallow them all at once. Thomas did, and they were so bitter he tried to spit them out after he had swallowed them, but he could not do it, of course, and so they went right to work curing him.
”You will be quite well tomorrow, Thomas,” Doctor Rabbit said cheerfully, and the whole Woodchuck family breathed easier.
Then Mrs. Woodchuck said, ”Doctor, I hear two terrible foxes have come into our woods.”
Doctor Rabbit frowned at Mrs. Woodchuck to make her keep still about the foxes near Thomas, for fear he might be frightened. He was always very careful about this when visiting his patients. ”Well, I must be going. Goodbye, Thomas,” Doctor Rabbit said, just as if he had not heard Mrs. Woodchuck.
Then when he was out in the kitchen he whispered very low to Father and Mother Woodchuck: ”Yes, two terrible foxes have come into the Big Green Woods, but I did not want Thomas to hear. But don't you worry, Mrs. Woodchuck,” Doctor Rabbit went on, because he saw how troubled she looked, ”don't you worry a bit, I thought of a scheme to get rid of Ki-yi Coyote and also of Tom Wildcat, and if Farmer Roe does not get rid of Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail, I will. Good morning!” And Doctor Rabbit slipped out of the door and was gone.
LISTENING TO THE BRUSHTAILS
It was a mighty good thing that Doctor Rabbit kept a sharp lookout on his way home from the Woodchuck house. If he had not been watching he might have run right into Mr. and Mrs. Brushtail, who stood talking behind a large elm tree.
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 Brus.h.i.+es down on the other side in a thicket. Then they came back and carried the other two little Brus.h.i.+es 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s, 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 Brus.h.i.+es were leaving the Big Green Woods for good.