Otis James
The Club at Crow's Corner

CHAPTER VII
CHEEKO'S CURIOSITY

Mr. Bunny remained silent a long while, and not until he was reminded that he had broken off his story at a very exciting point did he continue. Then it was to say:

"Even at this day I am surprised that all three of us were not captured by that army of boys, each of whom was armed with one of those disagreeable sling-shots, pea-shooters, or whatever you choose to call them. I was panting from long running, and my wife so excited as hardly to know whether she was on her feet or her ears, while poor little Sonny Bunny was so confused by seeing us in such a state that he actually quivered.

"Of course I had sense enough to know that we hadn't a single second to spare in that neighborhood, and it was up to me to save the family, or go down into the stew with them. I don't like to boast, as do the Squirrels; but yet I must say that, except when we come face to face with Mr. Weasel, we Rabbits can do a powerful lot of thinking in a short time when we are in a hole – or, perhaps I should say, when we want to get into our own particular hole.

"I twisted one of Mrs. Rabbit's ears right sharp, to bring her to her senses quickly, and jumping straight for Sonny Bunny, tossed him around with my nose, as I whispered:

"'Run for your life, Sonny, and run as you never did before. It's up to you to see that your mother gets home before those wicked boys can lay their hands on her, so move lively!'

"Sonny Bunny is a good deal like me in some things, and it was as if the little fellow understood the whole situation in a sniff of your nose. Before you could say Jack Robinson, in case you wanted to, he was showing his mother the way home, his little legs twinkling like drumsticks amid the bushes.

"Mrs. Bunny and Sonny hadn't much more than disappeared when Mr. Man's boy Tommy was almost the same as walking all over me, and I had to do some mighty lively hopping to keep out from under his feet. Now I'm not trying to make myself out the bravest fellow that ever walked; but it is a fact that I had sense enough not to run straight for home, as I knew the rest of the family were doing, and when that busy Tommy caught a glimpse of me, I was steaming off as if we lived in the very middle of the big swamp. Of course he came after me with a whoop and a yell and, if the noise was anything to be judged by, there were more than a hundred other boys close at his heels.

"I wasn't fretting very much just then, because I'd had a breathing spell, to say nothing of knowing that Mrs. Bunny and Sonny were clean out of the muss, so off I went limperty, limperty, limp, taking my own time and leading that crowd of boys and sling-shots straight into the swamp, where I was allowing they'd pitch head over heels into the mud till they were in such shape that their mothers couldn't help whipping them soundly when they got home.

"Mr. Man's boy Tommy wasn't quite so simple as I'd taken him to be, for when he came to the edge of the swamp he fired one shot that never came anywhere near touching me, and yelled to the fellows behind:

"'Hold up, or we'll be in the mud up to our necks! What's the use of chasing a lot of rabbits that aren't worth eating at this time of year, when we can catch more'n a thousand squirrels between now and to-morrow morning?'

"Then all the crowd began to yell – I wonder why it is that boys must make a terrible noise whatever they are doing? – and back the whole of them trooped, heading as if they counted on bringing up at Crow's Corner.

"I didn't have any very important business on hand just then, for it isn't pleasant to go home when Mrs. Bunny is all haired up with excitement, because at such times she seems to think matters may be smoothed by scolding at me, so off I hopped after the yelling, screaming cannibals, counting on finding out what other mischief that boy Tommy had hatched. Of course I kept so far behind that they couldn't see me, and my mouth was stretched from ear to ear in a broad grin, thinking how surprised they'd be to know I was taking my turn at chasing them.

"They struck a bee-line for the club quarters, and on arriving there loitered around with never a thought that there were plenty of chores to be done at the farm, till I was tired of trying to see what was going on, so off I hopped, counting on paying Cheeko a visit to liven him up a bit. I hadn't got more than half-way to his new home when whom should I see but that same squirrel I supposed was so sick he couldn't even flirt his tail!

"'What's all this row about?' he asked, cross as two sticks, and acting as if he blamed me because the little wretches from the farm had been making so much noise.

"I told him all that had happened, and, if you'll believe it, instead of appreciating what I had done in the way of getting my family out of the scrape, he said, with his nose turned way up in the air:

"'You're always trying to make out that you've done something mighty smart, Bunny. I can't see how it was possible for you to act in any way different from what you did. If I'd been there those boys would be singing another kind of a tune by this time.'

"'It seems to me that you've brightened up considerably since Mrs. Bunny dosed you with the herb tea,' I said, speaking a bit crossly, perhaps, for it got on my nerves to have him so pert all of a sudden, and pitching into me just the same as before he got hurt.

"'If I'd taken very much of that nasty tea I'd be dead by this time, and I want you to tell Mrs. Bunny that I'll just about whip the life out of Sonny Bunny if she ever tries to get any more of that stuff down my throat. I was only shaken up a little, and as soon as you meddling people let me alone, I came around all right. Now I'm going to drive those boys out of the club premises. If James Crow can't look after things at such a time, as a president should, I'll teach him a lesson!'

"It provoked me to hear the foolish squirrel talking like that at a time when he'd better have been in bed attending to himself; but I'm so soft-hearted that it really made me feel badly to hear of his anxiety to get into more trouble before he was well out of the scrape with the Professor, and I said in the most friendly way you can imagine:

"'Now look here, Cheeko, it'll be wiser for you to go straight back home and stay there till your coat is mended in better shape, for if one of those boys should get a fair shot at you, as they did at me, there'd be one squirrel the less in the big woods. Why don't you take warning from your poor brother's fate?'

"Now I ask you if I said anything which one friend shouldn't have said to another at such a time, and yet, do you know, Cheeko went away into the air with anger. You'd thought I'd really insulted him; he bristled up his tail, swinging it around over his ears exactly as before he got hurt, and shouted at me:

"'Look here, Bunny Rabbit, I'll have you understand that I don't want any advice from you! What does a burlesque imitation of a see-saw like you know about fellows in my class? From this time on you'll keep your tongue between your teeth when I'm anywhere around, else both your eyes will be knocked into one, and don't you forget it!'

"I had a good deal more than half a mind to tell him I could swallow such as he without standing any chance of being troubled with dyspepsia, or kick him into the middle of next week without straining my legs; but I didn't want to stir up a row, particularly while those boys were so near that they might have taken a hand in it, so off I hopped; but you may be certain I didn't go very far away on account of wanting to see what Cheeko would be foolish enough to do. I hid behind a lot of mullein leaves, where it was possible to see what was going on near Crow's Corner, and it wasn't necessary to wait very long before that foolish squirrel came up against all he was looking for, and a little more.

"Cheeko and I had been talking quite a while, and when I was where a view of the club premises could be had, my surprise was great because not a single boy was to be seen. I had supposed we'd have them loitering around nearly all day, and why they went away so quickly was more than I could make out. It was while I was trying to solve the mystery that I saw, at the very foot of the old oak, the dearest little house that ever was built. Some careless person had left the door wide open, and there, in full view of any dishonest person who might be passing, was a large ear of corn. It seemed queer that the thing should have appeared there so suddenly; but yet I never suspected that Mr. Man's boy Tommy had anything to do with it until I heard Mr. Crow calling out in his hoarsest voice:

"'You'd better get away from that thing, Cheeko Squirrel, unless you're aching to spend the rest of your days in jail!'

"Then it was I saw Cheeko running around and around the house, looking at it from every point, and chattering in that crazy way of his until you would have thought there were at least a dozen squirrels near about.

"'I reckon I can do what I please without any interference from you, Jim Crow!' Cheeko cried with that exasperating chuckle of his. 'I wasn't brought up in these woods to be scared by an owl, or a crow either, for that matter. When I'm wanting advice from you I'll ask for it.'

"'You'd better ask quickly, if there's any idea in your head of going into that place,' Mr. Crow said, never seeming to lose his temper, though it must have been terribly trying for one of his age and experience to have a young thing like Cheeko speak so saucily. 'I saw Mr. Man's boy Tommy when he put that house there, and he took good care that the corn should be seen by any who passed. Now he never has been very careful to do folks a good turn, so I'm advising you to keep your nose out of the place, for it must be a trap of some kind.'

"'I reckon I know as much about what's what as any old crow that ever cawed,' Cheeko said with a laugh, as he ran around to the front of the house and looked in. 'Mr. Man's boy Tommy knows too much to set a trap for me, and I'm going to teach him a lesson on the folly of leaving good corn where I can get my paws on it.'

"'Don't go in there, Cheeko!' I cried, forgetting how impertinent he had been, and a moment later felt sorry I had spoken, for he cried as he shook his tail with that seasick motion:

"'Mind your own business, old hopperty-skip!'

"Then he made one leap for the corn, counting, I suppose, on dragging it out in a hurry, but he hadn't much more than touched it when bang! down came the door, with Mr. Cheeko inside, and he had found out whether Mr. Man's boy Tommy knew too much to set a trap for him.

"'That settles Cheeko!' Mr. Crow cried from his perch on the tree. 'He'll stay where he is till Tommy gets ready to take him out.'

"'Can't we open the thing?' I cried, running toward the foot of the tree, arriving there just as Jimmy Hedgehog stuck his nose out of a hole near at hand to see what was going on. 'Tip it over, Jimmy; Cheeko is inside!'"

Just then a very small rabbit thrust his ears out from amid the leaves near at hand, and Mr. Bunny leaped down from the log as he cried in a tone of joyful surprise:

"Why, here's my little Sonny Bunny! Whatever is he doing so far from home?"

CHAPTER VIII
JIMMY HEDGEHOG'S ESCAPE

Mr. Bunny Rabbit hopped around his little Sonny, rubbing noses with him, smoothing the rumpled fur on his back, and otherwise behaving as if he had not seen him for a very long time. When these marks of affection had been displayed, Sonny rose on his hind feet as if to look his father directly in the face, and, wrinkling his nose in a peculiar manner, seemingly began to tell a very long story, to which Mr. Bunny listened attentively, wagging his ears now and then in token of admiration or disapproval.

When Sonny had finally come to an end of the recital, he crouched on all fours directly under his father's nose and began nibbling at some young raspberry leaves which were growing conveniently near at hand, looking very much as if he was waiting for an answer to his long story or explanation, whichever it may have been.

Mr. Bunny stroked his chin as if in deep thought for several seconds; peered cautiously around for signs of danger, scrutinized closely every bush and clump of ferns in the vicinity, after which he began to talk earnestly to Sonny Bunny. It surely seemed as if he were giving him certain explicit directions concerning what should be done, for when he had come to a close the father and son rubbed noses once more, after which the youngster hopped away while Mr. Bunny resumed his position of story-teller on the log.

"Nice looking young rabbit, isn't he?" Mr. Bunny asked as he watched solicitously until Sonny disappeared from view amid the foliage. "No fellow could ask for a better son than my little Sonny Bunny; I can count on his doing exactly what I tell him, and he never goes away from home without asking permission from his mother or me.

"Why did he come? Oh, his mother sent him to tell me that Mr. Man had just gone out with his gun, and Towser tagging on behind. She was afraid he had started off to find me simply because I took a few carrots and some lettuce the other day. I'll have my eye on him sharp enough; but it was taking a big risk to send little Sonny out at such a time. I explained to him exactly the route he must take when going home, and cautioned the dear fellow about going into the open without first making certain that crafty dog wasn't anywhere near at hand.

"Oh, yes, you want to hear the rest of the story about Cheeko. Well, there isn't a great deal more to tell, I'm sorry to say – that is, about his being trapped by Mr. Man's boy Tommy, though he did get away after a long and painful experience which has taught him a valuable lesson, so Mr. Crow says.

"As I was saying when Sonny Bunny interrupted us, I yelled for Jimmy Hedgehog to tip the little house over with his nose; but you know what a clumsy thing he is, and it seemed as if I should fly before he got ready to make a try. While he was poking around to see how it could be done the easiest, I scratched away the dirt with my hind feet, making a hole for it to tumble into, and, last, when Jimmy had made up his mind, I shouted for Cheeko to look after himself when the thing fell, so's to be ready to jump out the minute the door opened.

"Now you'd better believe Jimmy and I worked hard and fast, for there was no telling how soon those miserable boys might be back, and all the time old Mr. Crow was perched on the top of the oak tree, giving orders as if he were the captain of the biggest vessel that ever floated.

"'Get your noses further under the house!' he screamed when it seemed to me as if my whole head was in the dirt, and I'd strangle to death if I'd rooted the least bit deeper. 'Why don't you have some get up and go to you?' he yelled again and again until I just couldn't stand it any longer, even if he was the president of the club, and up and told him I wouldn't ruffle a hair till he got through with his foolish noise.

"That made him real kind of huffy, and while he was shaking himself to make his feathers stand out like Jimmy's quills, we rooted at the house till it surely seemed I'd dropped a stitch in my back, and over she went, plump into the hole I'd dug. Now wouldn't you have thought that the door would open when the thing fell? Cheeko declared that he couldn't see the least little bit of a crack when it tipped, and after that it was all over, so far as Cheeko Squirrel was concerned, because the house was bottom up, resting on the top of the door in such a way that a dozen rabbits and hedgehogs, with more'n a hundred crows to boss 'em, couldn't have moved it.

"Jimmy and I rooted and rooted the best we knew how, with Cheeko coaxing and crying all the time, promising never to be impudent to us again if we'd only get him out of the terrible fix; but it was no use. He was in a bad box and there was nothing we could do to help him.

"'We've both worn the skin all off our noses and can't stir it a little bit,' I said, feeling mighty sorry for the little fellow, even if he had been rude to me whenever I had tried to do him a good turn.

"'Try it just once more, Bunny, dear!' he cried, and his voice sounded as if there were tears in it. 'Don't let that wicked boy, Tommy, carry me off to one of his miserable prisons!'

"'You wouldn't take the advice of those who were older and more experienced in the world and now you must pay the price for being headstrong,' Mr. Crow cawed, and it made me provoked to hear him reading a lesson to poor Cheeko when he was in such a peck of trouble, so I said, speaking as easy as I knew how:

"'There's no use telling him about what has been done, Mr. President. He knows all that only too well, and we'd better spend what little time we've got before Mr. Man's boy Tommy comes back in trying to make him feel better.'

"'He would have the dose, no matter what we could say, and, according to my way of thinking, it's high time he was brought up with a sharp turn, for he had got it into his head that he owned pretty near all the big woods,' Mr. Crow said, and then he flew off to watch for Tommy, so's to give us fair warning, for however sharp the old fellow may talk his heart is always in the right place when it comes to helping us wood folks who behave ourselves.

"Well, Jimmy and I kept on trying to turn the box over again until we heard Mr. Crow calling out that the boys were coming and then it was up to us to get out of the way unless we were willing to go further with Cheeko than would be at all pleasant.

"'We've got to skip,' I whispered to him, putting my mouth close to the crack of the door and before I could get away he cried, oh! so mournfully:

"'Please don't leave me, Bunny, dear, when I'm in such terrible trouble!'

"Dear knows, I'd have stayed by him until the cows came home if I could have done the poor fellow any good, but I couldn't, and the tears almost blinded me as I hopped off into the bushes just in time to be well hidden before that gang of young ruffians came up.

"'Hurrah! We've got a squirrel!' Mr. Man's boy Tommy cried as he picked up the box and squinted into it. 'Hurry and we'll put him into that cage we made yesterday!'

"Then off the whole crowd ran, and poor Cheeko with them. I'd forgotten all about Jimmy Hedgehog, because of feeling so sorry for Cheeko, and was wiping my eyes with my ears, when he squeaked, poking his nose out of the hole he had dodged into when the boys came up:

"'What's the reason we shouldn't go and see what they do with Cheeko? It won't be much of a trick to keep out of sight and follow them at the same time.'

"I hadn't anything in particular to do just then, and, if you'll believe it, I forgot that Mrs. Bunny had told me, not more than half an hour before, that Mr. Man was out trying to kill something.

"Off Jimmy and I went, Mr. Crow calling after us as he saw us hopping along in the direction of Mr. Man's barn:

"'You'd better take care of your own hides, instead of following that foolish Cheeko, who hasn't got a thing more than he deserved!'

"'You're a hard-hearted old bird!' Jimmy cried, and a deaf man could have told by the sound of his voice that he was angry. 'There's just a chance that we can help the poor fellow.'

"'Help nothing!' Mr. Crow cried sharply, and off he flew, as much as to say that he washed his claws of us both.

"Well, I couldn't help feeling just a bit nervous after the old bird had warned us; but yet, strange as it may seem, even then I didn't think of what Mrs. Bunny had told me about Mr. Man. I followed Jimmy, though, and it didn't take us long to come up so near the robbers that we could hear them telling what they counted on doing with poor Cheeko. From all I could make out, they had some kind of prison with a wheel in it, and there he'd be made to run round and round till he couldn't run any more.

"Of course we had to hang back when coming within sight of the barn, and then I coaxed Jimmy to go back to the old oak; but he allowed he'd see the last of Cheeko no matter what might happen, and it really seemed as if I ought to stay with him after all he'd done in the way of helping me with the little house, so I told him I'd hang round for a spell; but I'd draw the line at going any nearer the barn.

"Well, we stayed there in the bushes a while without being able to see very much, although we could hear the boys talking, and then Jimmy said, speaking as if he were all out of patience with me:

"'I'm going to see what they are doing; if you're afraid you can wait here till I come back.'

"I said all I could to prevent him from running his nose into danger, as Cheeko had done, but he wouldn't listen, so I crept further into the bushes and off he toddled. How long I stayed there it would be hard to say, but it seemed as if two or three hours had passed when I heard Mr. Crow saying, his voice sounding as if he were a long distance away:

"'Look out for your hide, Jimmy Hedgehog, for here comes Mr. Man with a gun and a dog!'

"Then of course I remembered what Mrs. Bunny had told me and although I was so frightened that my teeth chattered I couldn't help creeping out a bit to see what Jimmy was doing. I had just got into a place where it was possible to have a full view of the barn, when whom should I see but that foolish Jimmy standing on his hind legs looking from one side to the other, but never behind him where was Mr. Man creeping along as if he were making ready to shoot.

"Oh me! oh my! how I tried to scream for him to turn around, but my lungs are not very strong, as you know, and I couldn't have made him hear me if he hadn't been half as far away, but Mr. Crow was on the watch and he screamed as he flew down almost directly across Jimmy's face:

"'Can't you see an inch behind your back, silly beast? I've been telling you over and over again that Mr. Man was out looking for such as you!'

"You never saw a hedgehog jump as Jimmy did then! He hadn't paid any attention to anything except what the boys were doing, and now he made up for lost time. It seemed to me as if he turned more than four somersaults before he struck the ground, and even while he was leaping bang! went Mr. Man's gun. I couldn't see whether my friend had been hit or not – dear, dear, you'll have to excuse me a minute more, for there is Mrs. Bunny shaking her ears at me. Now, what do you suppose she has got on her mind?"

Then Mr. Bunny jumped off the log hurriedly running toward a bunch of ferns which were swaying to and fro, although there was not a breath of wind stirring and there was nothing to be done save wait until he should be at liberty to conclude the story.