Kitabı oku: «The Club at Crow's Corner», sayfa 3

CHAPTER V
A MEETING OF THE CLUB

Mr. Bunny Rabbit remained silent a long while, as if occupied with painful thoughts, although in view of what he said later, it was difficult to understand why he should have been sad, for there have been but few of his family who, having received a visit from Mr. Fox, live to tell the tale.

Then he continued:

"Mrs. Bunny was so frightened by what I told her that it looked very much as if she would die of fright; but Sonny Bunny and I rubbed her ears hard, until we finally brought her around to that point where she was able to look danger in the face as one of our kind should, but, I am sorry to say, seldom does.

"'If you could prevent the old robber from getting in for a time, Sonny and I might be able to dig out at the other end,' she said at length, and I fancied her idea was a good one; but how it might be possible to keep Mr. Foxy Fox back was a hard question to answer.

"However, it was a case of putting my best foot forward, and I crept back down the hallway, so frightened that I had the hardest kind of work to walk straight. The murdering old scoundrel was scratching dirt at a lively rate when I came as near the front door as I dared, and it didn't take more than half an eye to see that he'd soon be able to get considerably more than his nose inside.

"Then the idea came to me that I might do a little scratching, and, turning around until my tail was pointed straight for the front door, I kept my hind feet at work till Foxy began to cough and choke at a rate that made me feel as if I were doing a pretty good job.

"'Look here, you long-eared old hopper, you! Stop kicking up so much dust, or I'll chew you into shoe-strings when I get at you!' he cried, and I knew from the sounds that he was trying to wipe the dirt from his eyes.

"'Yes, and that's what you count on doing whether I kick up a dust or not,' I said, speaking as if I were as brave and big as Senator Bear. 'If you eat rabbit stew for supper to-night, you'll have to work for it, that's what!'

"It was quite a spell before he went to work again, and I sat there ready to use my hind feet the minute he had his nose anywhere near the door, knowing all the while that Mrs. Bunny and Sonny were working for dear life at the other end of the house.

"I hadn't much more than begun to scratch gravel again when I heard the sharpest kind of a yelp from Mr. Fox, and I couldn't help laughing out loud, for I thought I'd most likely sent a stone into his eye; but I soon found out that wasn't the cause of it.

"Now what do you think had happened? Why, Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog Towser had happened along just in the nick of time, so far as I was concerned, and dear me! how he was jumping into Mr. Foxy Fox! Talk about fighting! I never heard such a row. As I afterward learned, nearly every member of our club was awakened by the racket, and you might have searched them all without finding anything like pity for Foxy.

"We never had any love for Mr. Towser before; but now it seemed as if he were the very nicest kind of animal that ever lived. I knew Mr. Fox was bound to get the worst of it, so back I ran to tell Mrs. Bunny. When she heard the good news, instead of sitting down with me to laugh, she said real sharp-like:

"'Don't get to feeling good too soon, Bunny. Nobody knows how many wicked animals will come around to see what is going on, and when Mr. Towser finishes the job we may find ourselves nearer to a stew than before. Sonny and I have nearly finished making another door, and the best thing you can do is to close up the front one while Mr. Foxy Fox and Mr. Towser are so busy. Then we'll go over and visit your cousins till we can build a new house, for I wouldn't stay in this one another night.'

"When Mrs. Bunny really sets her mind on anything, the easiest way for me is to give in to her, and back I went, scratching the dirt against the door the best I knew how, though I was aching to listen, so's to know how long Mr. Fox held out.

"I hadn't more than done my part of the work in good shape when Mrs. Bunny came to tell me that she and Sonny Bunny had fixed things at the other end, so I went with her because she was dragging me by one ear in a way that wasn't comfortable. We found my cousins hopping around outside their home listening to the row, for Foxy was taking on at such a rate that you might have heard him half a mile away, and none of us went to bed until the sudden stillness told that Mr. Foxy Fox wouldn't steal another chicken, nor ever disturb a member of our family.

"It wasn't more than daybreak next morning when Mr. Crow sent one of Cheeko's brothers around to tell the members of the club that there was to be a meeting, on important business, as soon as the sun came out strong enough to prevent any of the 'Squire's family from showing themselves.

"I didn't stop for breakfast, but started right off, and on arriving at the big oak found almost everybody I knew, except those club members who don't care to meet at meal time. Mr. Crow was perched on the very tiptoppest branch of the tree, looking as if he had so much business on hand that he couldn't speak without forgetting some of it, and I asked little Cocky Robin if he knew why the meeting was to be held.

"'Don't you know what happened last night?' he asked, looking as if he thought something was wrong in my head.

"'I've got good reasons to know, seeing's how I was right in the thick of it,' I said, bristling up my fur so's to make me look mighty fierce. 'If it hadn't been for me Mr. Towser wouldn't have had such a chance at Mr. Fox.'

"'What did you have to do with it?' he asked, cocking his head in what I always thought a most impudent manner. Do you know, he puts on more airs and graces than a peacock, simply because he's the only bird that has a red vest to go with a brown coat? Of course I told him the whole story, though there wasn't any need for me to say that I'd been frightened nearly out of my wits, and before I'd finished Mr. Crow called the meeting to order.

"You know how well the old fellow loves to talk, and it seemed on this morning as if his tongue ran on wheels. He began by telling all about the row which Mr. Weasel kicked up with the 'Squire, and it seems, according to his story, that the head of the Owl family had been killed, as he had a good right to be after Mr. Weasel got a grip on his neck. Then he spoke about the trouble Mr. Foxy Fox had caused us members of the club, and announced that the long-tailed villain was dead, too, with his skin, most likely, nailed up on Mr. Man's barn that very minute.

"Never a word did Mr. Crow say about what I'd done toward fixing Foxy so he couldn't do any more mischief, and try as I might, I couldn't get in a word edgewise in the way of explaining that if it hadn't been for me Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog Towser wouldn't have had a chance to get the best of Mr. Foxy Fox.

"All hands of us were pretty well tired out before Mr. Crow got right down to the business of the meeting, and I was seriously thinking of hopping off home without waiting to hear why we had been called together, when he came to the point.

"'There's no more influential club in the big woods than the Fur and Feather Association,' he said, speaking in a dreadfully hoarse voice because of having talked so long that his throat was dry. 'It is time we took an active part in outside affairs, else we may expect to lose many a night's sleep by such a rumpus as was kicked up last night.'

"'What do you count on doing about it?' Mr. Blue Jay, who had come in late, asked with a laugh. 'If Mr. Weasel meets 'Squire Owl when he's out on one of his killings, how can we stop him from murdering the pompous old bird who has done some harm to nearly every one of us? And if Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog Towser comes across Mr. Foxy Fox when he's up to mischief, how can we lend a hand, even if we want to? It seems to me that last night's work was a good thing for us members of the Fur and Feathers, and we're the last who should be mourning over it.'

"Mr. Crow looked at Mr. Jay savagely; but it takes more than a hard look to disturb that blue-coated fellow, and instead of being frightened, he actually laughed in the president's face.

"'We haven't come together to mourn because the 'Squire and Mr. Foxy Fox got themselves killed,' Mr. Crow said, ruffling up his feathers till he looked a good deal like Mr. Porcupine. 'Our duty is to take such measures as will prevent people like Mr. Weasel and Mr. Man's boy Tommy's dog Towser from disturbing the peace. This part of the big woods belongs by rights to this club, and we must take such steps as will prevent evilly disposed people from jumping down on those of us who mind our own business without working harm to any one else.'

"Now do you know that seemed to sound very comical to Mr. Jay, and he didn't have any better manners than to laugh right out in meeting, making such a racket with that shrill voice of his that you'd have thought more than a dozen birds were trying to see which could make the most noise.

"Mr. Crow waited till the ill-mannered Jay had quieted down a bit, and I could see that the old fellow had all he could do to keep his temper, which is not to be wondered at when you consider that the president of the club was only trying to protect the members against those who had no business in that part of the big woods. Then he said, turning to some of us of the Fur section, who were not so impudent as to interrupt:

"'There is no reason why we should not forbid certain birds and animals from venturing on these premises, and once that has been done we shall live in peace, to say nothing of being able to sleep the whole night through without interruption.'

"There was so much good sense in this remark that I clapped my paws to show my appreciation of it, when suddenly we heard a dreadfully rough voice cry:

"'Are you foolish creatures really thinking it'll do any good to forbid our doing this or that?'

"Looking up quickly, whom should I see but the Professor, who was slowly circling around the tree as if trying to make up his mind which of us he would invite to breakfast. Oh me! oh my! what a scurrying there was to get under cover! I went into the thorn bushes head first, nearly scratching my eyes out, and Cheeko's brother followed close at my heels, while as for Mr. Jay, he flew off with a screech, for more than one member of his family had gone to dinner with the Professor and never come back.

"Then, if you'll believe it, that miserable hawk lighted on the very lowest branch of the tree, where he could have an eye on all of us who had taken to cover, and Cheeko's brother said to me, his teeth chattering with fear so badly that I could hardly understand a word:

"'Now we're in the soup for certain! If one of us makes the littlest kind of move that villainous old Professor will pounce down. I wish Mr. Crow had attended to his own private matters instead of calling us together where, rather than protecting ourselves, we're likely to give that old scoundrel a breakfast.'

"'Keep under the sharpest thorns, no matter how badly your coat may be torn,' I whispered, and the Professor cocked his eye at me in a way that told he was figuring how he could best get his claws in my back."

At this moment Mr. Bunny chanced to see a particularly tempting bunch of clover, and he leaped toward it, without seeming to consider that it would have been more polite first to bring his story to a close.

CHAPTER VI
MR. MAN'S BOY TOMMY

"I suppose you think I'd have shown better manners if I'd asked you to excuse me before I lit out for that clover, eh?" Mr. Bunny Rabbit asked, as he hopped up on the log with his mouth filled with clover heads and leaves. "The trouble is that you don't know much of anything about it," he added, chewing meditatively on the green delicacy, while he gazed at a clump of ferns as if fancying it concealed an enemy.

"If you were better acquainted with us wood folk, you'd know that Jimmy Hedgehog is hiding over there in the ferns. Watch and you can see them waving directly against the wind, which tells that something heavy is moving among them. When I caught sight of those delicious clover heads I could see that young hedgehog was getting ready to go for them. The only thing that held him back was the fear that you might try to make trouble for him. I had to scoop them up lively, or they'd gone into Jimmy's stomach while you were asking questions. I may not be able to make such a terrible show of fighting; but when it comes to getting the best of whatever is being passed around your Mr. Bunny Rabbit doesn't often get left, more especially if Jimmy Hedgehog is the only fellow he has to beat.

"Oh, yes, I was telling how the club meeting wound up when Professor Hawk came around to make trouble. Well, as I was saying, Cheeko's brother and I were snuggled together under the thorns, watching that wicked bird out of both eyes and thanking our lucky stars that the old 'Squire wasn't alive to take a hand in the game. Then that foolish squirrel got it into his head that he could run faster than the Professor could fly, and declared that he wasn't going to get the life scratched out of him simply because a hungry bird had made up his mind to eat us.

"'I'm going right out, as a decent fellow should who doesn't want others to call him a coward, and you'll see how I'll get the best of the smartest hawk that ever lived," he said, shaking his tail as well as he could amid the thorns.

"'Now, you're talking like Cheeko and showing yourself to be just as foolish,' I said, trying hard not to let him see that I was angry because he hadn't better sense. 'If your brother hadn't tried to prove that he wasn't a coward he wouldn't be sick in bed this very minute. You'd better stay where you are, for you won't find many such snug hiding places as this, not if you search the big woods from one end to the other.'

"'If I couldn't take care of myself better than you do I'd hide my head,' he said, pert as you please. 'Of course, it isn't right to expect very much of a fellow whose hind legs are twice as long as his front ones, and I don't suppose you can help being afraid of your own shadow.'

"Now, I'm willing to admit that I'm not the bravest animal that ever lived; but it isn't pleasant to be talked to in such a manner by an impudent youngster like Cheeko's brother, and I resolved that I wouldn't open my mouth again, no matter what folly he might attempt. Because I held my tongue he thought he'd make me ashamed of myself, and went on worse than ever, saying that he wasn't afraid of the Professor, with all his family behind him; that he wouldn't stay among the thorns any longer than he pleased and a lot of cheap talk like that which went to prove that he was as impolite as he was silly.

"All the while he ran on like that he kept working his way through the thorns, and I could see that the Professor had his eye on him sharp as a needle. Cheeko's family are all alike, forever thinking they must do something, no matter how foolish, to show that they are dreadfully brave, when, according to my way of thinking, they are only proving themselves silly.

"Well, Cheeko's brother kept creeping nearer and nearer to the edge of the thorns, looking back at me every once in a while, as if believing I'd be scared out of my wits because he was so venturesome; but I never opened my mouth and finally he said with a flirt of his tail:

"'Now's the time when I will show that old hawk how much he knows about catching squirrels!"

"It was exactly as Cheeko would have spoken, and I could but feel sorry for him even though he had insulted me. He stood at the edge of the thorn bushes a minute, twisting and turning his tail as if he wanted to attract the attention of every member of the club to his folly, and then out he went, running the best he knew how across the open space at the foot of the tree.

"Now if you've ever had any acquaintance with the Professor, you know he's not slow by any means, and Cheeko's brother had given him all the notice he needed that the foolish squirrel was going to show off before the other wood folks. Mr. Weasel himself couldn't have moved more quickly than the Professor did. I saw him twist his head as if to get a better view, and then down he came faster than you could wink your eye.

"Of course Cheeko's brother didn't have half a chance; he hadn't much more than well begun to run when the Professor had him in his claws, and oh me! oh my! how that squirrel did squeal! It wasn't any use to howl after he'd just the same as coaxed the Professor to catch him, and there wasn't a member of the club who didn't insist that he'd been served exactly right.

"'If an animal is brave there isn't any need of his running around telling people,' Mr. Crow said when the Professor and Cheeko's brother had disappeared. 'But if he sticks his nose into danger just for the sake of showing folks how clever he is he not only shows that he is mistaken as to the meaning of the word brave, but has proven himself very foolish.'

"You may believe it or not, but it's the solemn truth that there wasn't one of the wood folk who felt sorry for Cheeko's brother, and that's saying a good deal, for as a rule we're all broken up when anything like that happens, especially when it is done right on the club's premises.

"'Cheeko himself will come to just such an end, and for that you may take my word,' Mr. Jay said as he straightened out his feathers, which had been ruffled a good bit when he flew off so suddenly to get out of the Professor's way.

"'We'll hope that the lesson he has just had will teach him to have better sense in the future,' Mr. Crow replied, for the old fellow always looks on the bright side of everything, and Mr. Jay added in an angry tone:

"'But it won't and that you may depend on. I've lost all patience with the Squirrel family. They go chattering and scolding around as if they owned the whole of the big woods, and I've yet to see one of them raise a paw toward helping a neighbor.'

"Before any one else could speak we heard a terrible noise among the bushes and had no more than well hidden ourselves when up comes Mr. Man's boy Tommy with one of those miserable slings on a forked stick, and it went without saying that he had a lot of small stones in his pocket ready to shoot at the first one of us, even including Mr. Crow, who should show himself. Of course, he can't kill anything with such a toy; but it is possible for him to hurt a fellow mighty bad, as I know to my cost.

"Why, do you know, not a great while ago I was hopping across the path that leads to Mr. Man's barn, when that wretched boy aimed straight for me, and, what's a great deal worse, hit me with a small stone just behind the ears. I really thought for the moment that I had got what I'd never recover from! I did manage to hobble away, of course, else I wouldn't be here to-day; but my head ached for two or three days as though it would split open. I can't for the life of me imagine why boys find so much sport in hurting animals.

"Well, there was the boy Tommy, and in his hand was the sling, with a little stone in it ready to be fired. Mr. Crow had crept around the trunk of the tree, hoping to keep out of sight; but the boy, looking for something to shoot at, espied the old bird, and in another second the president of the club flew away crying 'Caw, caw, caw' with all his strength. Mr. Man's boy Tommy shot at him, but Mr. Crow wasn't there, so he didn't get hit.

"It seemed to me that the moment had come when I should take to my heels, for I was hidden only by a few mullein leaves, and Tommy wouldn't have to hunt very long before he stumbled right over me. While he was putting another stone in the sling I jumped out from under the leaves, and headed straight for home, but unluckily for me, the boy got a glimpse of the tip of my tail, short though it is, as I darted through a clump of alders.

"Now it so happened that lying on the ground where he could get at it handily was a piece of half-decayed wood, which had most likely fallen from the big oak a long while before, and, if you'll believe it, that boy had time to pick it up and shy the thing at me before I got out of sight. Not once in a hundred times could he have hit me; but it so happened that this was the unfortunate once, and I was knocked head over heels into the brook, so nearly stunned that I was almost drowned before I came to myself.

"When I did get my senses that miserable boy was just reaching out his hand to pick me up, and you never saw a rabbit struggle as I did then! Being in the water, and not knowing how to swim, it was quite a task to get out quickly. More than once he had his fingers on my ears; but each time I contrived to wriggle away, and at the very moment when it seemed as if I must give up and go into the stew or pie, as his mother should decide, I gave him the slip.

"I was wet as a drowned rat; the mud stuck to my hair until it seemed as if my coat were twice as heavy as usual, and I was sore all over from the blow; but yet I could run faster than he, and if ever a rabbit put his best foot forward, it was I! I had never believed he could move as quickly as he did then, and no matter how I struggled he kept uncomfortably near my heels till just as I darted around a clump of mullein stalks whom should I come plump upon but Mrs. Rabbit herself.

"'Gracious me, Bunny, what a disgraceful condition you are in!' she cried, holding up both front paws and getting ready to read me one of her long lectures; but I swung her around by the ears as I said, speaking queerly, I suppose, because of breathing so hard after the long chase:

"'Don't stop here to talk if you want to save your skin! Mr. Man's boy Tommy has nearly killed me, and he can't be far away this very minute. Run, run for your life!'

"Sometimes Mrs. Rabbit is a very sensible animal, and on this occasion she took my advice, running at full speed, especially when she heard Tommy cry:

"'By Jiminy! Now I've got two rabbits! Come on, fellers, the woods are full of 'em!'

"Of course we knew by the words that there was more than one boy out with slings, and I was so tired that it didn't seem as if I could run another inch! When I was knocked into the brook I somehow was turned around, so that I was headed away from home, and we had a long, long distance to go before there was the littlest kind of a show for safety. It seemed as if matters were just as bad as they could be; but it appears that they were not, for just then who should pop out of some tall grass but my poor little Sonny Bunny, and those dreadful boys so close behind that I could almost hear them breathe."

At this point Mr. Bunny ceased speaking, and began to chew a straw, as if seeing in his mind's eye the picture of that wild race for life.