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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb8537e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64162 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64162) diff --git a/old/64162-0.txt b/old/64162-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4cb43c2..0000000 --- a/old/64162-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2176 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Sins of Silvertip the Fox, by John Breck - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Sins of Silvertip the Fox - -Author: John Breck - -Illustrator: William T. Andrews - -Release Date: December 31, 2020 [eBook #64162] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Roger Frank - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX *** - - - THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Told at Twilight Stories - By JOHN BRECK - - MOSTLY ABOUT NIBBLE THE BUNNY - NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS - THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX - TAD COON’S TRICKS - THE WAVY TAILED WARRIOR - TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE - THE BAD LITTLE OWLS - THE JAY BIRD WHO WENT TAME - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration: Silvertip wades across the pond.] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Told at Twilight Stories - - The Sins of Silvertip the Fox - - by - John Breck - - Illustrated by - William T. Andrews - - Garden City New York - Doubleday, Page & Company - - 1923 - COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF - TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, - INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN - - COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES - AT - THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y - - First Edition - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -CONTENTS - - I. How Nibble Rescued the Red Cow - II. Why Tommy ’Most Lost His Temper - III. The Red Cow’s Secret - IV. Why Louie Thomson Didn’t Enjoy His Visit - V. Nibble Tells One Secret and Hears Another - VI. A Game of Tag in Tommy’s Barn - VII. The White Cow Begins a Story - VIII. How the Man’s Wife Made the Compact with the Cows - IX. How a Bunny Undertook to Hunt a Fox - X. The Wicked Plot of the Bad Little Owls - XI. Why the Little Owls’ Plans Went Wrong - XII. How Long Ears Heard Bad News - XIII. How the Great Hunt Ended - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - Silvertip wades across the pond - Tommy finds a trap - Nibble and Muskrat visit the Red Cow - The Red Cow walked around and around - Silvertip trotted past with the poor chicken - There was Nibble, perched on top of the partition - Nibble visits the chicken coop - Silvertip hid under the culvert - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX - - - CHAPTER I - HOW NIBBLE RESCUED THE RED COW - -Never before, in the early, early spring, had there been so much -excitement down at Doctor Muskrat’s Pond. Of course, spring’s the season -for visitors. They were always on the lookout for old friends winging up -from the south. The Beautiful Duck and his mate, who’d warned Nibble -Rabbit about the Terrible Storm, stopped in to wish everyone a happy -summer. Then they laughingly beaked their way northward through a flurry -of late snow. Bad weather couldn’t scare them now. - -They kept a lookout for old enemies, too, as wise Woodsfolk always must. -But there was one visitor who puzzled them. Was he an enemy, or was he a -friend? Doctor Muskrat himself couldn’t say. Or rather, he wouldn’t. But -that wasn’t what started all the discussion. - -The visitor was Tommy Peele. And his old dog Watch said he owned the -Woods and Fields. Now did that mean he owned the Woodsfolk who lived in -them? That’s what everyone wanted to know. For the Woodsfolk were wild. -Could a wild beast ever belong to any one? Doctor Muskrat had never -heard of such a thing. - -“I certainly wouldn’t mind,” chirped Chewee the Chickadee. “I get a full -crop ’most every time I see him.” - -“I guess you’d mind if he locked you up like he did Nibble,” remarked -Chaik Jay. “That’s what it means to belong to him.” - -“No, it doesn’t,” contradicted Nibble. (He really knew more about the -little boy than any one else. He hadn’t liked being locked up, but he -did like Tommy.) “Watch says I belong to him just the same out of my -cage as I did in it. And he feeds me just the same, too.” - -“Hmm!” sniffed Doctor Muskrat. He was wondering if it was that way with -traps. ’Cause you remember Tommy’d caught him in one, and then let him -go again. And Tommy’d fed him, too. - -“You know,” said Nibble, “all the beasts up at the barn say——” And then -for the first time he heard the swishing in the bulrushes behind him. - -“Ow!” he squealed. And he jumped. For the starey eyes of the cross Red -Cow came peering through them. - -“Swish!” went Doctor Muskrat through his hole in the ice. “Flutter!” -went the scary wings of Chewee the Chickadee, and even Chaik the -Bluejay, who isn’t afraid of many things, went off with a startled -“squawk,” while Nibble Rabbit dashed through a tunnel he knew in the -Quail’s Thicket. But you know Nibble. First he’s scared—and then he’s -curious. As soon as he was safely hidden he stopped to listen. “Stupid -beast,” he said to himself. “Why couldn’t she have waited until we got -done talking?” - -“M-m-moo!” lowed the Red Cow in a troubled voice. - -Nibble came creeping back again. Pretty soon he sat up and stretched his -neck to get a good look at her. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. -“Is anything the matter?” - -“M-m-m-yes,” moaned the Red Cow, swinging her head restlessly from side -to side and looking terribly troubled. “I don’t know just what it is, -but I’m all afraid! Isn’t there any place where wolves don’t come? Or -Men?” - -“No Man comes here,” said Nibble, “’cepting only Tommy Peele—and he’s -just a little one.” Then, because the Red Cow looked so unhappy, he -burst out cheerfully, “Come on. I’ll show you where you can hide, even, -from him.” - -But she looked at him very doubtfully with her near-sighted eyes. -“M-m-no-no,” she hesitated. “You haven’t forgotten that I tried to kill -you when you hung that flapping thing on my horn.” She meant the door of -his cage that she jerked off to get at the carrot Tommy Peele had given -Nibble for breakfast. But she insisted on thinking that he had fastened -the door to her. She was a very stupid thing. - -“That’s all right,” he explained. - -“You let me out of the cage, so we’re all fair and square.” - -By this time she was so puzzled she couldn’t remember anything. But she -could tell that Nibble wasn’t angry, so she followed him. And he showed -her a fine dry spot on the top of a little hillock, all shut in by -clustering thorns. For Nibble wouldn’t trust anything but the Pickery -Things for even a cow to hide in. - -There she stayed and there she slept very comfortably. Even the cold -wind that came up with the sunset couldn’t reach her. And Nibble dug -down a little way into the mud and ate the top off a mallow root and a -couple of plantains for his supper. And then he had to lick himself very -dry and clean before he popped into his own comfortable hole. - -He slept late next morning because he’d stayed awake puzzling over that -Red Cow’s doings the night before. But as soon as he had washed his face -he set out to find her, for he’d thought of a lot more questions to ask. -And there she was, crouched down close in her hiding-place, with her -eyes bigger and starier than ever. “Hssh!” she snorted through her wide, -windy nostrils. “There was a Man! But he didn’t see me at all!” - - - CHAPTER II - WHY TOMMY ’MOST LOST HIS TEMPER - -“Nonsense!” said Nibble Rabbit. “There wasn’t any Man. They don’t come -here. You must have had a bad dream.” - -“No, I didn’t,” she insisted. “I was wide awake and I saw him as plain -as plain.” - -Nibble sniffed the air, but the wind had blown all the scent away, so he -didn’t believe her. When he turned to her again she was trying to eat -the twigs that she could reach with her long tongue. “Hey! Don’t you -know better than that?” he demanded. “You’ll get pickers in your mouth, -and, what’s much worse, you’ll feel awfully queer and sick inside of -you. Doctor Muskrat says you should only eat that tree for medicine.” - -Nibble felt very wise and grown-up beside this foolish cow. She wasn’t -really wild and she wasn’t really tame. Poor beast! No wonder she was -scary. She didn’t know enough to be either thing properly. “Come along!” -he ordered. “I’ll take you down for a drink and then you can eat the -willows. If you’re like the partridge you can nip the tips off a -cottonwood that your long neck will reach up to.” - -So the Red Cow hove herself up to her feet, tail first, as is the custom -of cows, and followed him obediently. And he showed her the way to the -warm spring that was Doctor Muskrat’s front door. - -It was a good thing he was polite and let her drink first. For as soon -as she began dragging her clumsy toes in the muck to spread them far -enough apart so she could get her nose into the water—“Clang!” went the -cold steely jaws of another trap. - -She jumped back, snorting and waving her tassely tail, while she cocked -her eyes to try and see it. But Nibble wasn’t paying any attention to -her. He was thumping and bumping as hard as ever he could with his soft -furry feet and calling “Doctor Muskrat! Doctor Muskrat! Doctor Muskrat!” - -“Eh?” said the old doctor as his nose came up out of the water (and the -cow snorted at him harder than ever), “what’s all this?” He sniffed at -her inquiringly. - -“Oh, Doctor Muskrat,” Nibble almost cried. “Look! It’s more jaws!” - -“Ah!” The old beast examined them wisely and shook his head. “What did I -tell you? You can’t trust even Tommy Peele! He was just pretending to -make friends with us so we’d forget to be afraid and he could catch us -again!” - -“I guess you’re right,” murmured Nibble. But he felt very badly about -it—for he really liked Tommy. - -Just then the Red Cow spoke up. She didn’t understand Doctor Muskrat, -but she caught Tommy’s name. And although she didn’t like Tommy herself, -even a stupid cow knows enough to be honest. “I told you I saw that -Man,” she said to Nibble. “Well, it surely wasn’t Tommy!” - -“It wasn’t, eh?” snapped Doctor Muskrat. “We’ll just see about that.” He -dove again. He came up looking very puzzled. “Tommy’s jaws are still -biting the mud, just where he threw them.” he reported. “We’ll watch -what he does when he finds these.” - -It was Saturday, so as soon as Tommy had finished his chores up at the -barn, he whistled to his old dog, Watch, and came tramping down the -fields with his tall rubber boots. He had a cap full of meal and an ear -of corn in his pocket. Yes! And he had a nice lump of fat for Chewee the -Chickadee and a string to tie it to a branch with. - -But Nibble didn’t come running to meet him. He was crouching back in the -reeds with Doctor Muskrat. And the Red Cow had lumbered off to her own -hiding-place in the thicket that Nibble had showed her. - -“Come, Bunny, Bunny,” called Tommy, in his nice voice that fairly made -Nibble’s feet itch to run to him. He crept up softly near the warm -spring so as not to scare his muskrat. Then he saw the footprints—the -big ones of the Red Cow, and the little ones of Nibble Rabbit, and the -paws of Doctor Muskrat with his toe gone, for now it was healed so he -could step on it. And there was the trap, sticking right straight up -where the cow’s clumsy foot had jerked it. - -And wasn’t he angry! Just wasn’t he? He was the crossest little boy in -all the woods and fields, and the houses, too. Because someone was -trying to catch his very own wild things that he was trying to make -friends with! - -The trap was chained to a bulrush stalk and he yanked it right off, -stalk and all, he was so angry. And then he did something that showed he -was really learning to think quite like a wild thing. It was just what -wise old Doctor Muskrat would have done if he hadn’t been so troubled, -deep down inside, that he forgot about everything but Tommy. He trailed -the footsteps of that other man and he found two other traps. Right in -his own woods! - -“Clang! clang!” He had given each of those cold steel jaws a stick to -bite on. Then he rooted up their chains and tied them all together. -“Crash!” They went plump down into the mud beside his own. “Yah! Yah! -Hooray!” barked Watch. He thought that anything Tommy did was perfect. -And he wagged his big wavy tail so very hard that at last his tail -wagged him and he waltzed around and around. - -And then Nibble came bouncing up with his ears in the air, and Doctor -Muskrat waddled after him. But Doctor Muskrat stopped at the edge of the -reeds because, you know, he and Watch hadn’t made friends. Still, he -looked very kindly at Tommy and he came out in a great hurry to get his -meal when Tommy moved away. - -But Watch nearly scared him when he turned around to ask: “Nibble, do -you know where I’ll find that Red Cow?” - -[Illustration: Tommy finds a trap.] - - - CHAPTER III - THE RED COW’S SECRET - -Nibble Rabbit was so surprised at Watch’s question that he stopped -eating. And he was eating the delicious meal that Tommy had brought, so -it was a big surprise. For that was just the question he didn’t know how -to answer. He’d hidden the Red Cow himself. She was trusting him. How -could he show where she was when she was specially hiding from Tommy? - -“I know,” said Nibble, at last, “but it isn’t fair to tell. Why do you -want her?” - -“Why, I want her because we keep our cows in the barn, not in the wet -woods like you silly Wild Things,” Watch answered, smiling. “It doesn’t -matter, anyway. Do you think I can’t go sniffing around and find her for -myself if you won’t tell?” And he ran out a sly, pink tongue. - -“Well, she’s all wild and scary, ’specially of Men,” pleaded Nibble. -“You remember how she chased Tommy before. You’d better take him to the -barn first and come back after her alone.” Nibble still had an idea that -Watch herded Tommy Peele the way he did the cows. - -“That’s perfectly true, Bunny,” said Watch. And he went bounding off -ahead of his Boy, urging him to hurry as though he had something -particularly interesting to show him. And he had, but he didn’t know it. - -As soon as they had finished the meal Tommy had brought them, Doctor -Muskrat went off to sleep on his sun-warmed stone, spread out flat with -his paws hanging over the edges, and Nibble went lipity, lipity up his -tunnel in the thicket to tell the Red Cow Watch was asking for her. - -He heard the strangest noises as he came along—but they weren’t sad and -scary. She was talking to someone in a new voice, very soft and gentle, -very loving and happy. - -“Who’s there?” Nibble called. “Red Cow, can I come?” - -“Come quick, quick!” she lowed. “Isn’t it lovely? That’s why I was -afraid. I came here to hide so that no one could take it away from me.” -Then she added in her new voice that wasn’t meant for Nibble at all, -“Lie still, wee thing.” - -Nibble poked his head through the Pickery Things and peeked at her. And -he saw what she was talking about. It was the cunningest little red calf -with a white spot in the middle of its forehead. It had bright black -eyes, wide open, and it perked a pair of wide, round ears at Nibble. -Then it tried to get up on its spindly legs, but they were pretty shaky. - -“Does it seem all right?” asked the Red Cow. It was her first calf and -she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. - -“It seems very queer,” said Nibble honestly. Of course it did to him. -Because baby rabbits are blind and haven’t any fur. “Can’t I call Doctor -Muskrat?” He was wondering, too, whether he oughtn’t to call Watch and -Tommy. - -“Yes, go call the doctor,” said the Red Cow. - -You just ought to have seen Doctor Muskrat wake up when he heard Nibble -squeal for him so excitedly. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” he called in his -high, thin voice, and he flopped along through Nibble’s tunnel as fast -as ever he could, for his webby paws aren’t meant for running. - -“What is it?” he asked. And then he saw the little calf. And it sniffed -its turned-up nose at him with a cunning pink tongue-tip showing. He -walked all around it, inspecting it very carefully. It seemed strange to -him, too, because baby muskrats are born as blind and helpless as baby -rabbits. - -“Is there anything the matter with it?” asked the Red Cow, anxiously. - -“I think not,” he said, sensibly, “excepting that it’s pretty cold and -shivery. You must lick it hard and get its blood to circulating.” - -So she licked it and licked it. And her tongue was very strong and very -gentle, because that’s one of the things all cows’ tongues are made for. -And the baby calf grew livelier and livelier. And pretty soon it got up -on its spindly legs, waving its little tail that was still too new to -have a tassel on it. “Now what’ll I do?” asked the Red Cow. - -“Feed it,” advised Doctor Muskrat. - -So she did, though it took quite a little coaxing to show the silly baby -how to find what he wanted. But the milk was trickling from the corners -of his little mouth in about three minutes. And then wasn’t he happy? - -“Let me say, madam,” began Doctor Muskrat, in his most professional -tone, “that is the most remarkable youngster I have ever attended.” You -see he was only used to bunnies and muskrats and fieldmice. - -But the Red Cow heaved a great sigh of pride when she heard that. And -just wasn’t she the happiest cow in the world? - -“Nevertheless,” went on the doctor, “this is no place for it. You should -have a nice quiet hole for it. There’s nothing in the woods big enough -for you. I believe the barn is where you ought to be.” - -“But they’ll take it away from me?” moaned the Red Cow, getting all -scary again. - -“Not if you trust Tommy,” put in Nibble Rabbit, eagerly. - -“Madam, if you’ll take an old muskrat’s advice,” said the doctor, “you -will place your confidence in Tommy Peele.” He used those long words -because they sounded wise and important. And the Red Cow was really -impressed. - -“All right,” she agreed. And on the word Nibble Rabbit darted out across -the Broad Field and down the Pasture, where he could see Watch and Tommy -Peele. - - - CHAPTER IV - WHY LOUIE THOMSON DIDN’T ENJOY HIS VISIT - -“Watch, come back!” Nibble squealed breathlessly, when he caught up with -Tommy and the old dog in the end of the Pasture. “Come back and bring -Tommy, too. I can tell you the Red Cow’s secret. She has a little new -baby calf and she says she’ll trust it to Tommy Peele.” - -“Er-r yah!” barked Watch, very pleased and proud because the other -animals were beginning to love his Tommy. And he turned right around to -follow Nibble. - -But of course Tommy hadn’t heard a word they said. They talk too low, -for one thing, and they use all sorts of sign languages, too, for -another. He thought Watch was chasing Nibble. So he shouted and scolded -and called him a bad old dog. But Watch only wagged his tail and kept -right on. - -[Illustration: Nibble and Muskrat visit the Red Cow.] - -Meantime, something had been happening back at the pond. The strange Man -who set all those strange traps had come to look at them. And the Red -Cow heard him. But she wasn’t scary any more because she had her new -calf and she meant to take care of him. And she didn’t mean to let any -one else in the world but Tommy Peele lay a hand on him. - -He had a nice meal of warm milk inside of him and he’d gone to sleep. -Besides, Doctor Muskrat was still there to look after him. So out of the -thicket she bounced and after the Man. - -“M-m-moo!” she roared, just like the first cows did when they told -Mother Nature they’d punish the wicked wolves for themselves if she gave -them their teeth again. But you remember Mother Nature couldn’t do that, -so she gave them horns longer and sharper than the teeth of any wolf. -The Red Cow’s horns certainly were. So that strange Man climbed up the -nearest tree to get away from them. - -“Get out!” she snorted. “Go away from here!” But of course he couldn’t -because she was walking around and around the trunk of that big tree, -roaring at him and sending the mud over her shoulders with her big, -horny toes. Only she never thought of that, because she was rather -stupid. Then Watch came bouncing up and he barked and snapped very -fiercely. But Tommy just laughed. - -“Oh, Louie Thomson,” he jeered. “You will set your traps in my woods, -will you? See what you get now!” For this was the greedy boy who had -sold him the trap that wouldn’t work. - -“You’ll see what you get if that crazy cow takes after you!” yelled -Louie. - -Tommy was just a little bit afraid, for the cow was watching him with -that scary look in her eyes. But he wasn’t going to let Louie Thomson -know it. So he stood perfectly still and called her, “Come Bossy, Co’ -Boss.” - -“Go along, Red Cow!” barked Watch. - -“I know,” squealed Nibble, “I can see Chaik Jay’s present sticking right -out of Tommy’s pocket. Ask him for that ear of corn.” - -Now the Red Cow was really very hungry. She reached out her sniffing -nose. Tommy didn’t move. So she picked the corn right out of his pocket -with her long curling tongue. And then he laid such a gentle hand on her -that she knew she wouldn’t be afraid of him ever again. - -So here was Tommy Peele stroking the Red Cow’s neck while she ate the -corn he had meant to give Chaik Jay. Here, too, was Nibble Rabbit -enjoying the haws off a wild rose bush the Red Cow had trampled down, -while old Doctor Muskrat watched the Red Cow’s sleepy new baby, and -pricked his ears to hear all that was going on. - -Even Watch the Dog was happy. He was lying at the foot of the tree, with -his nose on his paws as though he expected to stay there all day, and -wagging his tail. - -But Louie Thomson, perched on one of its branches in the cold wind, was -very unhappy. Whenever he moved Watch would raise the hair all along his -back and growl, and the Red Cow would roll her scary eyes at him. “Hey, -Tommy!” he called. “Drive off those brutes and let me come down!” - -“No, I won’t,” said Tommy. “This is two times you’ve cheated me. You -cheated me with that old trap, and now you tried to come over here into -my very own woods and catch my very own Beasts. That’s stealing. I’m -going to let them watch you while I go up to the house and get my father -to come for you.” - -Of course not one of the Woodsfolk knew what he meant. But they knew he -was very angry. - -“Oh, please, please don’t do that!” begged Louie. “I’ll promise never to -set foot in your woods again. Honest, cross my heart and hope to die, I -will! Please let me go this time.” - -Nibble sat straight up and listened hard. For Louie sounded just like -Chatter Squirrel the night of the Terrible Storm when he was so terribly -afraid. “My whiskers, but isn’t Tommy wonderful,” he breathed to Watch. -“You and the Red Cow can scare that Man when you can reach him, but -Tommy scares him without doing anything.” And he came close up to -Tommy’s tall rubber boots and cocked his head on one side, trying to see -how Tommy did it. - -“I know you’ll promise,” Tommy was saying, “and you’ll keep it, too, or -else I’ll know about it.” He just meant he and Watch would find Louie’s -footprints. - -But Louie saw that rabbit sitting by Tommy and looking exactly as though -he were talking to him. - -“And if you want your traps,” Tommy went on, “you’ll have to get that -muskrat to find them.” He just meant he’d thrown them into the pond. - -But Louie Thomson didn’t know what to think of that. He guessed perhaps -he’d better leave Tommy Peele and his wild things very much alone. - - - CHAPTER V - NIBBLE TELLS ONE SECRET AND HEARS ANOTHER - -Now when Tommy Peele followed Watch back to the woods it was because he -thought the old dog was chasing Nibble Rabbit. Then he made up his mind -Nibble had warned Watch about that bad Louie Thomson. He never dreamed -Nibble had whispered a secret that belonged to the Red Cow. So as soon -as he’d made Louie promise to behave, he whistled to Watch and began to -lead the Red Cow away so Louie could climb down. - -Well, right then the Red Cow remembered that secret she had to show him. -So she insisted on leading him. - -She fairly galloped around the end of the thicket, with Tommy running -after her in his tall rubber boots and Watch bounding after him. But -Nibble took a short cut through his tunnel. And he met Doctor Muskrat -coming to meet him. - -“Climp, clump, climp, clump!” went a sound outside. - -“What’s that?” asked Doctor Muskrat. - -Nibble peered along the ground. And he could see Louie Thomson’s boots -moving very fast. “It’s that Man,” he exclaimed. “He’s running like -Silvertip the Fox did when the Red Cow took after him.” - -“Fine!” chuckled Doctor Muskrat. “He’ll never bring his wicked jaws back -here again. And we can thank Tommy Peele for that.” - -Then there was another sound. “What’s that?” asked Nibble. And Doctor -Muskrat laughed. For it was Tommy Peele squealing with surprise because -he’d found the secret that belonged to the Red Cow. “A calf! Oh, the -cute little thing!” - -[Illustration: The Red Cow walked around and around the trunk of that -big tree roaring at him.] - -So Nibble and Doctor Muskrat both crept back down the tunnel to watch -what was going on. The calf raised his head and looked at Tommy; then he -got up on his shaky legs and sniffed at him. Because Tommy was a strange -Beast with a strange smell and even a baby knows enough to be careful -about strange things. But when he touched his little turned-up nose to -the hand Tommy held out to him he smelled his mother. You know Tommy had -been stroking her. So the foolish little rascal put out his little pink -tongue, trying to lick Tommy’s fingers. And wasn’t his mother pleased -because they were friends the very first thing! - -Watch led the way, and Tommy walked beside the Red Cow and helped to -steer her wobbly-legged calf all the way up to the barn. And the baby -kept trying to kick up his silly little heels the way Nibble used to -when he felt playful. And he just would run splash into all the puddles, -and bunt and wriggle when they caught him. The Red Cow kept getting -prouder and prouder every step, but even she was glad when they got -safely home with him. - -Nibble went with them as far as the Pasture. Doctor Muskrat was enjoying -a nice sweet flag-root (the first one he’d dug that spring) when Nibble -came loping back again. And he was the messiest rabbit you ever heard -of. And so cross and disgusted! - -“That bad baby!” he complained, beginning to clean the mud spots off his -white shirt front. “He wouldn’t do anything I told him to. And then, the -very first time I wasn’t looking, he danced in a puddle and splashed it -all over me. From whiskers to—” he craned his neck about to look—“to -tail! He all but drowned me!” - -“You don’t have to tell me that,” said Doctor Muskrat, and his fat sides -were shaking with laughter. “I’ve eyes to see with. You’re as wet as -ever you were when I fished you out of that pond there.” For you -remember how Nibble tumbled right into the water he was so frightened -the first time he ever saw the kind old muskrat. - -“And then,” Nibble went on indignantly, “the impudent little scamp -sniffed his little turned-up nose at me because I was spluttering.” - -“You can’t expect a calf to be born with manners, can you?” soothed -Doctor Muskrat, “’specially if it belongs to the Red Cow. But, as I told -her, that’s the most remarkable youngst——” He flattened his ears, ready -to dive, for a shadow came swooping down and he was expecting the Marsh -Hawk back any day. - -But it was only Chaik the Jay. “Hello,” he piped. “Who was she and what -did you tell her?” And he pounced on an acorn that was half-buried in -the ground. - -“The Red Cow,” answered Doctor Muskrat, “has a little new calf who’s the -most remarkable youngster I’ve ever seen.” And he was going to tell -Chaik all about it, only—— - -Didn’t Nibble Rabbit just interrupt and tell it all himself? Just didn’t -he? He was that puffed up because he was the first one to see it that he -couldn’t wait. He described, how bright its little eyes were, and how it -wriggled its tail like Chatter Squirrel does when he’s in a temper, -and—everything there was to tell about that Red Cow’s red baby with the -white star in his forehead and the turned-up nose. - -And all the time Nibble was forgetting to clean his fur. And the mud -spots showed worse than ever as the wind dried them. But Nibble was too -busy talking about that very same bad little Beast who had splashed them -on him. - -Chaik was preening and tucking in his feathers every once in a while. He -didn’t have his new spring coat yet, so he was very particular over his -old one. Presently he noticed Nibble. “By the Worm in the Acorn, Rabbit, -what’s happened to you?” he wanted to know. - -Do you think Nibble would tell on that Red Cow’s bad baby? Not at all. -He just said, “Oh, I wasn’t looking—you don’t know what the walking is -this spring.” Then he got very busy with his mud spots and Chaik flew -away. - -“Hm,” giggled the doctor. “What do you really think of the Red Cow’s -calf, what you told me about it or what you told Chaik?” - -“I mean,” said Nibble shamefacedly, “that I’m going up to see it -to-morrow morning.” And off he hopped to his bed. - -He woke up early, early, before the darkest night had begun to melt into -the gray of dawn. He yawned sleepily and rolled over. My, but that hole -of his was warm and comfortable! Suddenly he jumped up and began to -scrub his face with his paws. - -In about three minutes he was down by the pond, thumping for Doctor -Muskrat. And weren’t the doctor’s eyes all sleepy when he poked his head -out of the water? “Ouf,” he shivered, “what do you want at this hour of -the night? Spear me with an icicle, but this pond is cold!” (If one of -the Woodsfolk is found frozen to death the saying is that he’s been -speared by an icicle.) - -“Come along,” said Nibble. “I’m going up to the barn to see the Red Cow -and her bad baby.” - -“What do you take me for?” snorted the old doctor. “Don’t you forget -that Silvertip the Fox is living there! Gimlet the Woodpecker said so. I -can’t run like you can and there isn’t any water for me to dive into.” - -“I forgot,” apologized Nibble. - -“Well, you just be careful,” warned the wise old beast, “and you come -straight back and tell me about him.” - -So off went Nibble, creeping about among the puddles. He dove into the -Brushpile for a minute because he heard two birds talking. But they were -only little downy Mr. and Mrs. Screech Owl, smaller than Bobby Robin. “I -tell you it’s too early for nesting,” one was saying. - -“Not if Silvertip keeps on leaving all that nice food for us in the -fence corner,” insisted the other. “He scarcely eats half of what he -catches, and chickens are the best eating in the world for our owlets. -We wouldn’t have to do any hunting.” - -“So,” said Nibble to himself, “Gimlet was right. Silvertip’s catching -Tommy Peele’s chickens.” - -He sniffed carefully about the haystack and, sure enough, there was a -nice nest that smelled of Silvertip—it’s almost the same smell as the -seeds of the “cranes-bill,” as the Woodsfolk call wild geranium. It was -empty, so Nibble cocked an ear at the chicken coop. Sure enough, there -was a tiny rustling in the straw. As he sat there listening he heard the -scared shout of a pullet, “Squa-awk! Squa-a—” and that was all. -Silvertip had throttled her. Bounce! Down he came from the perch and -slam! Out he slipped through the little back door his snoopy nose had -learned how to open. But Nibble didn’t dare call Watch for fear -Silvertip would hear him. - -[Illustration: Silvertip trotted past with the poor chicken hanging from -his jaws.] - - - CHAPTER VI - A GAME OF TAG IN TOMMY’S BARN - -You know about Nibble Rabbit. First he’s scared and then he’s curious. -He was scared when he heard Silvertip catch the pullet. And he was still -more scared when Silvertip trotted past in the mist, splashing softly in -the puddles, with the poor chicken hanging from his jaws. But when -Silvertip suddenly stopped and sniffed Nibble’s own footprints by the -haystack, he was the scaredest little rabbit in all the fields and woods -and the barnyard, too. - -Just the same he could see Silvertip say to himself, “It’s too wet to -follow that trail. I’ll keep an eye out for bunnies around here as well -as birds.” - -And Nibble said to his own self, “Bunny, that fox will have to do some -looking.” Then Silvertip picked up the chicken and trotted on. - -Of course Nibble took a long breath when he had gone. That gave him time -to grow curious. “I wonder which fence-corner those greedy little -Screech Owls said he hid his food in?” he thought. “Watch would like to -know.” So he peeked around the end of the stack and listened. Silvertip -was away out of sight in the mist, but his feet went splashing off to -the very corner of the Broad Field, where he used to sleep under some -elderberry bushes. Yes, and sometimes he’d catch the birds who came -there for berries. Oh, that Silvertip was certainly clever. - -“Now,” Nibble thought, “it’s safe for me to hunt for the Red Cow.” She -wasn’t in the milking barn, but he could hear her baby, not very far -away, calling his mother to get up and give him his breakfast. And the -more he listened to that naughty little calf the more he wanted to see -it again. So he crept down the line of scary, switchy tails, past the -very last one. Then he came to a narrow lane, all sprinkled with dried -clover-leaves. Pretty soon he had to squeeze under a door into another -part of the barn. It was much brighter than the milking barn, because -there was a hole in the wall at the far end. There were three box -stalls, and he could hear the little calf in the last one. - -He hopped up on a bale of straw and ran along the top of the partition -until he could look in and see him. There that naughty little beast had -got tired of calling his mother and bunting her, so now he was trying to -kick her. And Nibble thought he was cunninger than ever. - -Of course the Red Cow was pleased to see him, and full of talk. But -Nibble was getting curious again. After a while he said, “Red Cow, I can -see the trees moving outside, but there isn’t any wind in here. Why is -that?” - -“Why, I never thought about it,” said the Red Cow. You remember she was -always a little bit stupid. - -“I’m going to find out,” said Nibble. He hopped carefully along the -partition to the window. And if ever a rabbit looked foolish, it was -Nibble when he snubbed his twitchy nose against it. He was puzzled. None -of the Woodsfolk could imagine such a thing as window glass. - -“What is it?” asked the Red Cow, wagging her big ears. - -“Ice,” guessed Nibble. “No, it’s not, either.” He was trying to taste it -with his licky little tongue that he uses to wash his shirt front. “It -doesn’t taste like the drops that freeze into my fur and it isn’t wet. -But it’s cold——” - -And right then he learned some more about it. For you know Silvertip had -seen the bunny’s footprints. “Chickens are all right,” thought the bad -fox to himself as he trotted along, “but I’d a great deal rather have a -nice tasty mouthful of rabbit.” So he hid the pullet and came galloping -back to find Nibble. - -It wasn’t long before he saw the bunny’s trail going into the door of -the milking barn, and he could smell plainly on the dry wood floor -exactly where Nibble had gone. So Silvertip went sniffing quietly down -the long aisle behind the row of cows. But they smelled him. “Help! -Watch! Wolves! Wolves! Help!” they bawled. And they all tried to kick -him. - -Now Silvertip was afraid to run out past their heels, so he had to -follow Nibble’s trail under the door into the barn, where the box stalls -were. And there he saw Nibble, perched on top of the partition, sniffing -at the window with his back turned. - -Up jumped Silvertip on to the straw bale. Down jumped Nibble into the -stall beside the Red Cow. “Arh,” whimpered Silvertip excitedly, and -jumped after him. - -You never heard such a commotion. For the Red Cow began to roar and aim -her horns at the fox. And Silvertip had to do some lively dodging. He’d -just managed to scramble back on the partition when Watch came squeezing -under the door. There wasn’t another place for the fox to turn so he ran -straight for the window. - -“Wouw!” he whimpered as he hit it. But it was too late to stop. “Crash!” -he went right through it and landed plump on the floor of a wagon that -stood beneath it. Then he went galloping off to the woods as fast as he -could go, holding up first one foot and then the other, for he couldn’t -make up his mind where he was hurt the most. And his nose felt as if a -bee had lit on it, and his eyes were so bunged up he could hardly see -where he was going, and he had a new slit in the ear Mrs. Hooter had -nipped—he was pretty badly damaged. And he was grinding his teeth and -blaming poor Nibble Rabbit for every bit of it. For no one who thinks -himself as clever as Silvertip can get into trouble without finding some -way to think somebody else made him do it. - -“Aourgh!” barked Watch excitedly. And then of course Nibble knew he was -perfectly safe, and he wanted to come out from under the Red Cow’s -manger, where he had hidden, to see what was happening. But the naughty -little calf was so excited he was dancing around and bunting at -everything in sight. His mother had to give him some more breakfast -before he’d stand still a single minute. - -[Illustration: There was Nibble, perched on top of the partition.] - -By that time Silvertip was away off down the Pasture and Watch had -squeezed under the door again. He was bound to catch that fox, but he -knew more than to go jumping through windows after him. - -So Nibble just hopped up on the manger and from there onto the high -partition and stretched out his inquisitive nose where the glass had -been. There wasn’t much left for him to snub it against, I can tell you. -And the wind blew through it so hard that it laid his ears flat back. - -“What is it?” demanded the Red Cow. She was learning to be curious, too, -and that’s the first step to being wise and sensible. - -“It’s awfully hard,” Nibble answered. “I can bite ice, but I can’t bite -this.” - -Just then who should open the door but Tommy Peele with the Red Cow’s -breakfast. - -Right away he saw the glass was broken. But he wasn’t angry at all. He -just said, “Did you do that?” But he picked up every bit that had fallen -inside so folks wouldn’t cut their feet on it, and then he went around -to pick up what was outside, too. And he found some blood and a big tuft -of Silvertip’s hair on the wagon-box. - -“Phew!” he whistled. “Bunny, this fur isn’t any of yours—nor that -footprint, either! You just wait until school is out and Watch and I’ll -just see about this!” - -He hadn’t any time to do it then. For he had to stuff the Red Cow’s -manger full of hay and hurry fast to get to the schoolhouse before the -bell rang. - -“Have some, Nibble,” she lowed politely. And the bunny didn’t need a -second invitation. His twitchy nose had been wiggling pretty fast from -the first minute he smelled that delicious clover. - - - CHAPTER VII - THE WHITE COW BEGINS A STORY - -If the smell of that delicious hay in the Red Cow’s manger made Nibble’s -nose go fast, the taste of it made his hungry little jaws go still -faster. And the Red Cow was just about as busy as he was. Her big teeth -wouldn’t move quite so quickly, but she could take bigger bites to make -up for lost time. - -They were still eating when he heard a loud snort just outside. So he -jumped up on the windowsill again to be sure who it was. “Hello, -Rabbit,” came the White Cow’s nice fluty voice as she saw his whiskers -in the window. “I told you you’d come back again.” - -“Oh, the Red Cow’s got such a cunning calf in here I just have to come,” -he laughed. - -“She has, has she?” mooed the White Cow. “I’d like to see it myself.” -She was a motherly old beast, so she really did love babies. “Is it all -right? That wolf who ran through the milking barns has been around -here—I can smell him. Calves are what they always come for.” - -“That was only Silvertip the Fox,” he chuckled. “He’s gone!” - -Still the White Cow kept shaking her head and snorting. “He’s no -business here. He’s a wolf, and it’s plain against the compact.” - -“What compact, please, Madame Snowflake?” lowed the Red Cow. - -“Why, the compact between Cows and Man,” she answered. “You know Man -used to hunt us. It must have been dreadful, for one man is worse than a -whole pack of wolves-” - -“Exactly what Doctor Muskrat says!” exclaimed Nibble. - -“Well, it’s true,” she asserted. “Cows are all right so long as they -keep all together. But you can’t have little new wobbly babies in a herd -because we’re so near-sighted someone would be sure to step on them. So -the mothers used to go off and hide them until they grew strong enough -not to let themselves get stepped on. And the wolves and the men would -watch out for them. No matter how careful the cows were someone would be -sure to find them. Long before they came, the mothers would get all -scary and unhappy just thinking about it.” - -“I felt just that way!” gasped the Red Cow. “Didn’t I, Nibble?” - -“Well, after a long time Man made a compact with the cows. He promised -that if they’d live with him and give him milk and plough his fields and -let him take the meat of certain ones, not the young heifers or the -mothers, he’d keep the wolves away from them.” - -“How did that happen?” asked Nibble excitedly, for he guessed it was one -of those tales of the First-Off Beginning of Things. - -And sure enough, the White Cow began, “Well, as I said, both Man and -wolves hunted the cows in the First-Off Beginning. That was bad enough. -But when Man made friends with the dogs, who were really wolves, it was -worse yet. They both knew all the tricks between them. - -“There was a river wandering through the plain where the cows used to -feed, and it had a rocky island standing up in the middle of it. The -island was hollow as a cup and full of brush and grass, and there was -only one crack in the rocks where a cow could just squeeze through to -get into it. It was a secret among the cows, who only went there to -raise their calves, and they were careful to walk a long way in the -water to hide their trails before they crossed over to it. So the wolves -would never have found it. But a man did. - -“He was hunting cows. So were a pack of wolves, and they saw he had only -one dog, so they decided to hunt him instead. They say a man is very -good eating. So he ran for the island. Because he knew if he could climb -high up on the tall rocks they couldn’t climb up after him. He had to -take his dog by the scruff of the neck to help him. And of course when -he got up high he could see everything—the two cows who were grazing in -the middle of the island and the narrow passage between the rocks, and -the wolves running around and around looking for a place where they -could get in. - -“The cows couldn’t see the wolves, but they could hear them. So one of -them, who was an old cow and very wise, galloped over to the passage. -And when the wolves got there she was stopping the way with her sharp -horns. - -“I don’t know how long she could have stayed there, for there were a -great many wolves and only one cow, but the man was wiser yet. He saw a -big tippy boulder that he could roll down to block the passage so nobody -could possibly get in. And he gave it a big shove. Smash, it went down -right in the middle of the wolves! It killed the leader and another -wolf, and the rest got scared and ran away. - -“So did the cow, for the man’s dog started right after her. But the man -called him back. ‘Come here!’ he called. ‘Stop that, you foolish thing. -The wolves would have picked our bones if she hadn’t helped us. That’s -one cow you can never kill.’ - -“The dog came back with his tail between his legs, grumbling to himself. -‘This is very queer. It’s the first time in all my life I was told not -to kill anything.’ And of course the cow heard him. And it set her -thinking.” - - - CHAPTER VIII - HOW THE MAN’S WIFE MADE THE COMPACT WITH THE COWS - -The White Cow stopped talking quite as though she had finished her -story. But Nibble Rabbit and the Red Cow, who were listening with all -their ears, both broke out: “Please, Mrs. Snowflake, you haven’t said a -word yet about the compact!” - -“Pickery thistles!” she exclaimed. “So I haven’t. I was just thinking -about it instead. Well, the man was in the middle of that little hollow -island with the high rocks all around it, and so were the cows. The dog -was growling because he couldn’t kill the cow, and the cow was wondering -why the man wouldn’t let him. But most of all she was wondering how -quickly she and her calf would starve because that stone blocked up the -passage. - -“The man was thinking that, too. For the cow had saved his life by -keeping out the wolves; that made him in debt to her. And if a man was -careless about his debts he was sure to be dreadfully unlucky. Either he -had to roll away that stone so the cow could go over to the plains to -graze—and he knew he couldn’t do that—or he had to bring the grass to -her. - -“Bright and early next morning he went to bring the grass to feed that -cow. He found it was lots of trouble, especially since he didn’t have -his wife there to help him. So he decided to bring her. - -“He told her how nice and safe it was in the middle of that rocky island -until she got quite delighted at the idea of living there. So she packed -their belongings on her back, slung their baby in front of her, and -started out. She waded the stream all right, but she stopped at the big -rock which blocked up the passage. - -“‘I won’t stay here at all unless you take that out of there,’ she said. -‘It’s too inconvenient.’ - -“So of course he just had to. And when it comes right down to ‘having -to’ a man can do almost anything. But he had a terrible time. He heaved -and clawed and shoved and rolled until his fingers and arms were sore. -Then he picked up a stick, because it was easier to handle—and he -learned how to pry that stone out of the passage. - -“In walked his wife and began to settle their new home. Out walked the -cows, and over they went to the plain to pick their own grass, but they -left their calves hidden on the island. So, after they had finished -feeding, back they came. - -“Then the man took his stick and pried the rock into the passage again -for fear the wolves would come back. And his wife stared at the cows and -the cows stared at his wife, but still they didn’t make any compact.” - -Nibble Rabbit and the Red Cow were both fairly stamping their feet with -impatience because the White Cow wouldn’t hurry right along with her -story. But she brought a big wad of cud all the way up her long neck and -stood there chewing it while she thought things over. Finally she -swallowed it and went on. - -“I told you the man learned to use the great stone for a gate to the -narrow passageway where the cows squeezed through. But I didn’t tell you -how angry the wolves were about that. - -“They were simply raging. Night after night they gnashed their jaws and -howled around those rocks, but their claws wouldn’t climb them. And the -man’s dog would sit up on top and shout insults at them. And the two -cows would snuggle together in the brush with their calves between them -and say, ‘Those wolves would have eaten us long ago if the man hadn’t -been here.’ - -“They got very used to the man and his family. They didn’t walk ’way -round his fire any more, or make eyes at his wife, and the calves got -very friendly with his baby. But his wife used to look hard at them. -‘It’s all very well to take care of the cow who saved your life,’ she’d -say to the man, ‘but how about that other one?’ - -“‘Well, what about her?’ he’d answer. ‘She isn’t any trouble.’ - -“‘She ought to pay for being taken care of,’ insisted his wife. ‘It’s -all very well for this year, but next year these calves will be grown up -and there will be new ones and we’ll be all cluttered up with cattle.’ - -“She thought and thought. At last she caught up her biggest clamshell -and walked down into the thicket where the cows stood. And the dog went -with her. ‘Old Cow,’ she said, ‘you can live with us for ever and ever -because you stopped the passageway with your horns when the wolves were -trying to get in to kill my husband. Young Cow, you will have to pay -something if you’re going to live with us.’ And with that she tried to -milk the young cow into her clamshell. - -“The young cow didn’t like it a little bit. But she was afraid of the -dog, and besides the old cow argued, ‘You have milk to spare, and you’ll -never have any place as safe as this. Let me talk to her.’ - -“So the young cow gave in and let herself be milked. But the old one -said to the woman: ‘We’ll stay with you and give you milk so long as you -see we get food and water and protect us from the wolves. But the minute -you don’t we’ll go off and be wild again, and you’ll be no better off -than you were before.’ - -“‘Agreed,’ said the woman. ‘The dog will be our witness.’ - -“So that was the beginning of the compact. The cows settled down to live -with the man and his family. But after the woman was gone the wise old -cow said comfortably, ‘It’s spring now. She doesn’t think how much -trouble it will be to feed us through the winter.’” - -“Wasn’t that old cow clever!” exclaimed Nibble admiringly. - -The White Cow snorted. “She was wise. But that woman was wiser. She knew -that if she waited long enough there would be cattle on that island who -hadn’t any milk, so she and the man could bargain some more with them. -They had to carry loads and pull ploughs; they even had to let the man -kill certain ones. They didn’t like that a little bit, but the wise old -cow argued, ‘It’s better than being hunted by both wolves and men.’ So -they finally gave in. It was really a good bargain for us,” finished the -White Cow thoughtfully, “but it was a better one for the man. After he -learned to build barns as safe as that island he gave up hunting.” - - - CHAPTER IX - HOW A BUNNY UNDERTOOK TO HUNT A FOX - -Madame snowflake swished her tail thoughtfully for a moment; then she -went back to chewing her cud as a sign that her story was all done. - -“My horns!” exclaimed the Red Cow. “That’s awfully interesting.” - -“Yes,” drawled the story-teller. “But can’t you see how worrisome it is? -If Tommy Peele lets wolves go galloping through this barn we’ll have to -go wild again. It’s in the compact. That’s what I’ve been trying to -explain.” - -“Noo-oo-oo,” the Red Cow moaned. “I don’t want to go wild. I won’t go -wild again. I’ve been wild once, and I like being Tommy Peele’s tame cow -ever so much better.” - -“Nonsense!” interrupted Nibble Rabbit, sitting up very straight. “It -hasn’t anything at all to do with you cows. Silvertip’s no more of a -wolf than Watch is. Besides, I’m the only one he was chasing. He won’t -come back again unless I do, and I won’t come until there isn’t any -Silvertip to chase me.” - -“Hoo-oo,” teased the White Cow. “What can you do to Silvertip?” - -“Wait and see,” said Nibble. And off he set. But as he ran he said to -himself, “Silvertip’s very big and clever—whatever can I do to him?” - -For a while he was just about the most thoughtful bunny that ever -flopped an ear. He’d made the White Cow a great big promise, one no -grownup rabbit would ever have thought of. - -And he had to have help about it. He was pretty glad, I can tell you, -when he saw Watch scouting about the pasture with his nose to the -ground. - -“Have you found where Silvertip went to?” Nibble asked when the big dog -stopped to speak with him. - -“No,” said Watch in a discouraged tone. “There was a mist this morning -and it’s washed away all the scent. But what do you want of Silvertip?” - -“I’ve got to help you catch him,” murmured Nibble. - -“You!” exclaimed Watch. “You must be as crazy as a chickadee! Has any -thing bitten you?” You know dogs are terribly afraid of being bitten by -a crazy beast—it makes them go mad, too. - -“No. But—but I promised the White Cow that I wouldn’t come back to the -barn while Silvertip was alive to chase into it after me—and I won’t -stay away from the Red Cow’s baby for ever and ever. Something’s got to -happen to Silvertip.” - -“I wouldn’t want him chasing me if I were you,” Watch agreed. This -sounded more sensible. “But I don’t see what the White Cow has to do -with it.” - -“She says Silvertip is really a wolf,” Nibble explained, “and if Tommy -Peele lets wolves come right into his barn, whether it’s calves or -rabbits they’re hunting, the cows will have to go wild again. That’s in -the compact between cows and man in the First-Off Beginning.” - -“Wurr-r-r!” Watch growled thoughtfully. “So it is. But that’s my -trouble, and the cow’s and Tommy’s. It hasn’t anything to do with you.” - -Suddenly Nibble remembered something and quoted: - - “By dusk and by dawn you shall travel alone. - And all troubles are yours excepting your own. - -That’s my fortune. The stars told it to Doctor Muskrat the day I left -home.” - -“I understand,” Watch nodded wisely. “Well, the trouble about all this -is that I can’t explain it to Tommy. And we need him. What can you do to -Silvertip—except give him a stomachache from eating too much rabbit, -eh?” - -“I can see where he is and what he does. I know how he gets into the -chicken coop and where he hid the pullet he stole this morning and the -feathers from all the rest he’s been stealing.” - -“How—when—where!” barked Watch excitedly. “We don’t have to tell that to -Tommy—we can show it to him. Quick, Nibble! How did Silvertip get into -the chicken coop? Tommy’ll be home from school any minute.” - -So Nibble took him around to the little back door. “That fox is -certainly clever,” sniffed Watch. “He’s gnawed the hook right off. I’ve -smelt him around here dozens of times, but I never thought of looking -inside of the coop for him.” Then he lifted it with his nose, just as -Silvertip had done, but he was too big to crawl in. - -It was Nibble who squeezed through and took a hop on to the soft straw -of the chicken coop floor. Then he sat up to sniff around. The hens were -scratching busily, but the rooster was dozing off a full crop on his -perch. Nibble poked his nose into a box of feed and the bird next to him -went, “Cut, cut!” That woke the rooster. He opened his eye and caught -sight of Nibble’s whiskers. - -“Er—er—err, I’m Chanticleer!” he crowed. “And you’re the rascal who -stole my beautiful young wife, Specklefeather, this morning! You’re the -one who took Stripedwing, the best setting hen ever a rooster owned, and -dear little red-wattled Minorca—and all the rest who’ve been snatched -from my perches. Your time has come! I’ll show you——” and he flapped -down and began to peck poor Nibble and kick him with those long spurs -roosters wear on their legs. - -[Illustration: Nibble visits the chicken coop.] - -“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Nibble cried. But the rooster wouldn’t -listen. Then a voice behind Nibble called, “Here, here,” and he darted -under the perches and squeezed into a dark nest beside a hen. - -“There,” she clucked. “That old bully never comes here. It isn’t proper -for a rooster to come into the nesting corner. Poor Stripedwing. She -used to set in here most of the time because he was so cruel to her. And -he killed our son because Minorca was in love with him. I wish the fox -had taken him.” - -Nibble peeked out again and saw the rooster strutting around as though -he’d really done something grand, calling on the hens to admire him. And -now he could hear Watch shouting, “Come along, Tommy—come quick!” In a -minute more he was barking outside the front door, and Tommy opened it. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Tommy. Out hopped Nibble Rabbit. “However did -you get in here?” gasped the little boy. And with that Nibble slipped -through the little back door as neat as you please. Maybe Tommy didn’t -whistle! And maybe he wasn’t still more surprised when he saw the hook -all gnawed! But maybe he wasn’t maddest of all when Nibble and Watch -took him across the field to Silvertip’s fence corner, all full of -feathers, with poor dead Specklefeather lying in the middle of it! - -“The fox!” Tommy exclaimed. “Old chicken thief; he ought to be hunted -with a gun!” - -“That’s all right,” Watch wagged his tail. “Now Tommy’ll find the gun -and a man to shoot it, but we’ll have to find Silvertip so they can -shoot him. I’ll sleep in the haystack and watch the barn, and you see if -he’s hidden in the woods.” - -So Nibble cocked his own little puffy tail and laid back his ears and -scuttled through the cornfield. Because the first one he meant to ask -was Doctor Muskrat. And it didn’t take much thumping to wake the doctor. - -“My whiskers, but I’m glad to see you,” said the nice old beast as soon -as he got his nose out of the water. “I was afraid that fox had really -caught you. He came down here for a drink early this morning. He was -feeling pretty sick, but he said he wasn’t going to do another thing -until he’d pulled your long ears out by the roots and made a meal of -you.” - -“Well, he doesn’t want to find me any more than I want to find him,” -said Nibble. And he told how Silvertip had followed him into the barn -and jumped smash through the window, and what trouble that made for the -cows, and the way he’d killed Tommy’s chickens, and how angry Tommy was -about it. - -“Shoot him? I wish they would.” Doctor Muskrat agreed. “He’s the worst -beast in all the woods and fields, and we’ve plenty more to look out -for—Slyfoot the Mink and the Marsh Hawk are back, and Grandpop Snapping -Turtle is out again—but you’ll have to be mighty careful. You dig -yourself a root and stay hidden while I see what the birds know about -him.” - -So Doctor Muskrat asked every bird who came down to drink if he’d keep -an eye out for Silvertip. That was a great many, too, for whole clouds -of them were coming north on every south wind. But they were all so busy -about courting and nesting it was three days before Doctor Muskrat had -any news. Late in the evening a whippoorwill came dipping down like a -great feathery moth and called softly: “Doctor Muskrat!” Then he perched -on the doctor’s house and whispered: “Silvertip’s living in the hollow -log that shadows my last year’s nest. He’s still too sick to hunt -anything but frogs and tadpoles and the eggs of us poor ground birds, -but the minute he can gallop he’s going to get that rabbit. He lies -there growling and swearing about him.” - -Nibble couldn’t hear what the whippoorwill said. And that was lucky, -because he was lying very still in the Quail’s Thicket with those -screech owls perched right above him. - - - CHAPTER X - THE WICKED PLOT OF THE BAD LITTLE OWLS - -As soon as the whippoorwill had finished whispering the news, about -where Silvertip was hiding, he flew off so quietly that even the doctor -couldn’t hear him. Then the wise old beast raised his queer, thin call, -almost like a whistle, to tell Nibble Rabbit he was wanted, and swam -quite as quietly to the place in the bulrushes by the pond where they -always met. - -But no Nibble came. Nibble Rabbit was still hiding in the Quail’s -Thicket, listening to Mr. and Mrs. Screech Owl, who were perched right -above him. - -“That bird’s telling him about Silvertip,” said one. “If it had been any -other bird in the woods he’d have spoken so we could overhear him.” - -“I wish he had,” said the other. “We’ve picked that last hen so clean -we’ll have to hunt for ourselves if we can’t find him. I wonder what -that muskrat wants of him. He’s been asking every bird who came down to -drink for the last three days. I heard Chaik the Jay talking to Chewee -the Chickadee about it just when I was going to sleep this morning.” - -“What did they say?” demanded Mrs. Screech Owl. The lady owl is always -the more thoughtful. They both live in trees. Silvertip never bothers -them. - -“I didn’t understand,” said her mate. “Chaik was insisting that they -must all hunt hard for Silvertip. He said that it concerned every good -friend of Tommy Peele’s.” - -“You pinfeathered idiot!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me that -before? That explains why Tommy Peele and his dog were sniffing about -Silvertip’s fence corner. And that rabbit was with them. He’s at the -bottom of all this. Something’s wrong there. I never knew a wild rabbit -to be friends with a dog in all my life. If he’ll do that he’ll do -anything. Silvertip must be warned. We can’t let anything happen to him. -Besides, think how much he could do for us if he felt grateful.” - -“Grateful? Not much. A fox is never grateful. But he’d know we were -useful and that amounts to the same thing. I wonder why that rabbit -doesn’t answer Doctor Muskrat?” and Mr. Screech Owl flew cautiously over -the doctor’s house in the middle of the pond. Back he came to where his -wife was still thinking. “He must have meant that call for the -whippoorwill,” he said to his mate. “He’s gone to bed.” - -“We must get some friend who lives on the ground to keep watch for us, -too,” said the Lady Owl thoughtfully. “Only Silvertip has no friends. -He’ll eat anybody.” - -“Excepting old Foul Fang the Rattlesnake,” said Mr. Screech Owl. “We -could buy Foul Fang’s service for a mouse a day. I’ll just do that, and -you go up to the house, not the barn, mind, and see if you can get a -word with that grandson of Ouphe the Rat who lives there. Silvertip’s -never hunted him. By the kitchen door—now flutter!” And away they went. - -But Nibble waited until he was perfectly sure they had gone before he -crept down to talk with Doctor Muskrat in the bulrushes. - -And he was a pretty trembly little rabbit. He hopped very carefully, -gliding from shadow to shadow like a fieldmouse. And the doctor never -moved when Nibble Rabbit slipped in beside him; he was listening to the -stars as they danced in the pool just exactly the way he had done the -night they told him Nibble’s fortune. He was muttering: - - “Let him who is both young and wise - Beware the killer with lidless eyes. - -“Yes, that’s all I can make out of it,” said the old doctor slowly. “Now -what does that mean, I wonder?” - -“I know,” gasped Nibble, “I know—it’s Foul Fang the Rattlesnake. The -little owls don’t want us to catch that fox, Silvertip, because he -catches chickens and leaves their bones for the owls to pick. They heard -Chaik and Jay and Chewee the Chickadee talking about it. So the he-owl -has gone out to hire Foul Fang to help them. They’re going to pay him a -mouse a day to do it. And his wife has gone up to the house to bargain -with the grandson of Ouphe the Rat who lives in the walls. He’s to keep -watch on Tommy and warn them what he means to do about Silvertip. But -they don’t know where Silvertip is.” - -“That’s one good thing,” the doctor nodded. “And another is that -Silvertip has no friends—nor the owls, either. They only work for him -because of what he gives them, and they have to hire their own helpers. -Now all the woods know how you help any one who’s in trouble, and Tommy -Peele has quite a few friends. I can’t see whether this warning is for -you or for Tommy.” - -“Tommy, of course. Watch the Dog says he’s the cleverest boy in all the -world, and Watch is his dog, so he ought to know about him,” said Nibble -promptly. - -“Hm,” laughed Doctor Muskrat into his whiskers. “Well, for a rabbit, you -know a thing or two. What cheers me up is this. The stars never warn -about something that’s surely going to happen. They warn so you can be -careful and escape your enemies. Now I’ll set every bird who drinks here -at the pool to keep watching for Foul Fang. And I’m going over to the -stump right now to send out word to all the fieldmice.” - -“And I’ll go back to the Brushpile,” said Nibble, “and listen to the Bad -Little Owls when they come to their hole in the morning.” - -Off set the rabbit, lipity-lipity, scudding under the brush and over the -shadows and through the grasses, until he snuggled down in a nice little -pocket where only a mouse could have found him. And about dawn he heard -the screech owls. - -“It’s all fixed,” said the he-owl. “I found Foul Fang, and he knew where -Silvertip was because he’d already smelled him (snakes say they smell -any one instead of seeing him), and when I squawk the signal he’ll -rattle and Silvertip will hear it and run. I didn’t find Silvertip -because he stayed out hunting too long.” - -“Fine,” said his wife. “And Tommy’s gun is all ready to start in the -morning.” - - - CHAPTER XI - WHY THE LITTLE OWLS’ PLANS WENT WRONG - -Tommy Peele got up early, very early, on Saturday morning and took care -of his cows, for this was the day he was to hunt Silvertip the Fox with -a gun. His big cousin Sandy had come with his hound, Trailer. Sandy was -to do the shooting. And Watch took Trailer into a quiet corner and -remarked: “I don’t want to be unpleasant, but it’s a fox, not a rabbit -we’re going to kill, and if you so much as yelp at another thing I’ll -tear the hide right off you.” And Trailer opened his big brown eyes and -promised to be very careful. - -All the woods and fields were ready, too, for the fox killed a great -many things besides Tommy’s chickens. Every one hoped Tommy would kill -him; every one but little Mr. and Mrs. Screech Owl and Foul Fang the -Rattlesnake, who was hiding that very minute in the leaves in front of -the fox’s log. - -Nibble wanted to warn Watch, but when he saw Trailer sniffing along -beside him he didn’t dare. So off he set toward the woods. And Watch and -Trailer followed him. Pretty soon Trailer said: “I thought you weren’t -chasing rabbits.” - -“I’m not,” growled Watch. “He’s showing us where the fox is hidden.” And -maybe that didn’t set Trailer wondering. - -Just then those Bad Little Owls stumbled past, bumping against the -twigs, for they fly badly in the daytime. But they never reached Foul -Fang, for Chaik the Jay, who was another of Tommy’s friends, was lying -in wait for them. He had his whole family to help him, and what they did -to those Bad Little Owls! - -Meantime, Nibble was going slowly and carefully on the lookout for Foul -Fang. “Stop!” shrieked Chewee the Chickadee from a branch above him. -“Foul Fang’s right in front of you. I saw him move a minute ago, but I -can’t see him until he moves again.” - -Nibble froze in his tracks. Foul Fang was ahead, that strange dog was -behind him. But he knew he mustn’t let any one pass him. He waited until -the dogs were very close, then he darted past them, right to Tommy’s -feet, calling: “Foul Fang! Foul Fang!” - -“Wait!” barked Watch to Trailer. “Something’s wrong.” And he ran and -caught Tommy by the coat to stop him. And of course Trailer and Tommy’s -cousin Sandy stopped, too. “What’s up?” demanded Sandy. - -“I don’t know,” said Tommy, “but there’s my chickadee, and here’s my -rabbit. Something’s frightening them.” - -“There, there! Look!” squeaked Chewee, dancing about on his twig like a -crazy bird. Foul Fang raised his ugly head to sniff at them. Then he -wound into his striking coil. - -“Bz-z-z!” began Foul Fang’s rattle. “Bang-bang!” went Sandy’s gun. “A -snake! No wonder they were frightened!” exclaimed Sandy. “Lucky that -rabbit saw him!” - -“Wow-wow-wow!” bayed Trailer, for Silvertip bolted out of his log and -began to run. - -“Bang—bang!” went the gun. And that did scare Nibble. It sent him flying -through the woods, straight for Doctor Muskrat’s Pool. - -The old doctor was out on his flat stone; but he wasn’t asleep. He was -sitting straight up with his round ears pricked and his whiskers -stiffened, listening. Ka-flick, ka-flick, came the long bounces of -Nibble Rabbit. “Chick-adee-dee-dee-dee-ee!” rang out the joyful shout of -Chewee, just a little way behind him. “We-e-e-ak!” came the far-away -squeak of a fieldmouse. “We-e-e-aw!” echoed one nearer at paw. -“R-r-r-r!” drummed a partridge, and a meadowlark who was drinking -remarked: “That’s a death beat, but he isn’t muffling it. Sounds as -though he were mighty glad about it.” - -Ka-flick-thump! Nibble Rabbit landed beside the doctor. “I warned -Tommy!” was all he had breath to gasp. But here came Chewee, his wings -whirring like a humming bird’s, his eyes popping like a crawfish’s, as -though they had stalks to stand on. “Whee!” he screeched. “You ought to -see—ee—ee!” - -“See what?” called Chaik, who was hurrying by to find out what all the -noise meant, and he circled back to listen. - -“Foul Fang!” squeaked Chewee, turning somersaults on a bulrush. “He’s in -three pieces, and his tail is cut off and his wicked scales are -squirming in the sun.” - -“Yeah!” squawked Chaik, dancing on his wings. “And those Bad Little Owls -are hiding in the Brushpile. I’m all mussed up from climbing in after -them, but my relatives and I have picked them ’most as clean as the mice -picked Nibble’s woodchuck. I’m going back to shout the news at them. -Yeah!” And off he flew. - -“What did it?” gasped Nibble. - -“You silly rabbit,” chuckled Doctor Muskrat. “That ‘bang!’ was a gun.” - -“Oh,” and Nibble sat up to think. “The partridge did say Man could make -more noise than a summer storm. He certainly can!” - -“Why, Nibble!” teased Doctor Muskrat, his shiny little eyes twinkling, -“didn’t you ever hear a gun? Every other creature in all the Woods and -Fields has been waiting for that noise to celebrate the death of -Silvertip the Fox. That was what Tommy Peele brought out here to kill -him.” - -“Did it?” demanded Nibble Rabbit. He knew that it pretty nearly stunned -one small and scary rabbit he could tell about. - -“Not if it bit Foul Fang in three pieces,” answered the wise old doctor. -“That takes two bites, one for each noise. Silvertip isn’t bitten yet.” -“Shot” was what he meant, but the Woodsfolk don’t use that word. - -“How do you know he isn’t bitten?” squealed Chewee the Chickadee. He was -twirling and tumbling about the bulrushes because he was too happy and -excited to keep still. “He jumped right out under the nose of Trailer, -that hound Tommy Peele brought to help his own dog Watch. And the last I -saw he was just about two steps ahead of Trailer’s jaws.” - -“Ssh!” warned Doctor Muskrat, and he cocked his ears. Far, far away they -could hear Trailer calling, “Where, where?” And Watch answered: “Isn’t -this fox?” and Tommy Peele’s cousin was shouting: “Hie out, Trailer! -Find him!” - -“You see,” said the doctor, “Silvertip’s saved his skin this time. But -we’ll find him again.” - -He was right. Late in the afternoon Tommy came trudging along with his -head down, too unhappy to listen to the “Thank you” the meadowlarks were -singing, and the one Chewee brought from the partridge. For every -creature that lived or nested on the ground was more than grateful to be -rid of Foul Fang. Tommy’s big cousin Sandy was carrying his gun, and his -dog Trailer was so tired he could scarcely crawl. Watch was tired and -sheepish besides. He came down for a drink and whispered: “See where -Silvertip sleeps. We’ll be out again to-morrow.” - -“I wonder how he got away,” said Nibble, stamping impatiently. He’d come -from eating a dandelion head in the Quail’s Thicket to see what Watch -had to say. - -“I can tell you,” came the soft whisper of the whippoorwill who had -skimmed a drink as he flew across the pond, leaving a wake of tiny, -quiet ripples. “There’s still deep water in the ditches. Silvertip -splashed along in it to hide his trail and then sneaked into the culvert -where it runs under the woods road. The frogs say he almost drowned. But -he shivered in there with only his nose out until Trailer circled past. -Then he ran back in the ditch on the other side and jumped over to a -tree that was broken off by the terrible storm. He climbed up the limbs -to the broken stump—it’s ten good wingbeats above the ground—and curled -up in a woodduck’s nest. And he ate every egg she’d laid, too. Now he’s -coming this way.” - -[Illustration: Silvertip hid under the culvert until Trailer circled -past.] - -“My stars, Nibble!” exclaimed the doctor, “you can’t sleep here. Warn -Watch and hide somewhere up near the barn!” So off Nibble ran. - - - CHAPTER XII - HOW LONG EARS HEARD BAD NEWS - -The minute the whippoorwill said that Silvertip the Fox was coming right -back into the very woods Tommy Peele and his cousin Sandy and the dogs -had just driven him out of, they knew he did it for just one reason: he -was bound to catch Nibble. So that was no place for a sensible bunny. It -was really pretty scary. - -But you know Nibble. He can’t stay frightened, because he’s so terribly -curious. Before ever he hunted himself a safe place to sleep he had to -sneak into the Brushpile and listen to the Bad Little Owls. They were -just creeping out from beneath it, where they had hidden away from Chaik -Jay and his family. - -“Are you all right?” asked Mr. Owl. “I feel better since I slept, but -those jays gave us a terrible mauling.” - -“My poor wings!” mourned his wife. “I am ashamed to be seen in them.” - -“What’s a lot worse, we’ll have hardly a thing to fly with, until our -fall feathers come in,” he complained. “My wings aren’t very bad, but -I’ll never be able to steer until my tail grows.” - -“I’m going to watch Chaik’s nest,” scolded the Lady Owl, “and let Mrs. -Hooter drag his wife out by the claws as soon as ever she gets back -here. Her owlets are out already, so it won’t be long. And I’ll smash -every one of Chaik’s eggs with my very own beak—see if I don’t!” Mrs. -Owl was still nearly crying over her ruffled feathers. - -“No, you won’t!” snapped her husband. The husband, you know, is always -the timid one of an owl family. “We’d have Tommy Peele shooting us next! -What do you think made Chaik take after us, eh? He was helping Tommy. -That boy wouldn’t have a chance of finding that clever fox if half the -Woodsfolk weren’t helping him. It’s a bad thing to have any man so -friendly with them.” Of course it was, for a bad bird like the owl or a -bad beast like Silvertip. - -“It certainly is,” she agreed. “Tommy would be hunting them all just as -hard as we do if it weren’t for that rabbit. It’s all his fault. We’ve -got to get rid of him. Let’s tell Silvertip about the flat stone where -he thumps for Doctor Muskrat.” - -“Let’s find his hole,” said her husband. “Every mouse in the Woods and -Fields knows about it; they went there this spring for woodchuck fur to -make a charm against us owls. I’ll show them if it can keep me from -catching one. Then we’ll offer to let him go if he tells us.” - -“Yes,” she agreed, “and then we can eat him afterward, so he won’t run -and warn that rabbit.” - -“Thank you so much for all this information,” said Nibble to himself. -“If Silvertip stays in the woods tonight I can sleep very comfortably in -the haystack.” - -Nibble slept in the haystack that night, but he didn’t sleep any too -well, because the news of Foul Fang’s death had travelled ’way up to the -barn and the mice were celebrating. Besides, he had to sleep with one -ear up, listening for Watch. - -He heard the old dog padding past early in the morning, before even the -birds were awake, and thumped to call him. In another minute Watch and -Trailer the hound, who was with him, were sniffing at the door of Ouphe -the Rat’s old tunnel under the hay. “What’s on your mind?” the big dog -whined softly. “Trailer won’t chase you.” - -“I know he won’t,” Nibble chuckled. “I’m not going to run for him. I’m -going to stay snuggled up in here until I hear him busy after -Silvertip.” - -“There,” said Watch proudly, “Trailer, I told you Nibble would find -him.” - -“But I don’t see how we lost him,” Trailer insisted. “He simply -disappeared in the middle of a hot trail. I never lifted my nose from -it.” - -“The whippoorwill said he took to water and then climbed up into the -woodduck’s nest in the top of that fallen tree,” said Nibble. “But why -didn’t the gun catch him? That’s what I want to know.” - -“The gun’s a stupid thing,” Trailer explained. “It bangs twice and then -it has to be fed again before it will do anything more.” (He knew it was -no use to tell Nibble about putting fresh shells into a double-barrelled -shotgun, because even Watch, who was a very wise dog, didn’t -understand.) “My man Sandy was so excited over shooting the snake that -he forgot to feed it. He didn’t hear me bark until Silvertip and I were -out of sight in the brush. And Silvertip was gone before he found me -again. That gun has to use his eyes to see with and his legs to run -with, and no man’s fast enough to chase a fox. That’s why Watch and I -think we can get him just as easily if we go out alone.” - -“Yes, and I don’t like taking Tommy Peele to meet strange snakes in -strange woods,” said Watch. “It worries me so I can’t keep my mind on -what I’m doing.” - -“Of course,” Nibble agreed. “Well, last night I overheard the little -screech owls in the Brushpile—my paddy-paws are good for more than to -scrub my ears with, I can tell you. They’re so quiet even the owls -didn’t hear them, and they said they were going to tell Silvertip to -watch the flat stone where I thump for Doctor Muskrat, or my hole. He’ll -be one place or the other. And please tell Doctor Muskrat I’ll go around -to the far side of the pool to meet him.” - -“All right,” promised Watch. And off went the dogs with their tails -wagging. “I tell you what,” growled Trailer, “that rabbit is a great -help to hunt with.” - - - CHAPTER XIII - HOW THE GREAT HUNT ENDED - -Nibble Rabbit cuddled down comfortably in the bottom of the haystack. -Pretty soon he heard Trailer bark. “Aough! Here, Watch! Quick! Catch -him!” - -“They didn’t get him that time, either,” thought Nibble as Trailer’s -voice settled down to the hunting call. “But I guess Silvertip’s too -busy to hurt me, and I must tell Doctor Muskrat to keep away from that -flat stone.” So off he went to the woods as fast as ever his paddy-feet -would carry him. - -But he didn’t go straight to Doctor Muskrat’s Pool. He ran around the -lower end of the Prickly Ash Thicket, where his hole was, and jumped -across the brook. Then he came up on the far side of the pool and hid in -a clump of willows. Deep in the woods he could hear Trailer, still -baying. Everything else was very still. He thumped softly. - -“M—m! Eh? Is that you, Nibble?” came the startled voice of the old -doctor. “Watch sent me over here and I fell asleep. We sat up all night -watching Silvertip, Whippoorwill and I. He slept curled up on that -rotten log just behind your hole.” - -“Then the little owls did find a fieldmouse,” said Nibble. “They said -they’d make one show it to them and then eat him so he couldn’t tell -me.” - -“Well, that’s just what they tried to do,” and the doctor’s eyes -twinkled, “but he managed to wriggle away when he got there and pop -right into it. And he dug along the big root that runs up into the mouse -tunnels and was down here for me to put a moss-seed poultice on his claw -wounds while they were still watching your doorway. A doctor knows -pretty much everything that goes on, I can tell you.” - -“And Silvertip?” asked Nibble. - -“Oh, that hound all but caught him!” the doctor exclaimed. “He came -sneaking out when Watch called me, and he was so busy trying to hear -what one dog had to say that he forgot all about the other. He squeaked -like a frightened mouse.” - -“How exciting!” Nibble flicked his tufty little tail at the thought of -it. “I had Watch tell you not to go back to that flat stone because the -little owls know about it. Those bad little birds will do anything to -help Silvertip. They bargained with Foul Fang the Rattlesnake, and they -bargained with the grandson of Ouphe the Rat. They might bargain with -Slyfoot the Mink to watch it.” - -“There’s someone watching it this very minute that the little owls -didn’t bargain with,” answered Doctor Muskrat. “It’s Grandpop Snapping -Turtle. He moves just a little closer every day, and then he settles -down in the mud so exactly like a stone himself, that even I can hardly -tell the difference. He’s very polite—but we’ll keep a safe distance -away from him. What’s that?” - -For a shadow was floating over the old doctor’s pool. - -Nibble and Doctor Muskrat crouched very low among the willow stems as it -sailed silently above them. It was just daybreak, when mice scuttle down -to drink and crayfish are stiff with the night’s chill—the best hunting -time of the day for the marsh hawk. The woods were very still; they -couldn’t hear even the distant barking of the dogs. - -Pretty soon Nibble put up his head. “It’s the whippoorwill,” he -whispered, flashing a signal to the bird. “He’s got news of Silvertip! -Do you suppose they’ve caught him?” He was so excited that he squirmed -inside his furry skin. - -“We’ll know in a minute,” said Doctor Muskrat, as the whippoorwill -dropped quietly to the ground. - -But he fluttered in surprise when he saw the doctor. “Great beetles!” he -exclaimed. “I just saw your nose poking out of the water by the flat -stone.” - -“Not his,” said Nibble. “We can’t go there, because the Bad Little Owls -who help Silvertip are watching it.” - -“Yes,” put in the doctor, “and so is Grandpop Snapping Turtle, who helps -himself.” - -“O—ho!” said the whippoorwill. “I thought it was you, hiding from the -little owls. They’re in the Quail’s Thicket.” - -“And Silvertip?” asked Nibble. - -“Silvertip’s too clever for those dogs. He’s got away,” said the -whippoorwill, sadly. “I know just how you feel. It’s awful to know he’s -always after you. But you did me a good turn when you found that -rattlesnake and showed it to Tommy Peele. And Tommy did me a good turn -when he shot it. I’ll help you all I can. Only when a fox is smart -enough to run along the top of a fence to hide his trail, what dog will -ever catch him?” - -“There’s just one thing sure,” said Doctor Muskrat, “he’ll catch himself -with his own cleverness one of these days.” - -“Listen!” breathed the whippoorwill. “He’s come back to the brook on his -own trail. Now he’s walking in the water to hide his footsteps while he -crosses to the Quail’s Thicket to see if the little owls have found -Nibble. Isn’t that smart?” - -Ka-splash, ka-splash, ka-splash, ka-splash, went the cautious feet of -the fox. He was wading up the other side of the pond, nearer and nearer -to the flat stone. Ka-splash—he was right beside it. Ka-splash. “Yah!” -he screamed. “A trap! Urr—waur-r-r! Leggo, leggo!” he snarled, biting -the thing that gripped his leg. - -Then slowly, surely, they saw him dragged deeper and deeper into the -pool. - -“Oh!” gasped Nibble. “How awful! That was—Grandpop Snapping Turtle!” - -“Lip, lip, lip,” sang the ripples against the shore. They broke in rings -about the poor fox’s nose as it disappeared. They travelled clear across -to the farthest shore where Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat were -crouching in the willows, and they whispered “Silvertip’s gone.” - -“Poor Silvertip,” gasped Nibble. “I wouldn’t have minded a bit if the -dogs had caught him—but to be drowned—Ugh!” And he shivered. - -“That’s all in the way you look at it,” answered the doctor. “You’re -used to the idea of having something run you down and kill you. But we -muskrats are quite used to the idea of being eaten by snapping turtles. -If I’m not clever enough to get away it doesn’t matter to me which gets -me in the end.” - -“But he’s terribly dangerous,” Nibble insisted. “I should think you’d be -afraid to dive into the same pond with him. We must catch him. We can -get Tommy to help us.” - -“There’s no need of that,” argued the wise old beast calmly. “I’ve grown -up in this pond. And Grandpop Snapping Turtle has been paddling around -in it every summer since I was born. He’s never troubled me because so -far I’m smarter than he is. When I get old and stupid perhaps he will.” - -“But why should there be anything to catch us?” persisted Nibble. “Why -can’t we make a compact with them, like the cows made with the dogs, or -why can’t we make a compact with Man to help us kill them? Then it would -be like Mother Nature meant to have it in the First-Off Beginning.” - -“You forget that they both were Mother Nature’s own children to start -with. Even she can’t make a compact with the -Things-that-came-from-under-the-earth like Grandpop. And those are the -worst enemies we have. Besides, I think even Mother Nature has changed -her mind about that first plan. Now she’s growing something she never -thought of.” - -“What’s that?” asked Nibble, trying hard to guess. - -“Brains! we’re learning to think. You’re safe enough if you know all -your enemy knows and then think for yourself besides. It’s only when -he’s cleverer than you are that he can catch you. If we had no enemies -we’d still be as stupid as plants—no, stupider—because they had to learn -to take care of themselves, too.” - -“I see,” said Nibble, slowly. “Silvertip was safe on land because he was -smarter than any one else. He got caught when he took to the water -because Grandpop Snapping Turtle knew more about that than he did.” - -“Exactly,” agreed Doctor Muskrat. “It was perfectly fair. Look at Man. -He had the most enemies and the least help from Mother Nature. Now no -one can hurt him but himself—he still has that much to learn. But he’s -wiser and safer than any one else in all the world. And his enemies -taught him.” - - THE END - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX *** - -***** This file should be named 64162-0.txt or 64162-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/1/6/64162/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Sins of Silvertip the Fox</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: John Breck</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: William T. Andrews</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 31, 2020 [eBook #64162]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Roger Frank</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX ***</div> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> -<h1>THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX</h1> -</div> - -<div class='section mt20 mb20 tac'> -<div>Told at Twilight Stories</div> -<div class='fs11 mb07'>By JOHN BRECK</div> -<div class='fs09'>MOSTLY ABOUT NIBBLE THE BUNNY<br/> -NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS<br/> -THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX<br/> -TAD COON’S TRICKS<br/> -THE WAVY TAILED WARRIOR<br/> -TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE<br/> -THE BAD LITTLE OWLS<br/> -THE JAY BIRD WHO WENT TAME</div> -</div> - -<div class='section mt20 mb20 tac'> - <div id='i001' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i001.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>Silvertip wades across the pond.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='section mt20 mb20 tac'> -<div class='mb05' style='text-decoration:underline'>Told at Twilight Stories</div> -<div class='fs14 mb07'>The Sins of Silvertip the Fox</div> -<div>by</div> -<div class='fs12 mb07'>John Breck</div> -<div>Illustrated by</div> -<div class='fs11 mb02'>William T. Andrews</div> -<div class='fs08'>Garden City New York</div> -<div class='fs08 mb05'>Doubleday, Page & Company</div> -<div class='fs08'>1923</div> -</div> - -<div class='section mt20 mb20 tac fs08'> -<div class='mb07'>COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY<br/> -DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY</div> -<div class='mb07'>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF<br/> -TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES,<br/> -INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN</div> -<div class='mb07'>COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS</div> -<div class='mb07'>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES<br/> -AT<br/> -THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y</div> -<div class='mb07'>First Edition</div> -</div> - -<div class='section mt40'> -<div>CONTENTS</div> -<ul class='mt02' style='list-style-Type:none'> -<li><span>I.</span> <a href='#ch01'>How Nibble Rescued the Red Cow</a></li> -<li><span>II.</span> <a href='#ch02'>Why Tommy ’Most Lost His Temper</a></li> -<li><span>III.</span> <a href='#ch03'>The Red Cow’s Secret</a></li> -<li><span>IV.</span> <a href='#ch04'>Why Louie Thomson Didn’t Enjoy His Visit</a></li> -<li><span>V.</span> <a href='#ch05'>Nibble Tells One Secret and Hears Another</a></li> -<li><span>VI.</span> <a href='#ch06'>A Game of Tag in Tommy’s Barn</a></li> -<li><span>VII.</span> <a href='#ch07'>The White Cow Begins a Story</a></li> -<li><span>VIII.</span> <a href='#ch08'>How the Man’s Wife Made the Compact with the Cows</a></li> -<li><span>IX.</span> <a href='#ch09'>How a Bunny Undertook to Hunt a Fox</a></li> -<li><span>X.</span> <a href='#ch10'>The Wicked Plot of the Bad Little Owls</a></li> -<li><span>XI.</span> <a href='#ch11'>Why the Little Owls’ Plans Went Wrong</a></li> -<li><span>XII.</span> <a href='#ch12'>How Long Ears Heard Bad News</a></li> -<li><span>XIII.</span> <a href='#ch13'>How the Great Hunt Ended</a></li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div class='section mt40'> -<div>ILLUSTRATIONS</div> -<ul class='mt02' style='list-style-type:none'> -<li><a href='#i001'>Silvertip wades across the pond</a></li> -<li><a href='#i002'>Tommy finds a trap</a></li> -<li><a href='#i003'>Nibble and Muskrat visit the Red Cow</a></li> -<li><a href='#i004'>The Red Cow walked around and around</a></li> -<li><a href='#i005'>Silvertip trotted past with the poor chicken</a></li> -<li><a href='#i006'>There was Nibble, perched on top of the partition</a></li> -<li><a href='#i007'>Nibble visits the chicken coop</a></li> -<li><a href='#i008'>Silvertip hid under the culvert</a></li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<div class='tac fs12 mb10'> -THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX -</div> - -<h2 id='ch01' style='page-break-before:avoid;' title="HOW NIBBLE RESCUED THE RED COW">CHAPTER I<br/> -<span class='fssm'>HOW NIBBLE RESCUED THE RED COW</span> -</h2> - -<p>Never before, in the early, early spring, had there been so much -excitement down at Doctor Muskrat’s Pond. Of course, spring’s the season -for visitors. They were always on the lookout for old friends winging up -from the south. The Beautiful Duck and his mate, who’d warned Nibble -Rabbit about the Terrible Storm, stopped in to wish everyone a happy -summer. Then they laughingly beaked their way northward through a flurry -of late snow. Bad weather couldn’t scare them now.</p> - -<p>They kept a lookout for old enemies, too, as wise Woodsfolk always must. -But there was one visitor who puzzled them. Was he an enemy, or was he a -friend? Doctor Muskrat himself couldn’t say. Or rather, he wouldn’t. But -that wasn’t what started all the discussion.</p> - -<p>The visitor was Tommy Peele. And his old dog Watch said he owned the -Woods and Fields. Now did that mean he owned the Woodsfolk who lived in -them? That’s what everyone wanted to know. For the Woodsfolk were wild. -Could a wild beast ever belong to any one? Doctor Muskrat had never -heard of such a thing.</p> - -<p>“I certainly wouldn’t mind,” chirped Chewee the Chickadee. “I get a -full crop ’most every time I see him.”</p> - -<p>“I guess you’d mind if he locked you up like he did Nibble,” remarked -Chaik Jay. “That’s what it means to belong to him.”</p> - -<p>“No, it doesn’t,” contradicted Nibble. (He really knew more about the -little boy than any one else. He hadn’t liked being locked up, but he -did like Tommy.) “Watch says I belong to him just the same out of my -cage as I did in it. And he feeds me just the same, too.”</p> - -<p>“Hmm!” sniffed Doctor Muskrat. He was wondering if it was that way with -traps. ’Cause you remember Tommy’d caught him in one, and then let him -go again. And Tommy’d fed him, too.</p> - -<p>“You know,” said Nibble, “all the beasts up at the barn say——” And -then for the first time he heard the swishing in the bulrushes behind -him.</p> - -<p>“Ow!” he squealed. And he jumped. For the starey eyes of the cross Red -Cow came peering through them.</p> - -<p>“Swish!” went Doctor Muskrat through his hole in the ice. “Flutter!” -went the scary wings of Chewee the Chickadee, and even Chaik the -Bluejay, who isn’t afraid of many things, went off with a startled -“squawk,” while Nibble Rabbit dashed through a tunnel he knew in the -Quail’s Thicket. But you know Nibble. First he’s scared—and then he’s -curious. As soon as he was safely hidden he stopped to listen. “Stupid -beast,” he said to himself. “Why couldn’t she have waited until we got -done talking?”</p> - -<p>“M-m-moo!” lowed the Red Cow in a troubled voice.</p> - -<p>Nibble came creeping back again. Pretty soon he sat up and stretched his -neck to get a good look at her. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. -“Is anything the matter?”</p> - -<p>“M-m-m-yes,” moaned the Red Cow, swinging her head restlessly from side -to side and looking terribly troubled. “I don’t know just what it is, -but I’m all afraid! Isn’t there any place where wolves don’t come? Or -Men?”</p> - -<p>“No Man comes here,” said Nibble, “’cepting only Tommy Peele—and he’s -just a little one.” Then, because the Red Cow looked so unhappy, he -burst out cheerfully, “Come on. I’ll show you where you can hide, even, -from him.”</p> - -<p>But she looked at him very doubtfully with her near-sighted eyes. -“M-m-no-no,” she hesitated. “You haven’t forgotten that I tried to kill -you when you hung that flapping thing on my horn.” She meant the door of -his cage that she jerked off to get at the carrot Tommy Peele had given -Nibble for breakfast. But she insisted on thinking that he had fastened -the door to her. She was a very stupid thing.</p> - -<p>“That’s all right,” he explained.</p> - -<p>“You let me out of the cage, so we’re all fair and square.”</p> - -<p>By this time she was so puzzled she couldn’t remember anything. But she -could tell that Nibble wasn’t angry, so she followed him. And he showed -her a fine dry spot on the top of a little hillock, all shut in by -clustering thorns. For Nibble wouldn’t trust anything but the Pickery -Things for even a cow to hide in.</p> - -<p>There she stayed and there she slept very comfortably. Even the cold -wind that came up with the sunset couldn’t reach her. And Nibble dug -down a little way into the mud and ate the top off a mallow root and a -couple of plantains for his supper. And then he had to lick himself very -dry and clean before he popped into his own comfortable hole.</p> - -<p>He slept late next morning because he’d stayed awake puzzling over that -Red Cow’s doings the night before. But as soon as he had washed his face -he set out to find her, for he’d thought of a lot more questions to ask. -And there she was, crouched down close in her hiding-place, with her -eyes bigger and starier than ever. “Hssh!” she snorted through her wide, -windy nostrils. “There was a Man! But he didn’t see me at all!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch02' title="WHY TOMMY ’MOST LOST HIS TEMPER">CHAPTER II<br/><span class='fssm'>WHY TOMMY ’MOST LOST HIS TEMPER</span></h2> - -<p>“Nonsense!” said Nibble Rabbit. “There wasn’t any Man. They don’t come -here. You must have had a bad dream.”</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t,” she insisted. “I was wide awake and I saw him as plain -as plain.”</p> - -<p>Nibble sniffed the air, but the wind had blown all the scent away, so he -didn’t believe her. When he turned to her again she was trying to eat -the twigs that she could reach with her long tongue. “Hey! Don’t you -know better than that?” he demanded. “You’ll get pickers in your mouth, -and, what’s much worse, you’ll feel awfully queer and sick inside of -you. Doctor Muskrat says you should only eat that tree for medicine.”</p> - -<p>Nibble felt very wise and grown-up beside this foolish cow. She wasn’t -really wild and she wasn’t really tame. Poor beast! No wonder she was -scary. She didn’t know enough to be either thing properly. “Come along!” -he ordered. “I’ll take you down for a drink and then you can eat the -willows. If you’re like the partridge you can nip the tips off a -cottonwood that your long neck will reach up to.”</p> - -<p>So the Red Cow hove herself up to her feet, tail first, as is the custom -of cows, and followed him obediently. And he showed her the way to the -warm spring that was Doctor Muskrat’s front door.</p> - -<p>It was a good thing he was polite and let her drink first. For as soon -as she began dragging her clumsy toes in the muck to spread them far -enough apart so she could get her nose into the water—“Clang!” went the -cold steely jaws of another trap.</p> - -<p>She jumped back, snorting and waving her tassely tail, while she cocked -her eyes to try and see it. But Nibble wasn’t paying any attention to -her. He was thumping and bumping as hard as ever he could with his soft -furry feet and calling “Doctor Muskrat! Doctor Muskrat! Doctor Muskrat!”</p> - -<p>“Eh?” said the old doctor as his nose came up out of the water (and the -cow snorted at him harder than ever), “what’s all this?” He sniffed at -her inquiringly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Doctor Muskrat,” Nibble almost cried. “Look! It’s more jaws!”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” The old beast examined them wisely and shook his head. “What did I -tell you? You can’t trust even Tommy Peele! He was just pretending to -make friends with us so we’d forget to be afraid and he could catch us -again!”</p> - -<p>“I guess you’re right,” murmured Nibble. But he felt very badly about -it—for he really liked Tommy.</p> - -<p>Just then the Red Cow spoke up. She didn’t understand Doctor Muskrat, -but she caught Tommy’s name. And although she didn’t like Tommy herself, -even a stupid cow knows enough to be honest. “I told you I saw that -Man,” she said to Nibble. “Well, it surely wasn’t Tommy!”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t, eh?” snapped Doctor Muskrat. “We’ll just see about that.” He -dove again. He came up looking very puzzled. “Tommy’s jaws are still -biting the mud, just where he threw them.” he reported. “We’ll watch -what he does when he finds these.”</p> - -<p>It was Saturday, so as soon as Tommy had finished his chores up at the -barn, he whistled to his old dog, Watch, and came tramping down the -fields with his tall rubber boots. He had a cap full of meal and an ear -of corn in his pocket. Yes! And he had a nice lump of fat for Chewee the -Chickadee and a string to tie it to a branch with.</p> - -<p>But Nibble didn’t come running to meet him. He was crouching back in the -reeds with Doctor Muskrat. And the Red Cow had lumbered off to her own -hiding-place in the thicket that Nibble had showed her.</p> - -<p>“Come, Bunny, Bunny,” called Tommy, in his nice voice that fairly made -Nibble’s feet itch to run to him. He crept up softly near the warm -spring so as not to scare his muskrat. Then he saw the footprints—the -big ones of the Red Cow, and the little ones of Nibble Rabbit, and the -paws of Doctor Muskrat with his toe gone, for now it was healed so he -could step on it. And there was the trap, sticking right straight up -where the cow’s clumsy foot had jerked it.</p> - -<p>And wasn’t he angry! Just wasn’t he? He was the crossest little boy in -all the woods and fields, and the houses, too. Because someone was -trying to catch his very own wild things that he was trying to make -friends with!</p> - -<p>The trap was chained to a bulrush stalk and he yanked it right off, -stalk and all, he was so angry. And then he did something that showed he -was really learning to think quite like a wild thing. It was just what -wise old Doctor Muskrat would have done if he hadn’t been so troubled, -deep down inside, that he forgot about everything but Tommy. He trailed -the footsteps of that other man and he found two other traps. Right in -his own woods!</p> - -<p>“Clang! clang!” He had given each of those cold steel jaws a stick to -bite on. Then he rooted up their chains and tied them all together. -“Crash!” They went plump down into the mud beside his own. “Yah! Yah! -Hooray!” barked Watch. He thought that anything Tommy did was perfect. -And he wagged his big wavy tail so very hard that at last his tail -wagged him and he waltzed around and around.</p> - -<p>And then Nibble came bouncing up with his ears in the air, and Doctor -Muskrat waddled after him. But Doctor Muskrat stopped at the edge of the -reeds because, you know, he and Watch hadn’t made friends. Still, he -looked very kindly at Tommy and he came out in a great hurry to get his -meal when Tommy moved away.</p> - -<p>But Watch nearly scared him when he turned around to ask: “Nibble, do -you know where I’ll find that Red Cow?”</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i002' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>Tommy finds a trap.</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch03' title="THE RED COW’S SECRET">CHAPTER III<br/><span class='fssm'>THE RED COW’S SECRET</span></h2> - -<p>Nibble Rabbit was so surprised at Watch’s question that he stopped -eating. And he was eating the delicious meal that Tommy had brought, so -it was a big surprise. For that was just the question he didn’t know how -to answer. He’d hidden the Red Cow himself. She was trusting him. How -could he show where she was when she was specially hiding from Tommy?</p> - -<p>“I know,” said Nibble, at last, “but it isn’t fair to tell. Why do you -want her?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I want her because we keep our cows in the barn, not in the wet -woods like you silly Wild Things,” Watch answered, smiling. “It doesn’t -matter, anyway. Do you think I can’t go sniffing around and find her for -myself if you won’t tell?” And he ran out a sly, pink tongue.</p> - -<p>“Well, she’s all wild and scary, ’specially of Men,” pleaded Nibble. -“You remember how she chased Tommy before. You’d better take him to the -barn first and come back after her alone.” Nibble still had an idea that -Watch herded Tommy Peele the way he did the cows.</p> - -<p>“That’s perfectly true, Bunny,” said Watch. And he went bounding off -ahead of his Boy, urging him to hurry as though he had something -particularly interesting to show him. And he had, but he didn’t know it.</p> - -<p>As soon as they had finished the meal Tommy had brought them, Doctor -Muskrat went off to sleep on his sun-warmed stone, spread out flat with -his paws hanging over the edges, and Nibble went lipity, lipity up his -tunnel in the thicket to tell the Red Cow Watch was asking for her.</p> - -<p>He heard the strangest noises as he came along—but they weren’t sad and -scary. She was talking to someone in a new voice, very soft and gentle, -very loving and happy.</p> - -<p>“Who’s there?” Nibble called. “Red Cow, can I come?”</p> - -<p>“Come quick, quick!” she lowed. “Isn’t it lovely? That’s why I was -afraid. I came here to hide so that no one could take it away from me.” -Then she added in her new voice that wasn’t meant for Nibble at all, -“Lie still, wee thing.”</p> - -<p>Nibble poked his head through the Pickery Things and peeked at her. And -he saw what she was talking about. It was the cunningest little red calf -with a white spot in the middle of its forehead. It had bright black -eyes, wide open, and it perked a pair of wide, round ears at Nibble. -Then it tried to get up on its spindly legs, but they were pretty shaky.</p> - -<p>“Does it seem all right?” asked the Red Cow. It was her first calf and -she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.</p> - -<p>“It seems very queer,” said Nibble honestly. Of course it did to him. -Because baby rabbits are blind and haven’t any fur. “Can’t I call Doctor -Muskrat?” He was wondering, too, whether he oughtn’t to call Watch and -Tommy.</p> - -<p>“Yes, go call the doctor,” said the Red Cow.</p> - -<p>You just ought to have seen Doctor Muskrat wake up when he heard Nibble -squeal for him so excitedly. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” he called in his -high, thin voice, and he flopped along through Nibble’s tunnel as fast -as ever he could, for his webby paws aren’t meant for running.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he asked. And then he saw the little calf. And it sniffed -its turned-up nose at him with a cunning pink tongue-tip showing. He -walked all around it, inspecting it very carefully. It seemed strange to -him, too, because baby muskrats are born as blind and helpless as baby -rabbits.</p> - -<p>“Is there anything the matter with it?” asked the Red Cow, anxiously.</p> - -<p>“I think not,” he said, sensibly, “excepting that it’s pretty cold and -shivery. You must lick it hard and get its blood to circulating.”</p> - -<p>So she licked it and licked it. And her tongue was very strong and very -gentle, because that’s one of the things all cows’ tongues are made for. -And the baby calf grew livelier and livelier. And pretty soon it got up -on its spindly legs, waving its little tail that was still too new to -have a tassel on it. “Now what’ll I do?” asked the Red Cow.</p> - -<p>“Feed it,” advised Doctor Muskrat.</p> - -<p>So she did, though it took quite a little coaxing to show the silly baby -how to find what he wanted. But the milk was trickling from the corners -of his little mouth in about three minutes. And then wasn’t he happy?</p> - -<p>“Let me say, madam,” began Doctor Muskrat, in his most professional -tone, “that is the most remarkable youngster I have ever attended.” You -see he was only used to bunnies and muskrats and fieldmice.</p> - -<p>But the Red Cow heaved a great sigh of pride when she heard that. And -just wasn’t she the happiest cow in the world?</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless,” went on the doctor, “this is no place for it. You should -have a nice quiet hole for it. There’s nothing in the woods big enough -for you. I believe the barn is where you ought to be.”</p> - -<p>“But they’ll take it away from me?” moaned the Red Cow, getting all -scary again.</p> - -<p>“Not if you trust Tommy,” put in Nibble Rabbit, eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Madam, if you’ll take an old muskrat’s advice,” said the doctor, “you -will place your confidence in Tommy Peele.” He used those long words -because they sounded wise and important. And the Red Cow was really -impressed.</p> - -<p>“All right,” she agreed. And on the word Nibble Rabbit darted out across -the Broad Field and down the Pasture, where he could see Watch and Tommy -Peele.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch04' title="WHY LOUIE THOMSON DIDN’T ENJOY HIS VISIT">CHAPTER IV<br/><span class='fssm'>WHY LOUIE THOMSON DIDN’T ENJOY HIS VISIT</span></h2> - -<p>“Watch, come back!” Nibble squealed breathlessly, when he caught up with -Tommy and the old dog in the end of the Pasture. “Come back and bring -Tommy, too. I can tell you the Red Cow’s secret. She has a little new -baby calf and she says she’ll trust it to Tommy Peele.”</p> - -<p>“Er-r yah!” barked Watch, very pleased and proud because the other -animals were beginning to love his Tommy. And he turned right around to -follow Nibble.</p> - -<p>But of course Tommy hadn’t heard a word they said. They talk too low, -for one thing, and they use all sorts of sign languages, too, for -another. He thought Watch was chasing Nibble. So he shouted and scolded -and called him a bad old dog. But Watch only wagged his tail and kept -right on.</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i003' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i003.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>Nibble and Muskrat visit the Red Cow.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>Meantime, something had been happening back at the pond. The strange Man -who set all those strange traps had come to look at them. And the Red -Cow heard him. But she wasn’t scary any more because she had her new -calf and she meant to take care of him. And she didn’t mean to let any -one else in the world but Tommy Peele lay a hand on him.</p> - -<p>He had a nice meal of warm milk inside of him and he’d gone to sleep. -Besides, Doctor Muskrat was still there to look after him. So out of the -thicket she bounced and after the Man.</p> - -<p>“M-m-moo!” she roared, just like the first cows did when they told -Mother Nature they’d punish the wicked wolves for themselves if she gave -them their teeth again. But you remember Mother Nature couldn’t do that, -so she gave them horns longer and sharper than the teeth of any wolf. -The Red Cow’s horns certainly were. So that strange Man climbed up the -nearest tree to get away from them.</p> - -<p>“Get out!” she snorted. “Go away from here!” But of course he couldn’t -because she was walking around and around the trunk of that big tree, -roaring at him and sending the mud over her shoulders with her big, -horny toes. Only she never thought of that, because she was rather -stupid. Then Watch came bouncing up and he barked and snapped very -fiercely. But Tommy just laughed.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Louie Thomson,” he jeered. “You will set your traps in my woods, -will you? See what you get now!” For this was the greedy boy who had -sold him the trap that wouldn’t work.</p> - -<p>“You’ll see what you get if that crazy cow takes after you!” yelled -Louie.</p> - -<p>Tommy was just a little bit afraid, for the cow was watching him with -that scary look in her eyes. But he wasn’t going to let Louie Thomson -know it. So he stood perfectly still and called her, “Come Bossy, Co’ -Boss.”</p> - -<p>“Go along, Red Cow!” barked Watch.</p> - -<p>“I know,” squealed Nibble, “I can see Chaik Jay’s present sticking right -out of Tommy’s pocket. Ask him for that ear of corn.”</p> - -<p>Now the Red Cow was really very hungry. She reached out her sniffing -nose. Tommy didn’t move. So she picked the corn right out of his pocket -with her long curling tongue. And then he laid such a gentle hand on her -that she knew she wouldn’t be afraid of him ever again.</p> - -<p>So here was Tommy Peele stroking the Red Cow’s neck while she ate the -corn he had meant to give Chaik Jay. Here, too, was Nibble Rabbit -enjoying the haws off a wild rose bush the Red Cow had trampled down, -while old Doctor Muskrat watched the Red Cow’s sleepy new baby, and -pricked his ears to hear all that was going on.</p> - -<p>Even Watch the Dog was happy. He was lying at the foot of the tree, with -his nose on his paws as though he expected to stay there all day, and -wagging his tail.</p> - -<p>But Louie Thomson, perched on one of its branches in the cold wind, was -very unhappy. Whenever he moved Watch would raise the hair all along his -back and growl, and the Red Cow would roll her scary eyes at him. “Hey, -Tommy!” he called. “Drive off those brutes and let me come down!”</p> - -<p>“No, I won’t,” said Tommy. “This is two times you’ve cheated me. You -cheated me with that old trap, and now you tried to come over here into -my very own woods and catch my very own Beasts. That’s stealing. I’m -going to let them watch you while I go up to the house and get my father -to come for you.”</p> - -<p>Of course not one of the Woodsfolk knew what he meant. But they knew he -was very angry.</p> - -<p>“Oh, please, please don’t do that!” begged Louie. “I’ll promise never to -set foot in your woods again. Honest, cross my heart and hope to die, I -will! Please let me go this time.”</p> - -<p>Nibble sat straight up and listened hard. For Louie sounded just like -Chatter Squirrel the night of the Terrible Storm when he was so terribly -afraid. “My whiskers, but isn’t Tommy wonderful,” he breathed to Watch. -“You and the Red Cow can scare that Man when you can reach him, but -Tommy scares him without doing anything.” And he came close up to -Tommy’s tall rubber boots and cocked his head on one side, trying to see -how Tommy did it.</p> - -<p>“I know you’ll promise,” Tommy was saying, “and you’ll keep it, too, or -else I’ll know about it.” He just meant he and Watch would find Louie’s -footprints.</p> - -<p>But Louie saw that rabbit sitting by Tommy and looking exactly as though -he were talking to him.</p> - -<p>“And if you want your traps,” Tommy went on, “you’ll have to get that -muskrat to find them.” He just meant he’d thrown them into the pond.</p> - -<p>But Louie Thomson didn’t know what to think of that. He guessed perhaps -he’d better leave Tommy Peele and his wild things very much alone.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch05' title="NIBBLE TELLS ONE SECRET AND HEARS ANOTHER">CHAPTER V<br/><span class='fssm'>NIBBLE TELLS ONE SECRET AND HEARS ANOTHER</span></h2> - -<p>Now when Tommy Peele followed Watch back to the woods it was because he -thought the old dog was chasing Nibble Rabbit. Then he made up his mind -Nibble had warned Watch about that bad Louie Thomson. He never dreamed -Nibble had whispered a secret that belonged to the Red Cow. So as soon -as he’d made Louie promise to behave, he whistled to Watch and began to -lead the Red Cow away so Louie could climb down.</p> - -<p>Well, right then the Red Cow remembered that secret she had to show him. -So she insisted on leading him.</p> - -<p>She fairly galloped around the end of the thicket, with Tommy running -after her in his tall rubber boots and Watch bounding after him. But -Nibble took a short cut through his tunnel. And he met Doctor Muskrat -coming to meet him.</p> - -<p>“Climp, clump, climp, clump!” went a sound outside.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” asked Doctor Muskrat.</p> - -<p>Nibble peered along the ground. And he could see Louie Thomson’s boots -moving very fast. “It’s that Man,” he exclaimed. “He’s running like -Silvertip the Fox did when the Red Cow took after him.”</p> - -<p>“Fine!” chuckled Doctor Muskrat. “He’ll never bring his wicked jaws back -here again. And we can thank Tommy Peele for that.”</p> - -<p>Then there was another sound. “What’s that?” asked Nibble. And Doctor -Muskrat laughed. For it was Tommy Peele squealing with surprise because -he’d found the secret that belonged to the Red Cow. “A calf! Oh, the -cute little thing!”</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i004' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i004.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>The Red Cow walked around and around the trunk of that big tree roaring at him.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>So Nibble and Doctor Muskrat both crept back down the tunnel to watch -what was going on. The calf raised his head and looked at Tommy; then he -got up on his shaky legs and sniffed at him. Because Tommy was a strange -Beast with a strange smell and even a baby knows enough to be careful -about strange things. But when he touched his little turned-up nose to -the hand Tommy held out to him he smelled his mother. You know Tommy had -been stroking her. So the foolish little rascal put out his little pink -tongue, trying to lick Tommy’s fingers. And wasn’t his mother pleased -because they were friends the very first thing!</p> - -<p>Watch led the way, and Tommy walked beside the Red Cow and helped to -steer her wobbly-legged calf all the way up to the barn. And the baby -kept trying to kick up his silly little heels the way Nibble used to -when he felt playful. And he just would run splash into all the puddles, -and bunt and wriggle when they caught him. The Red Cow kept getting -prouder and prouder every step, but even she was glad when they got -safely home with him.</p> - -<p>Nibble went with them as far as the Pasture. Doctor Muskrat was enjoying -a nice sweet flag-root (the first one he’d dug that spring) when Nibble -came loping back again. And he was the messiest rabbit you ever heard -of. And so cross and disgusted!</p> - -<p>“That bad baby!” he complained, beginning to clean the mud spots off his -white shirt front. “He wouldn’t do anything I told him to. And then, the -very first time I wasn’t looking, he danced in a puddle and splashed it -all over me. From whiskers to—” he craned his neck about to look—“to -tail! He all but drowned me!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t have to tell me that,” said Doctor Muskrat, and his fat sides -were shaking with laughter. “I’ve eyes to see with. You’re as wet as -ever you were when I fished you out of that pond there.” For you -remember how Nibble tumbled right into the water he was so frightened -the first time he ever saw the kind old muskrat.</p> - -<p>“And then,” Nibble went on indignantly, “the impudent little scamp -sniffed his little turned-up nose at me because I was spluttering.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t expect a calf to be born with manners, can you?” soothed -Doctor Muskrat, “’specially if it belongs to the Red Cow. But, as I told -her, that’s the most remarkable youngst——” He flattened his ears, -ready to dive, for a shadow came swooping down and he was expecting the -Marsh Hawk back any day.</p> - -<p>But it was only Chaik the Jay. “Hello,” he piped. “Who was she and what -did you tell her?” And he pounced on an acorn that was half-buried in -the ground.</p> - -<p>“The Red Cow,” answered Doctor Muskrat, “has a little new calf who’s the -most remarkable youngster I’ve ever seen.” And he was going to tell -Chaik all about it, only——</p> - -<p>Didn’t Nibble Rabbit just interrupt and tell it all himself? Just didn’t -he? He was that puffed up because he was the first one to see it that he -couldn’t wait. He described, how bright its little eyes were, and how it -wriggled its tail like Chatter Squirrel does when he’s in a temper, -and—everything there was to tell about that Red Cow’s red baby with the -white star in his forehead and the turned-up nose.</p> - -<p>And all the time Nibble was forgetting to clean his fur. And the mud -spots showed worse than ever as the wind dried them. But Nibble was too -busy talking about that very same bad little Beast who had splashed them -on him.</p> - -<p>Chaik was preening and tucking in his feathers every once in a while. He -didn’t have his new spring coat yet, so he was very particular over his -old one. Presently he noticed Nibble. “By the Worm in the Acorn, Rabbit, -what’s happened to you?” he wanted to know.</p> - -<p>Do you think Nibble would tell on that Red Cow’s bad baby? Not at all. -He just said, “Oh, I wasn’t looking—you don’t know what the walking is -this spring.” Then he got very busy with his mud spots and Chaik flew -away.</p> - -<p>“Hm,” giggled the doctor. “What do you really think of the Red Cow’s -calf, what you told me about it or what you told Chaik?”</p> - -<p>“I mean,” said Nibble shamefacedly, “that I’m going up to see it -to-morrow morning.” And off he hopped to his bed.</p> - -<p>He woke up early, early, before the darkest night had begun to melt into -the gray of dawn. He yawned sleepily and rolled over. My, but that hole -of his was warm and comfortable! Suddenly he jumped up and began to -scrub his face with his paws.</p> - -<p>In about three minutes he was down by the pond, thumping for Doctor -Muskrat. And weren’t the doctor’s eyes all sleepy when he poked his head -out of the water? “Ouf,” he shivered, “what do you want at this hour of -the night? Spear me with an icicle, but this pond is cold!” (If one of -the Woodsfolk is found frozen to death the saying is that he’s been -speared by an icicle.)</p> - -<p>“Come along,” said Nibble. “I’m going up to the barn to see the Red Cow -and her bad baby.”</p> - -<p>“What do you take me for?” snorted the old doctor. “Don’t you forget -that Silvertip the Fox is living there! Gimlet the Woodpecker said so. I -can’t run like you can and there isn’t any water for me to dive into.”</p> - -<p>“I forgot,” apologized Nibble.</p> - -<p>“Well, you just be careful,” warned the wise old beast, “and you come -straight back and tell me about him.”</p> - -<p>So off went Nibble, creeping about among the puddles. He dove into the -Brushpile for a minute because he heard two birds talking. But they were -only little downy Mr. and Mrs. Screech Owl, smaller than Bobby Robin. “I -tell you it’s too early for nesting,” one was saying.</p> - -<p>“Not if Silvertip keeps on leaving all that nice food for us in the -fence corner,” insisted the other. “He scarcely eats half of what he -catches, and chickens are the best eating in the world for our owlets. -We wouldn’t have to do any hunting.”</p> - -<p>“So,” said Nibble to himself, “Gimlet was right. Silvertip’s catching -Tommy Peele’s chickens.”</p> - -<p>He sniffed carefully about the haystack and, sure enough, there was a -nice nest that smelled of Silvertip—it’s almost the same smell as the -seeds of the “cranes-bill,” as the Woodsfolk call wild geranium. It was -empty, so Nibble cocked an ear at the chicken coop. Sure enough, there -was a tiny rustling in the straw. As he sat there listening he heard the -scared shout of a pullet, “Squa-awk! Squa-a—” and that was all. -Silvertip had throttled her. Bounce! Down he came from the perch and -slam! Out he slipped through the little back door his snoopy nose had -learned how to open. But Nibble didn’t dare call Watch for fear -Silvertip would hear him.</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i005' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i005.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>Silvertip trotted past with the poor chicken hanging from his jaws.</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch06' title="A GAME OF TAG IN TOMMY’S BARN">CHAPTER VI<br/><span class='fssm'>A GAME OF TAG IN TOMMY’S BARN</span></h2> - -<p>You know about Nibble Rabbit. First he’s scared and then he’s curious. -He was scared when he heard Silvertip catch the pullet. And he was still -more scared when Silvertip trotted past in the mist, splashing softly in -the puddles, with the poor chicken hanging from his jaws. But when -Silvertip suddenly stopped and sniffed Nibble’s own footprints by the -haystack, he was the scaredest little rabbit in all the fields and woods -and the barnyard, too.</p> - -<p>Just the same he could see Silvertip say to himself, “It’s too wet to -follow that trail. I’ll keep an eye out for bunnies around here as well -as birds.”</p> - -<p>And Nibble said to his own self, “Bunny, that fox will have to do some -looking.” Then Silvertip picked up the chicken and trotted on.</p> - -<p>Of course Nibble took a long breath when he had gone. That gave him time -to grow curious. “I wonder which fence-corner those greedy little -Screech Owls said he hid his food in?” he thought. “Watch would like to -know.” So he peeked around the end of the stack and listened. Silvertip -was away out of sight in the mist, but his feet went splashing off to -the very corner of the Broad Field, where he used to sleep under some -elderberry bushes. Yes, and sometimes he’d catch the birds who came -there for berries. Oh, that Silvertip was certainly clever.</p> - -<p>“Now,” Nibble thought, “it’s safe for me to hunt for the Red Cow.” She -wasn’t in the milking barn, but he could hear her baby, not very far -away, calling his mother to get up and give him his breakfast. And the -more he listened to that naughty little calf the more he wanted to see -it again. So he crept down the line of scary, switchy tails, past the -very last one. Then he came to a narrow lane, all sprinkled with dried -clover-leaves. Pretty soon he had to squeeze under a door into another -part of the barn. It was much brighter than the milking barn, because -there was a hole in the wall at the far end. There were three box -stalls, and he could hear the little calf in the last one.</p> - -<p>He hopped up on a bale of straw and ran along the top of the partition -until he could look in and see him. There that naughty little beast had -got tired of calling his mother and bunting her, so now he was trying to -kick her. And Nibble thought he was cunninger than ever.</p> - -<p>Of course the Red Cow was pleased to see him, and full of talk. But -Nibble was getting curious again. After a while he said, “Red Cow, I can -see the trees moving outside, but there isn’t any wind in here. Why is -that?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I never thought about it,” said the Red Cow. You remember she was -always a little bit stupid.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to find out,” said Nibble. He hopped carefully along the -partition to the window. And if ever a rabbit looked foolish, it was -Nibble when he snubbed his twitchy nose against it. He was puzzled. None -of the Woodsfolk could imagine such a thing as window glass.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” asked the Red Cow, wagging her big ears.</p> - -<p>“Ice,” guessed Nibble. “No, it’s not, either.” He was trying to taste it -with his licky little tongue that he uses to wash his shirt front. “It -doesn’t taste like the drops that freeze into my fur and it isn’t wet. -But it’s cold——”</p> - -<p>And right then he learned some more about it. For you know Silvertip had -seen the bunny’s footprints. “Chickens are all right,” thought the bad -fox to himself as he trotted along, “but I’d a great deal rather have a -nice tasty mouthful of rabbit.” So he hid the pullet and came galloping -back to find Nibble.</p> - -<p>It wasn’t long before he saw the bunny’s trail going into the door of -the milking barn, and he could smell plainly on the dry wood floor -exactly where Nibble had gone. So Silvertip went sniffing quietly down -the long aisle behind the row of cows. But they smelled him. “Help! -Watch! Wolves! Wolves! Help!” they bawled. And they all tried to kick -him.</p> - -<p>Now Silvertip was afraid to run out past their heels, so he had to -follow Nibble’s trail under the door into the barn, where the box stalls -were. And there he saw Nibble, perched on top of the partition, sniffing -at the window with his back turned.</p> - -<p>Up jumped Silvertip on to the straw bale. Down jumped Nibble into the -stall beside the Red Cow. “Arh,” whimpered Silvertip excitedly, and -jumped after him.</p> - -<p>You never heard such a commotion. For the Red Cow began to roar and aim -her horns at the fox. And Silvertip had to do some lively dodging. He’d -just managed to scramble back on the partition when Watch came squeezing -under the door. There wasn’t another place for the fox to turn so he ran -straight for the window.</p> - -<p>“Wouw!” he whimpered as he hit it. But it was too late to stop. “Crash!” -he went right through it and landed plump on the floor of a wagon that -stood beneath it. Then he went galloping off to the woods as fast as he -could go, holding up first one foot and then the other, for he couldn’t -make up his mind where he was hurt the most. And his nose felt as if a -bee had lit on it, and his eyes were so bunged up he could hardly see -where he was going, and he had a new slit in the ear Mrs. Hooter had -nipped—he was pretty badly damaged. And he was grinding his teeth and -blaming poor Nibble Rabbit for every bit of it. For no one who thinks -himself as clever as Silvertip can get into trouble without finding some -way to think somebody else made him do it.</p> - -<p>“Aourgh!” barked Watch excitedly. And then of course Nibble knew he was -perfectly safe, and he wanted to come out from under the Red Cow’s -manger, where he had hidden, to see what was happening. But the naughty -little calf was so excited he was dancing around and bunting at -everything in sight. His mother had to give him some more breakfast -before he’d stand still a single minute.</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i006' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i006.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>There was Nibble, perched on top of the partition.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>By that time Silvertip was away off down the Pasture and Watch had -squeezed under the door again. He was bound to catch that fox, but he -knew more than to go jumping through windows after him.</p> - -<p>So Nibble just hopped up on the manger and from there onto the high -partition and stretched out his inquisitive nose where the glass had -been. There wasn’t much left for him to snub it against, I can tell you. -And the wind blew through it so hard that it laid his ears flat back.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” demanded the Red Cow. She was learning to be curious, too, -and that’s the first step to being wise and sensible.</p> - -<p>“It’s awfully hard,” Nibble answered. “I can bite ice, but I can’t -bite this.”</p> - -<p>Just then who should open the door but Tommy Peele with the Red Cow’s -breakfast.</p> - -<p>Right away he saw the glass was broken. But he wasn’t angry at all. He -just said, “Did you do that?” But he picked up every bit that had fallen -inside so folks wouldn’t cut their feet on it, and then he went around -to pick up what was outside, too. And he found some blood and a big tuft -of Silvertip’s hair on the wagon-box.</p> - -<p>“Phew!” he whistled. “Bunny, this fur isn’t any of yours—nor that -footprint, either! You just wait until school is out and Watch and I’ll -just see about this!”</p> - -<p>He hadn’t any time to do it then. For he had to stuff the Red Cow’s -manger full of hay and hurry fast to get to the schoolhouse before the -bell rang.</p> - -<p>“Have some, Nibble,” she lowed politely. And the bunny didn’t need a -second invitation. His twitchy nose had been wiggling pretty fast from -the first minute he smelled that delicious clover.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch07' title="THE WHITE COW BEGINS A STORY">CHAPTER VII<br/><span class='fssm'>THE WHITE COW BEGINS A STORY</span></h2> - -<p>If the smell of that delicious hay in the Red Cow’s manger made Nibble’s -nose go fast, the taste of it made his hungry little jaws go still -faster. And the Red Cow was just about as busy as he was. Her big teeth -wouldn’t move quite so quickly, but she could take bigger bites to make -up for lost time.</p> - -<p>They were still eating when he heard a loud snort just outside. So he -jumped up on the windowsill again to be sure who it was. “Hello, -Rabbit,” came the White Cow’s nice fluty voice as she saw his whiskers -in the window. “I told you you’d come back again.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, the Red Cow’s got such a cunning calf in here I just have to come,” -he laughed.</p> - -<p>“She has, has she?” mooed the White Cow. “I’d like to see it myself.” -She was a motherly old beast, so she really did love babies. “Is it all -right? That wolf who ran through the milking barns has been around -here—I can smell him. Calves are what they always come for.”</p> - -<p>“That was only Silvertip the Fox,” he chuckled. “He’s gone!”</p> - -<p>Still the White Cow kept shaking her head and snorting. “He’s no -business here. He’s a wolf, and it’s plain against the compact.”</p> - -<p>“What compact, please, Madame Snowflake?” lowed the Red Cow.</p> - -<p>“Why, the compact between Cows and Man,” she answered. “You know Man -used to hunt us. It must have been dreadful, for one man is worse than a -whole pack of wolves-”</p> - -<p>“Exactly what Doctor Muskrat says!” exclaimed Nibble.</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s true,” she asserted. “Cows are all right so long as they -keep all together. But you can’t have little new wobbly babies in a herd -because we’re so near-sighted someone would be sure to step on them. So -the mothers used to go off and hide them until they grew strong enough -not to let themselves get stepped on. And the wolves and the men would -watch out for them. No matter how careful the cows were someone would be -sure to find them. Long before they came, the mothers would get all -scary and unhappy just thinking about it.”</p> - -<p>“I felt just that way!” gasped the Red Cow. “Didn’t I, Nibble?”</p> - -<p>“Well, after a long time Man made a compact with the cows. He promised -that if they’d live with him and give him milk and plough his fields and -let him take the meat of certain ones, not the young heifers or the -mothers, he’d keep the wolves away from them.”</p> - -<p>“How did that happen?” asked Nibble excitedly, for he guessed it was one -of those tales of the First-Off Beginning of Things.</p> - -<p>And sure enough, the White Cow began, “Well, as I said, both Man and -wolves hunted the cows in the First-Off Beginning. That was bad enough. -But when Man made friends with the dogs, who were really wolves, it was -worse yet. They both knew all the tricks between them.</p> - -<p>“There was a river wandering through the plain where the cows used to -feed, and it had a rocky island standing up in the middle of it. The -island was hollow as a cup and full of brush and grass, and there was -only one crack in the rocks where a cow could just squeeze through to -get into it. It was a secret among the cows, who only went there to -raise their calves, and they were careful to walk a long way in the -water to hide their trails before they crossed over to it. So the wolves -would never have found it. But a man did.</p> - -<p>“He was hunting cows. So were a pack of wolves, and they saw he had only -one dog, so they decided to hunt him instead. They say a man is very -good eating. So he ran for the island. Because he knew if he could climb -high up on the tall rocks they couldn’t climb up after him. He had to -take his dog by the scruff of the neck to help him. And of course when -he got up high he could see everything—the two cows who were grazing in -the middle of the island and the narrow passage between the rocks, and -the wolves running around and around looking for a place where they -could get in.</p> - -<p>“The cows couldn’t see the wolves, but they could hear them. So one of -them, who was an old cow and very wise, galloped over to the passage. -And when the wolves got there she was stopping the way with her sharp -horns.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know how long she could have stayed there, for there were a -great many wolves and only one cow, but the man was wiser yet. He saw a -big tippy boulder that he could roll down to block the passage so nobody -could possibly get in. And he gave it a big shove. Smash, it went down -right in the middle of the wolves! It killed the leader and another -wolf, and the rest got scared and ran away.</p> - -<p>“So did the cow, for the man’s dog started right after her. But the man -called him back. ‘Come here!’ he called. ‘Stop that, you foolish thing. -The wolves would have picked our bones if she hadn’t helped us. That’s -one cow you can never kill.’</p> - -<p>“The dog came back with his tail between his legs, grumbling to himself. -‘This is very queer. It’s the first time in all my life I was told not -to kill anything.’ And of course the cow heard him. And it set her -thinking.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch08' title="HOW THE MAN’S WIFE MADE THE COMPACT WITH THE COWS">CHAPTER VIII<br/><span class='fssm'>HOW THE MAN’S WIFE MADE THE COMPACT WITH THE COWS</span></h2> - -<p>The White Cow stopped talking quite as though she had finished her -story. But Nibble Rabbit and the Red Cow, who were listening with all -their ears, both broke out: “Please, Mrs. Snowflake, you haven’t said a -word yet about the compact!”</p> - -<p>“Pickery thistles!” she exclaimed. “So I haven’t. I was just thinking -about it instead. Well, the man was in the middle of that little hollow -island with the high rocks all around it, and so were the cows. The dog -was growling because he couldn’t kill the cow, and the cow was wondering -why the man wouldn’t let him. But most of all she was wondering how -quickly she and her calf would starve because that stone blocked up the -passage.</p> - -<p>“The man was thinking that, too. For the cow had saved his life by -keeping out the wolves; that made him in debt to her. And if a man was -careless about his debts he was sure to be dreadfully unlucky. Either he -had to roll away that stone so the cow could go over to the plains to -graze—and he knew he couldn’t do that—or he had to bring the grass to -her.</p> - -<p>“Bright and early next morning he went to bring the grass to feed that -cow. He found it was lots of trouble, especially since he didn’t have -his wife there to help him. So he decided to bring her.</p> - -<p>“He told her how nice and safe it was in the middle of that rocky island -until she got quite delighted at the idea of living there. So she packed -their belongings on her back, slung their baby in front of her, and -started out. She waded the stream all right, but she stopped at the big -rock which blocked up the passage.</p> - -<p>“‘I won’t stay here at all unless you take that out of there,’ she said. -‘It’s too inconvenient.’</p> - -<p>“So of course he just had to. And when it comes right down to ‘having -to’ a man can do almost anything. But he had a terrible time. He heaved -and clawed and shoved and rolled until his fingers and arms were sore. -Then he picked up a stick, because it was easier to handle—and he -learned how to pry that stone out of the passage.</p> - -<p>“In walked his wife and began to settle their new home. Out walked the -cows, and over they went to the plain to pick their own grass, but they -left their calves hidden on the island. So, after they had finished -feeding, back they came.</p> - -<p>“Then the man took his stick and pried the rock into the passage again -for fear the wolves would come back. And his wife stared at the cows and -the cows stared at his wife, but still they didn’t make any compact.”</p> - -<p>Nibble Rabbit and the Red Cow were both fairly stamping their feet with -impatience because the White Cow wouldn’t hurry right along with her -story. But she brought a big wad of cud all the way up her long neck and -stood there chewing it while she thought things over. Finally she -swallowed it and went on.</p> - -<p>“I told you the man learned to use the great stone for a gate to the -narrow passageway where the cows squeezed through. But I didn’t tell you -how angry the wolves were about that.</p> - -<p>“They were simply raging. Night after night they gnashed their jaws and -howled around those rocks, but their claws wouldn’t climb them. And the -man’s dog would sit up on top and shout insults at them. And the two -cows would snuggle together in the brush with their calves between them -and say, ‘Those wolves would have eaten us long ago if the man hadn’t -been here.’</p> - -<p>“They got very used to the man and his family. They didn’t walk ’way -round his fire any more, or make eyes at his wife, and the calves got -very friendly with his baby. But his wife used to look hard at them. -‘It’s all very well to take care of the cow who saved your life,’ she’d -say to the man, ‘but how about that other one?’</p> - -<p>“‘Well, what about her?’ he’d answer. ‘She isn’t any trouble.’</p> - -<p>“‘She ought to pay for being taken care of,’ insisted his wife. ‘It’s -all very well for this year, but next year these calves will be grown up -and there will be new ones and we’ll be all cluttered up with cattle.’</p> - -<p>“She thought and thought. At last she caught up her biggest clamshell -and walked down into the thicket where the cows stood. And the dog went -with her. ‘Old Cow,’ she said, ‘you can live with us for ever and ever -because you stopped the passageway with your horns when the wolves were -trying to get in to kill my husband. Young Cow, you will have to pay -something if you’re going to live with us.’ And with that she tried to -milk the young cow into her clamshell.</p> - -<p>“The young cow didn’t like it a little bit. But she was afraid of the -dog, and besides the old cow argued, ‘You have milk to spare, and you’ll -never have any place as safe as this. Let me talk to her.’</p> - -<p>“So the young cow gave in and let herself be milked. But the old one -said to the woman: ‘We’ll stay with you and give you milk so long as you -see we get food and water and protect us from the wolves. But the minute -you don’t we’ll go off and be wild again, and you’ll be no better off -than you were before.’</p> - -<p>“‘Agreed,’ said the woman. ‘The dog will be our witness.’</p> - -<p>“So that was the beginning of the compact. The cows settled down to live -with the man and his family. But after the woman was gone the wise old -cow said comfortably, ‘It’s spring now. She doesn’t think how much -trouble it will be to feed us through the winter.’”</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t that old cow clever!” exclaimed Nibble admiringly.</p> - -<p>The White Cow snorted. “She was wise. But that woman was wiser. She knew -that if she waited long enough there would be cattle on that island who -hadn’t any milk, so she and the man could bargain some more with them. -They had to carry loads and pull ploughs; they even had to let the man -kill certain ones. They didn’t like that a little bit, but the wise old -cow argued, ‘It’s better than being hunted by both wolves and men.’ So -they finally gave in. It was really a good bargain for us,” finished the -White Cow thoughtfully, “but it was a better one for the man. After he -learned to build barns as safe as that island he gave up hunting.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch09' title="HOW A BUNNY UNDERTOOK TO HUNT A FOX">CHAPTER IX<br/><span class='fssm'>HOW A BUNNY UNDERTOOK TO HUNT A FOX</span></h2> - -<p>Madame snowflake swished her tail thoughtfully for a moment; then she -went back to chewing her cud as a sign that her story was all done.</p> - -<p>“My horns!” exclaimed the Red Cow. “That’s awfully interesting.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” drawled the story-teller. “But can’t you see how worrisome it is? -If Tommy Peele lets wolves go galloping through this barn we’ll have to -go wild again. It’s in the compact. That’s what I’ve been trying to -explain.”</p> - -<p>“Noo-oo-oo,” the Red Cow moaned. “I don’t want to go wild. I won’t go -wild again. I’ve been wild once, and I like being Tommy Peele’s tame cow -ever so much better.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” interrupted Nibble Rabbit, sitting up very straight. “It -hasn’t anything at all to do with you cows. Silvertip’s no more of a -wolf than Watch is. Besides, I’m the only one he was chasing. He won’t -come back again unless I do, and I won’t come until there isn’t any -Silvertip to chase me.”</p> - -<p>“Hoo-oo,” teased the White Cow. “What can you do to Silvertip?”</p> - -<p>“Wait and see,” said Nibble. And off he set. But as he ran he said to -himself, “Silvertip’s very big and clever—whatever can I do to him?”</p> - -<p>For a while he was just about the most thoughtful bunny that ever -flopped an ear. He’d made the White Cow a great big promise, one no -grownup rabbit would ever have thought of.</p> - -<p>And he had to have help about it. He was pretty glad, I can tell you, -when he saw Watch scouting about the pasture with his nose to the -ground.</p> - -<p>“Have you found where Silvertip went to?” Nibble asked when the big dog -stopped to speak with him.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Watch in a discouraged tone. “There was a mist this morning -and it’s washed away all the scent. But what do you want of Silvertip?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to help you catch him,” murmured Nibble.</p> - -<p>“You!” exclaimed Watch. “You must be as crazy as a chickadee! Has any -thing bitten you?” You know dogs are terribly afraid of being bitten by -a crazy beast—it makes them go mad, too.</p> - -<p>“No. But—but I promised the White Cow that I wouldn’t come back to the -barn while Silvertip was alive to chase into it after me—and I won’t -stay away from the Red Cow’s baby for ever and ever. Something’s got to -happen to Silvertip.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t want him chasing me if I were you,” Watch agreed. This -sounded more sensible. “But I don’t see what the White Cow has to do -with it.”</p> - -<p>“She says Silvertip is really a wolf,” Nibble explained, “and if Tommy -Peele lets wolves come right into his barn, whether it’s calves or -rabbits they’re hunting, the cows will have to go wild again. That’s in -the compact between cows and man in the First-Off Beginning.”</p> - -<p>“Wurr-r-r!” Watch growled thoughtfully. “So it is. But that’s my -trouble, and the cow’s and Tommy’s. It hasn’t anything to do with you.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly Nibble remembered something and quoted:</p> - -<div style='margin-top:.4em; margin-bottom:.4em; margin-left:2em;'> -“By dusk and by dawn you shall travel alone.<br/> -And all troubles are yours excepting your own. -</div> - -<p class='ti00'>That’s my fortune. The stars told it to -Doctor Muskrat the day I left home.”</p> - -<p>“I understand,” Watch nodded wisely. “Well, the trouble about all this -is that I can’t explain it to Tommy. And we need him. What can you do to -Silvertip—except give him a stomachache from eating too much rabbit, -eh?”</p> - -<p>“I can see where he is and what he does. I know how he gets into the -chicken coop and where he hid the pullet he stole this morning and the -feathers from all the rest he’s been stealing.”</p> - -<p>“How—when—where!” barked Watch excitedly. “We don’t have to tell -that to Tommy—we can show it to him. Quick, Nibble! How did Silvertip -get into the chicken coop? Tommy’ll be home from school any minute.”</p> - -<p>So Nibble took him around to the little back door. “That fox is -certainly clever,” sniffed Watch. “He’s gnawed the hook right off. I’ve -smelt him around here dozens of times, but I never thought of looking -inside of the coop for him.” Then he lifted it with his nose, just as -Silvertip had done, but he was too big to crawl in.</p> - -<p>It was Nibble who squeezed through and took a hop on to the soft straw -of the chicken coop floor. Then he sat up to sniff around. The hens were -scratching busily, but the rooster was dozing off a full crop on his -perch. Nibble poked his nose into a box of feed and the bird next to him -went, “Cut, cut!” That woke the rooster. He opened his eye and caught -sight of Nibble’s whiskers.</p> - -<p>“Er—er—err, I’m Chanticleer!” he crowed. “And you’re the rascal who -stole my beautiful young wife, Specklefeather, this morning! You’re the -one who took Stripedwing, the best setting hen ever a rooster owned, and -dear little red-wattled Minorca—and all the rest who’ve been snatched -from my perches. Your time has come! I’ll show you——” and he flapped -down and began to peck poor Nibble and kick him with those long spurs -roosters wear on their legs.</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i007' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i007.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>Nibble visits the chicken coop.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Nibble cried. But the rooster wouldn’t -listen. Then a voice behind Nibble called, “Here, here,” and he darted -under the perches and squeezed into a dark nest beside a hen.</p> - -<p>“There,” she clucked. “That old bully never comes here. It isn’t proper -for a rooster to come into the nesting corner. Poor Stripedwing. She -used to set in here most of the time because he was so cruel to her. And -he killed our son because Minorca was in love with him. I wish the fox -had taken him.”</p> - -<p>Nibble peeked out again and saw the rooster strutting around as though -he’d really done something grand, calling on the hens to admire him. And -now he could hear Watch shouting, “Come along, Tommy—come quick!” In a -minute more he was barking outside the front door, and Tommy opened it.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked Tommy. Out hopped Nibble Rabbit. “However did -you get in here?” gasped the little boy. And with that Nibble slipped -through the little back door as neat as you please. Maybe Tommy didn’t -whistle! And maybe he wasn’t still more surprised when he saw the hook -all gnawed! But maybe he wasn’t maddest of all when Nibble and Watch -took him across the field to Silvertip’s fence corner, all full of -feathers, with poor dead Specklefeather lying in the middle of it!</p> - -<p>“The fox!” Tommy exclaimed. “Old chicken thief; he ought to be hunted -with a gun!”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right,” Watch wagged his tail. “Now Tommy’ll find the gun -and a man to shoot it, but we’ll have to find Silvertip so they can -shoot him. I’ll sleep in the haystack and watch the barn, and you see if -he’s hidden in the woods.”</p> - -<p>So Nibble cocked his own little puffy tail and laid back his ears and -scuttled through the cornfield. Because the first one he meant to ask -was Doctor Muskrat. And it didn’t take much thumping to wake the doctor.</p> - -<p>“My whiskers, but I’m glad to see you,” said the nice old beast as soon -as he got his nose out of the water. “I was afraid that fox had really -caught you. He came down here for a drink early this morning. He was -feeling pretty sick, but he said he wasn’t going to do another thing -until he’d pulled your long ears out by the roots and made a meal of -you.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he doesn’t want to find me any more than I want to find him,” -said Nibble. And he told how Silvertip had followed him into the barn -and jumped smash through the window, and what trouble that made for the -cows, and the way he’d killed Tommy’s chickens, and how angry Tommy was -about it.</p> - -<p>“Shoot him? I wish they would.” Doctor Muskrat agreed. “He’s the worst -beast in all the woods and fields, and we’ve plenty more to look out -for—Slyfoot the Mink and the Marsh Hawk are back, and Grandpop Snapping -Turtle is out again—but you’ll have to be mighty careful. You dig -yourself a root and stay hidden while I see what the birds know about -him.”</p> - -<p>So Doctor Muskrat asked every bird who came down to drink if he’d keep -an eye out for Silvertip. That was a great many, too, for whole clouds -of them were coming north on every south wind. But they were all so busy -about courting and nesting it was three days before Doctor Muskrat had -any news. Late in the evening a whippoorwill came dipping down like a -great feathery moth and called softly: “Doctor Muskrat!” Then he perched -on the doctor’s house and whispered: “Silvertip’s living in the hollow -log that shadows my last year’s nest. He’s still too sick to hunt -anything but frogs and tadpoles and the eggs of us poor ground birds, -but the minute he can gallop he’s going to get that rabbit. He lies -there growling and swearing about him.”</p> - -<p>Nibble couldn’t hear what the whippoorwill said. And that was lucky, -because he was lying very still in the Quail’s Thicket with those -screech owls perched right above him.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch10' title="THE WICKED PLOT OF THE BAD LITTLE OWLS">CHAPTER X<br/><span class='fssm'>THE WICKED PLOT OF THE BAD LITTLE OWLS</span></h2> - -<p>As soon as the whippoorwill had finished whispering the news, about -where Silvertip was hiding, he flew off so quietly that even the doctor -couldn’t hear him. Then the wise old beast raised his queer, thin call, -almost like a whistle, to tell Nibble Rabbit he was wanted, and swam -quite as quietly to the place in the bulrushes by the pond where they -always met.</p> - -<p>But no Nibble came. Nibble Rabbit was still hiding in the Quail’s -Thicket, listening to Mr. and Mrs. Screech Owl, who were perched right -above him.</p> - -<p>“That bird’s telling him about Silvertip,” said one. “If it had been -any other bird in the woods he’d have spoken so we could overhear him.”</p> - -<p>“I wish he had,” said the other. “We’ve picked that last hen so clean -we’ll have to hunt for ourselves if we can’t find him. I wonder what -that muskrat wants of him. He’s been asking every bird who came down to -drink for the last three days. I heard Chaik the Jay talking to Chewee -the Chickadee about it just when I was going to sleep this morning.”</p> - -<p>“What did they say?” demanded Mrs. Screech Owl. The lady owl is always -the more thoughtful. They both live in trees. Silvertip never bothers -them.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t understand,” said her mate. “Chaik was insisting that they -must all hunt hard for Silvertip. He said that it concerned every good -friend of Tommy Peele’s.”</p> - -<p>“You pinfeathered idiot!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me that -before? That explains why Tommy Peele and his dog were sniffing about -Silvertip’s fence corner. And that rabbit was with them. He’s at the -bottom of all this. Something’s wrong there. I never knew a wild rabbit -to be friends with a dog in all my life. If he’ll do that he’ll do -anything. Silvertip must be warned. We can’t let anything happen to -him. Besides, think how much he could do for us if he felt grateful.”</p> - -<p>“Grateful? Not much. A fox is never grateful. But he’d know we were -useful and that amounts to the same thing. I wonder why that rabbit -doesn’t answer Doctor Muskrat?” and Mr. Screech Owl flew cautiously over -the doctor’s house in the middle of the pond. Back he came to where his -wife was still thinking. “He must have meant that call for the -whippoorwill,” he said to his mate. “He’s gone to bed.”</p> - -<p>“We must get some friend who lives on the ground to keep watch for us, -too,” said the Lady Owl thoughtfully. “Only Silvertip has no friends. -He’ll eat anybody.”</p> - -<p>“Excepting old Foul Fang the Rattlesnake,” said Mr. Screech Owl. “We -could buy Foul Fang’s service for a mouse a day. I’ll just do that, and -you go up to the house, not the barn, mind, and see if you can get a -word with that grandson of Ouphe the Rat who lives there. Silvertip’s -never hunted him. By the kitchen door—now flutter!” And away they went.</p> - -<p>But Nibble waited until he was perfectly sure they had gone before he -crept down to talk with Doctor Muskrat in the bulrushes.</p> - -<p>And he was a pretty trembly little rabbit. He hopped very carefully, -gliding from shadow to shadow like a fieldmouse. And the doctor never -moved when Nibble Rabbit slipped in beside him; he was listening to the -stars as they danced in the pool just exactly the way he had done the -night they told him Nibble’s fortune. He was muttering:</p> - -<div style='margin-top:.4em; margin-bottom:.4em; margin-left:2em;'> -“Let him who is both young and wise<br/> -Beware the killer with lidless eyes. -</div> - -<p>“Yes, that’s all I can make out of it,” said the old doctor slowly. “Now -what does that mean, I wonder?”</p> - -<p>“I know,” gasped Nibble, “I know—it’s Foul Fang the -Rattlesnake. The little owls don’t want us to catch that fox, Silvertip, -because he catches chickens and leaves their bones for the owls to pick. -They heard Chaik and Jay and Chewee the Chickadee talking about it. So -the he-owl has gone out to hire Foul Fang to help them. They’re going to -pay him a mouse a day to do it. And his wife has gone up to the house to -bargain with the grandson of Ouphe the Rat who lives in the walls. He’s -to keep watch on Tommy and warn them what he means to do about -Silvertip. But they don’t know where Silvertip is.”</p> - -<p>“That’s one good thing,” the doctor nodded. “And another is that -Silvertip has no friends—nor the owls, either. They only work for him -because of what he gives them, and they have to hire their own helpers. -Now all the woods know how you help any one who’s in trouble, and Tommy -Peele has quite a few friends. I can’t see whether this warning is for -you or for Tommy.”</p> - -<p>“Tommy, of course. Watch the Dog says he’s the cleverest boy in all the -world, and Watch is his dog, so he ought to know about him,” said Nibble -promptly.</p> - -<p>“Hm,” laughed Doctor Muskrat into his whiskers. “Well, for a rabbit, you -know a thing or two. What cheers me up is this. The stars never warn -about something that’s surely going to happen. They warn so you can be -careful and escape your enemies. Now I’ll set every bird who drinks here -at the pool to keep watching for Foul Fang. And I’m going over to the -stump right now to send out word to all the fieldmice.”</p> - -<p>“And I’ll go back to the Brushpile,” said Nibble, “and listen to the Bad -Little Owls when they come to their hole in the morning.”</p> - -<p>Off set the rabbit, lipity-lipity, scudding under the brush and over the -shadows and through the grasses, until he snuggled down in a nice little -pocket where only a mouse could have found him. And about dawn he heard -the screech owls.</p> - -<p>“It’s all fixed,” said the he-owl. “I found Foul Fang, and he knew where -Silvertip was because he’d already smelled him (snakes say they smell -any one instead of seeing him), and when I squawk the signal he’ll -rattle and Silvertip will hear it and run. I didn’t find Silvertip -because he stayed out hunting too long.”</p> - -<p>“Fine,” said his wife. “And Tommy’s gun is all ready to start in the -morning.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch11' title="WHY THE LITTLE OWLS’ PLANS WENT WRONG">CHAPTER XI<br/><span class='fssm'>WHY THE LITTLE OWLS’ PLANS WENT WRONG</span></h2> - -<p>Tommy Peele got up early, very early, on Saturday morning and took care -of his cows, for this was the day he was to hunt Silvertip the Fox with -a gun. His big cousin Sandy had come with his hound, Trailer. Sandy was -to do the shooting. And Watch took Trailer into a quiet corner and -remarked: “I don’t want to be unpleasant, but it’s a fox, not a rabbit -we’re going to kill, and if you so much as yelp at another thing I’ll -tear the hide right off you.” And Trailer opened his big brown eyes and -promised to be very careful.</p> - -<p>All the woods and fields were ready, too, for the fox killed a great -many things besides Tommy’s chickens. Every one hoped Tommy would kill -him; every one but little Mr. and Mrs. Screech Owl and Foul Fang the -Rattlesnake, who was hiding that very minute in the leaves in front of -the fox’s log.</p> - -<p>Nibble wanted to warn Watch, but when he saw Trailer sniffing along -beside him he didn’t dare. So off he set toward the woods. And Watch and -Trailer followed him. Pretty soon Trailer said: “I thought you weren’t -chasing rabbits.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not,” growled Watch. “He’s showing us where the fox is hidden.” And -maybe that didn’t set Trailer wondering.</p> - -<p>Just then those Bad Little Owls stumbled past, bumping against the -twigs, for they fly badly in the daytime. But they never reached Foul -Fang, for Chaik the Jay, who was another of Tommy’s friends, was lying -in wait for them. He had his whole family to help him, and what they did -to those Bad Little Owls!</p> - -<p>Meantime, Nibble was going slowly and carefully on the lookout for Foul -Fang. “Stop!” shrieked Chewee the Chickadee from a branch above him. -“Foul Fang’s right in front of you. I saw him move a minute ago, but I -can’t see him until he moves again.”</p> - -<p>Nibble froze in his tracks. Foul Fang was ahead, that strange dog was -behind him. But he knew he mustn’t let any one pass him. He waited until -the dogs were very close, then he darted past them, right to Tommy’s -feet, calling: “Foul Fang! Foul Fang!”</p> - -<p>“Wait!” barked Watch to Trailer. “Something’s wrong.” And he ran and -caught Tommy by the coat to stop him. And of course Trailer and Tommy’s -cousin Sandy stopped, too. “What’s up?” demanded Sandy.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Tommy, “but there’s my chickadee, and here’s my -rabbit. Something’s frightening them.”</p> - -<p>“There, there! Look!” squeaked Chewee, dancing about on his twig like a -crazy bird. Foul Fang raised his ugly head to sniff at them. Then he -wound into his striking coil.</p> - -<p>“Bz-z-z!” began Foul Fang’s rattle. “Bang-bang!” went Sandy’s gun. “A -snake! No wonder they were frightened!” exclaimed Sandy. “Lucky that -rabbit saw him!”</p> - -<p>“Wow-wow-wow!” bayed Trailer, for Silvertip bolted out of his log and -began to run.</p> - -<p>“Bang—bang!” went the gun. And that did scare Nibble. It sent him -flying through the woods, straight for Doctor Muskrat’s Pool.</p> - -<p>The old doctor was out on his flat stone; but he wasn’t asleep. He was -sitting straight up with his round ears pricked and his whiskers -stiffened, listening. Ka-flick, ka-flick, came the long bounces of -Nibble Rabbit. “Chick-adee-dee-dee-dee-ee!” rang out the joyful shout of -Chewee, just a little way behind him. “We-e-e-ak!” came the far-away -squeak of a fieldmouse. “We-e-e-aw!” echoed one nearer at paw. -“R-r-r-r!” drummed a partridge, and a meadowlark who was drinking -remarked: “That’s a death beat, but he isn’t muffling it. Sounds as -though he were mighty glad about it.”</p> - -<p>Ka-flick-thump! Nibble Rabbit landed beside the doctor. “I warned -Tommy!” was all he had breath to gasp. But here came Chewee, his wings -whirring like a humming bird’s, his eyes popping like a crawfish’s, as -though they had stalks to stand on. “Whee!” he screeched. “You ought to -see—ee—ee!”</p> - -<p>“See what?” called Chaik, who was hurrying by to find out what all the -noise meant, and he circled back to listen.</p> - -<p>“Foul Fang!” squeaked Chewee, turning somersaults on a bulrush. “He’s in -three pieces, and his tail is cut off and his wicked scales are -squirming in the sun.”</p> - -<p>“Yeah!” squawked Chaik, dancing on his wings. “And those Bad Little Owls -are hiding in the Brushpile. I’m all mussed up from climbing in after -them, but my relatives and I have picked them ’most as clean as the mice -picked Nibble’s woodchuck. I’m going back to shout the news at them. -Yeah!” And off he flew.</p> - -<p>“What did it?” gasped Nibble.</p> - -<p>“You silly rabbit,” chuckled Doctor Muskrat. “That ‘bang!’ was a gun.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” and Nibble sat up to think. “The partridge did say Man could make -more noise than a summer storm. He certainly can!”</p> - -<p>“Why, Nibble!” teased Doctor Muskrat, his shiny little eyes twinkling, -“didn’t you ever hear a gun? Every other creature in all the Woods and -Fields has been waiting for that noise to celebrate the death of -Silvertip the Fox. That was what Tommy Peele brought out here to kill -him.”</p> - -<p>“Did it?” demanded Nibble Rabbit. He knew that it pretty nearly stunned -one small and scary rabbit he could tell about.</p> - -<p>“Not if it bit Foul Fang in three pieces,” answered the wise old doctor. -“That takes two bites, one for each noise. Silvertip isn’t bitten yet.” -“Shot” was what he meant, but the Woodsfolk don’t use that word.</p> - -<p>“How do you know he isn’t bitten?” squealed Chewee the Chickadee. He was -twirling and tumbling about the bulrushes because he was too happy and -excited to keep still. “He jumped right out under the nose of Trailer, -that hound Tommy Peele brought to help his own dog Watch. And the last I -saw he was just about two steps ahead of Trailer’s jaws.”</p> - -<p>“Ssh!” warned Doctor Muskrat, and he cocked his ears. Far, far away they -could hear Trailer calling, “Where, where?” And Watch answered: “Isn’t -this fox?” and Tommy Peele’s cousin was shouting: “Hie out, Trailer! -Find him!”</p> - -<p>“You see,” said the doctor, “Silvertip’s saved his skin this time. But -we’ll find him again.”</p> - -<p>He was right. Late in the afternoon Tommy came trudging along with his -head down, too unhappy to listen to the “Thank you” the meadowlarks were -singing, and the one Chewee brought from the partridge. For every -creature that lived or nested on the ground was more than grateful to be -rid of Foul Fang. Tommy’s big cousin Sandy was carrying his gun, and his -dog Trailer was so tired he could scarcely crawl. Watch was tired and -sheepish besides. He came down for a drink and whispered: “See where -Silvertip sleeps. We’ll be out again to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder how he got away,” said Nibble, stamping impatiently. He’d come -from eating a dandelion head in the Quail’s Thicket to see what Watch -had to say.</p> - -<p>“I can tell you,” came the soft whisper of the whippoorwill who had -skimmed a drink as he flew across the pond, leaving a wake of tiny, -quiet ripples. “There’s still deep water in the ditches. Silvertip -splashed along in it to hide his trail and then sneaked into the culvert -where it runs under the woods road. The frogs say he almost drowned. But -he shivered in there with only his nose out until Trailer circled past. -Then he ran back in the ditch on the other side and jumped over to a -tree that was broken off by the terrible storm. He climbed up the limbs -to the broken stump—it’s ten good wingbeats above the ground—and -curled up in a woodduck’s nest. And he ate every egg she’d laid, too. -Now he’s coming this way.”</p> - -<div class='tac mt20 mb20'> - <div id='i008' class='mt10 mb00' style='margin-left:15.0%; width:70%;'> - <img src='images/i008.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> - <div class='tac mt00'>Silvertip hid under the culvert until Trailer circled past.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p>“My stars, Nibble!” exclaimed the doctor, “you can’t sleep here. Warn -Watch and hide somewhere up near the barn!” So off Nibble ran.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch12' title="HOW LONG EARS HEARD BAD NEWS">CHAPTER XII<br/><span class='fssm'>HOW LONG EARS HEARD BAD NEWS</span></h2> - -<p>The minute the whippoorwill said that Silvertip the Fox was coming right -back into the very woods Tommy Peele and his cousin Sandy and the dogs -had just driven him out of, they knew he did it for just one reason: he -was bound to catch Nibble. So that was no place for a sensible bunny. It -was really pretty scary.</p> - -<p>But you know Nibble. He can’t stay frightened, because he’s so terribly -curious. Before ever he hunted himself a safe place to sleep he had to -sneak into the Brushpile and listen to the Bad Little Owls. They were -just creeping out from beneath it, where they had hidden away from Chaik -Jay and his family.</p> - -<p>“Are you all right?” asked Mr. Owl. “I feel better since I slept, but -those jays gave us a terrible mauling.”</p> - -<p>“My poor wings!” mourned his wife. “I am ashamed to be seen in them.”</p> - -<p>“What’s a lot worse, we’ll have hardly a thing to fly with, until our -fall feathers come in,” he complained. “My wings aren’t very bad, but -I’ll never be able to steer until my tail grows.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to watch Chaik’s nest,” scolded the Lady Owl, “and let Mrs. -Hooter drag his wife out by the claws as soon as ever she gets back -here. Her owlets are out already, so it won’t be long. And I’ll smash -every one of Chaik’s eggs with my very own beak—see if I don’t!” Mrs. -Owl was still nearly crying over her ruffled feathers.</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t!” snapped her husband. The husband, you know, is always -the timid one of an owl family. “We’d have Tommy Peele shooting us next! -What do you think made Chaik take after us, eh? He was helping Tommy. -That boy wouldn’t have a chance of finding that clever fox if half the -Woodsfolk weren’t helping him. It’s a bad thing to have any man so -friendly with them.” Of course it was, for a bad bird like the owl or a -bad beast like Silvertip.</p> - -<p>“It certainly is,” she agreed. “Tommy would be hunting them all just as -hard as we do if it weren’t for that rabbit. It’s all his fault. We’ve -got to get rid of him. Let’s tell Silvertip about the flat stone where -he thumps for Doctor Muskrat.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s find his hole,” said her husband. “Every mouse in the Woods and -Fields knows about it; they went there this spring for woodchuck fur to -make a charm against us owls. I’ll show them if it can keep me from -catching one. Then we’ll offer to let him go if he tells us.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she agreed, “and then we can eat him afterward, so he won’t run -and warn that rabbit.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you so much for all this information,” said Nibble to himself. -“If Silvertip stays in the woods tonight I can sleep very comfortably in -the haystack.”</p> - -<p>Nibble slept in the haystack that night, but he didn’t sleep any too -well, because the news of Foul Fang’s death had travelled ’way up to the -barn and the mice were celebrating. Besides, he had to sleep with one -ear up, listening for Watch.</p> - -<p>He heard the old dog padding past early in the morning, before even the -birds were awake, and thumped to call him. In another minute Watch and -Trailer the hound, who was with him, were sniffing at the door of Ouphe -the Rat’s old tunnel under the hay. “What’s on your mind?” the big dog -whined softly. “Trailer won’t chase you.”</p> - -<p>“I know he won’t,” Nibble chuckled. “I’m not going to run for him. I’m -going to stay snuggled up in here until I hear him busy after -Silvertip.”</p> - -<p>“There,” said Watch proudly, “Trailer, I told you Nibble would find -him.”</p> - -<p>“But I don’t see how we lost him,” Trailer insisted. “He simply -disappeared in the middle of a hot trail. I never lifted my nose from -it.”</p> - -<p>“The whippoorwill said he took to water and then climbed up into the -woodduck’s nest in the top of that fallen tree,” said Nibble. “But why -didn’t the gun catch him? That’s what I want to know.”</p> - -<p>“The gun’s a stupid thing,” Trailer explained. “It bangs twice and then -it has to be fed again before it will do anything more.” (He knew it was -no use to tell Nibble about putting fresh shells into a double-barrelled -shotgun, because even Watch, who was a very wise dog, didn’t -understand.) “My man Sandy was so excited over shooting the snake that -he forgot to feed it. He didn’t hear me bark until Silvertip and I were -out of sight in the brush. And Silvertip was gone before he found me -again. That gun has to use his eyes to see with and his legs to run -with, and no man’s fast enough to chase a fox. That’s why Watch and I -think we can get him just as easily if we go out alone.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and I don’t like taking Tommy Peele to meet strange snakes in -strange woods,” said Watch. “It worries me so I can’t keep my mind on -what I’m doing.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” Nibble agreed. “Well, last night I overheard the little -screech owls in the Brushpile—my paddy-paws are good for more than to -scrub my ears with, I can tell you. They’re so quiet even the owls -didn’t hear them, and they said they were going to tell Silvertip to -watch the flat stone where I thump for Doctor Muskrat, or my hole. He’ll -be one place or the other. And please tell Doctor Muskrat I’ll go around -to the far side of the pool to meet him.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” promised Watch. And off went the dogs with their tails -wagging. “I tell you what,” growled Trailer, “that rabbit is a great -help to hunt with.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 id='ch13' title="HOW THE GREAT HUNT ENDED">CHAPTER XIII<br/><span class='fssm'>HOW THE GREAT HUNT ENDED</span></h2> - -<p>Nibble Rabbit cuddled down comfortably in the bottom of the haystack. -Pretty soon he heard Trailer bark. “Aough! Here, Watch! Quick! Catch -him!”</p> - -<p>“They didn’t get him that time, either,” thought Nibble as Trailer’s -voice settled down to the hunting call. “But I guess Silvertip’s too -busy to hurt me, and I must tell Doctor Muskrat to keep away from that -flat stone.” So off he went to the woods as fast as ever his paddy-feet -would carry him.</p> - -<p>But he didn’t go straight to Doctor Muskrat’s Pool. He ran around the -lower end of the Prickly Ash Thicket, where his hole was, and jumped -across the brook. Then he came up on the far side of the pool and hid in -a clump of willows. Deep in the woods he could hear Trailer, still -baying. Everything else was very still. He thumped softly.</p> - -<p>“M—m! Eh? Is that you, Nibble?” came the startled voice of the old -doctor. “Watch sent me over here and I fell asleep. We sat up all night -watching Silvertip, Whippoorwill and I. He slept curled up on that -rotten log just behind your hole.”</p> - -<p>“Then the little owls did find a fieldmouse,” said Nibble. “They said -they’d make one show it to them and then eat him so he couldn’t tell -me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s just what they tried to do,” and the doctor’s eyes -twinkled, “but he managed to wriggle away when he got there and pop -right into it. And he dug along the big root that runs up into the mouse -tunnels and was down here for me to put a moss-seed poultice on his claw -wounds while they were still watching your doorway. A doctor knows -pretty much everything that goes on, I can tell you.”</p> - -<p>“And Silvertip?” asked Nibble.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that hound all but caught him!” the doctor exclaimed. “He came -sneaking out when Watch called me, and he was so busy trying to hear -what one dog had to say that he forgot all about the other. He squeaked -like a frightened mouse.”</p> - -<p>“How exciting!” Nibble flicked his tufty little tail at the thought of -it. “I had Watch tell you not to go back to that flat stone because the -little owls know about it. Those bad little birds will do anything to -help Silvertip. They bargained with Foul Fang the Rattlesnake, and they -bargained with the grandson of Ouphe the Rat. They might bargain with -Slyfoot the Mink to watch it.”</p> - -<p>“There’s someone watching it this very minute that the little owls -didn’t bargain with,” answered Doctor Muskrat. “It’s Grandpop Snapping -Turtle. He moves just a little closer every day, and then he settles -down in the mud so exactly like a stone himself, that even I can hardly -tell the difference. He’s very polite—but we’ll keep a safe distance -away from him. What’s that?”</p> - -<p>For a shadow was floating over the old doctor’s pool.</p> - -<p>Nibble and Doctor Muskrat crouched very low among the willow stems as it -sailed silently above them. It was just daybreak, when mice scuttle down -to drink and crayfish are stiff with the night’s chill—the best hunting -time of the day for the marsh hawk. The woods were very still; they -couldn’t hear even the distant barking of the dogs.</p> - -<p>Pretty soon Nibble put up his head. “It’s the whippoorwill,” he -whispered, flashing a signal to the bird. “He’s got news of Silvertip! -Do you suppose they’ve caught him?” He was so excited that he squirmed -inside his furry skin.</p> - -<p>“We’ll know in a minute,” said Doctor Muskrat, as the whippoorwill -dropped quietly to the ground.</p> - -<p>But he fluttered in surprise when he saw the doctor. “Great beetles!” he -exclaimed. “I just saw your nose poking out of the water by the flat -stone.”</p> - -<p>“Not his,” said Nibble. “We can’t go there, because the Bad Little Owls -who help Silvertip are watching it.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” put in the doctor, “and so is Grandpop Snapping Turtle, who helps -himself.”</p> - -<p>“O—ho!” said the whippoorwill. “I thought it was you, hiding from the -little owls. They’re in the Quail’s Thicket.”</p> - -<p>“And Silvertip?” asked Nibble.</p> - -<p>“Silvertip’s too clever for those dogs. He’s got away,” said the -whippoorwill, sadly. “I know just how you feel. It’s awful to know he’s -always after you. But you did me a good turn when you found that -rattlesnake and showed it to Tommy Peele. And Tommy did me a good turn -when he shot it. I’ll help you all I can. Only when a fox is smart -enough to run along the top of a fence to hide his trail, what dog will -ever catch him?”</p> - -<p>“There’s just one thing sure,” said Doctor Muskrat, “he’ll catch himself -with his own cleverness one of these days.”</p> - -<p>“Listen!” breathed the whippoorwill. “He’s come back to the brook on his -own trail. Now he’s walking in the water to hide his footsteps while he -crosses to the Quail’s Thicket to see if the little owls have found -Nibble. Isn’t that smart?”</p> - -<p>Ka-splash, ka-splash, ka-splash, ka-splash, went the cautious feet of -the fox. He was wading up the other side of the pond, nearer and nearer -to the flat stone. Ka-splash—he was right beside it. Ka-splash. “Yah!” -he screamed. “A trap! Urr—waur-r-r! Leggo, leggo!” he snarled, biting -the thing that gripped his leg.</p> - -<p>Then slowly, surely, they saw him dragged deeper and deeper into the -pool.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” gasped Nibble. “How awful! That was—Grandpop Snapping Turtle!”</p> - -<p>“Lip, lip, lip,” sang the ripples against the shore. They broke in rings -about the poor fox’s nose as it disappeared. They travelled clear -across to the farthest shore where Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat were -crouching in the willows, and they whispered “Silvertip’s gone.”</p> - -<p>“Poor Silvertip,” gasped Nibble. “I wouldn’t have minded a bit if the -dogs had caught him—but to be drowned—Ugh!” And he shivered.</p> - -<p>“That’s all in the way you look at it,” answered the doctor. “You’re -used to the idea of having something run you down and kill you. But we -muskrats are quite used to the idea of being eaten by snapping turtles. -If I’m not clever enough to get away it doesn’t matter to me which gets -me in the end.”</p> - -<p>“But he’s terribly dangerous,” Nibble insisted. “I should think you’d be -afraid to dive into the same pond with him. We must catch him. We can -get Tommy to help us.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no need of that,” argued the wise old beast calmly. “I’ve grown -up in this pond. And Grandpop Snapping Turtle has been paddling around -in it every summer since I was born. He’s never troubled me because so -far I’m smarter than he is. When I get old and stupid perhaps he will.”</p> - -<p>“But why should there be anything to catch us?” persisted Nibble. “Why -can’t we make a compact with them, like the cows made with the dogs, or -why can’t we make a compact with Man to help us kill them? Then it would -be like Mother Nature meant to have it in the First-Off Beginning.”</p> - -<p>“You forget that they both were Mother Nature’s own children to start -with. Even she can’t make a compact with the -Things-that-came-from-under-the-earth like Grandpop. And those are -the worst enemies we have. Besides, I think even Mother Nature has changed -her mind about that first plan. Now she’s growing something she never -thought of.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” asked Nibble, trying hard to guess.</p> - -<p>“Brains! we’re learning to think. You’re safe enough if you know all -your enemy knows and then think for yourself besides. It’s only when -he’s cleverer than you are that he can catch you. If we had no enemies -we’d still be as stupid as plants—no, stupider—because they had to -learn to take care of themselves, too.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” said Nibble, slowly. “Silvertip was safe on land because he was -smarter than any one else. He got caught when he took to the water -because Grandpop Snapping Turtle knew more about that than he did.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” agreed Doctor Muskrat. “It was perfectly fair. Look at Man. -He had the most enemies and the least help from Mother Nature. Now no -one can hurt him but himself—he still has that much to learn. But he’s -wiser and safer than any one else in all the world. And his enemies -taught him.”</p> - -<div class='tac mt07'> -THE END -</div> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX ***</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>This file should be named 64162-h.htm or 64162-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/1/6/64162/</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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