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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..5ebd419 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64397 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64397) diff --git a/old/64397-0.txt b/old/64397-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c72511e..0000000 --- a/old/64397-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2192 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tad Coon's Great Adventure, 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: Tad Coon's Great Adventure - -Author: John Breck - -Illustrator: William T. Andrews - -Release Date: January 26, 2021 [eBook #64397] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Roger Frank - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TAD COON'S GREAT ADVENTURE *** - - - - - TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE - - - - - Told at Twilight Stories - - - By JOHN BRECK - - MOSTLY ABOUT NIBBLE THE BUNNY - NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS - THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX - THE COON’S TRICKS - THE WAVY TAILED WARRIOR - TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE - THE BAD LITTLE OWLS - THE JAY BIRD WHO WENT TAME - - - - -[Illustration: Maybe Tad Coon didn’t run! He hit the cellar steps just -twice--blam! blam!] - - - - - Told at Twilight Stories - - TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE - - by - John Breck - - Book VI - - 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. The Romance of Nibble Rabbit - II. New Households in the Woods and Fields - III. Nibble’s Bunny Makes One Friend Too Many - IV. Dark Hours in Louie Thomson’s Prison - V. Why Louie Thomson Whistled - VI. The Woodsfolk Wonder About Louie - VII. Tad Coon Goes Back to Prison - VIII. Could a Little Boy Go Wild? - IX. Louie Takes Lessons of the Woodsfolk - X. The Rule of Tents - XI. Great Doings by Night in the Woods and Fields - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - Maybe Tad Coon didn’t run! - - They all twiddled their little tufty cottony tails - - One bunny poked out its curious little nose - - When Tommy tickled her nose with the tender end of a grass-blade - she ate it - - “Good Morning, Hop-toad. This is my family” - - Tad and Louie had the grain sacks flying - - When Louie opened his eyes, all the woodsfolk were out getting - their breakfasts - - The woodsfolk were delighted with Louie’s tent - - - - - TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE ROMANCE OF NIBBLE RABBIT - - -Tad Coon was lost! And Doctor Muskrat and Nibble felt pretty -discouraged over their chances of ever seeing him again. All the same -they meant to try. They sent word of a meeting to the Woodsfolk by -everyone they met. When they reached the pond, Stripes Skunk was -sitting out on Doctor Muskrat’s flat stone, waiting for him. - -“I’m leaving,” said he. “But I have to thank you for all you’ve done -for me. Perhaps I’ll come back some time.” He seemed very sorry over -it. His tail was droopy. - -“You can’t go!” exclaimed the doctor. “You belong here in the Woods -and Fields ever since you killed the crook-tailed snake for us. Now -we’re counting on you to help us hunt for Tad.” - -“But I must go,” said Stripes. “My mate wouldn’t leave the Deep Woods. -She knew it was a dangerous place to live and she sent me hunting -about to find a better one. Then she refused to come. I couldn’t think -why she wouldn’t. But Chewee the Chickadee just came flying in with -the news that the weasel has killed her. And she’s left three little -kittens behind. I’ve got to do their hunting for them.” - -“I see,” nodded the doctor. “But you send Chewee back here to-morrow -at sunset. I’ll have a message for you.” He didn’t say a word about -the meeting. So off went Stripes, with his ears drooped low and his -tail most sorrowfully dragging. - -When the Woodsfolk gathered by his pond the next afternoon Doctor -Muskrat laid Tad Coon’s case before them. “We know what has happened -to Tad Coon,” he said. “He chased some mice into a corn-crib and a man -shut the door on him. What man, what corn-crib we do not know. One -mouse escaped to tell the tale but the little owls ate him. If Tad is -still alive the Woodsfolk must do their very best to find him.” - -“We will, we will!” they squealed and yapped and chirped and whistled -in all their different tongues. Even the little bats woke up inside -their hollow tree and squeaked out that they, too, would keep an eye -open for him. - -“Another thing,” went on Doctor Muskrat. “Tad Coon is gone. Now -Stripes Skunk has had to go into the Deep Woods to look after his -kittens. The fieldmice are foolish but they are many and full of -notions. We have only the hawks and owls to fight them. First thing we -know the minks will be creeping in, unless Stripes brings his family -to live with us.” - -“Hooray! Hooray! for Stripes and his family! Bring ’em along!” shouted -the Woodsfolk and that’s just the very message he wanted to send. - -But just as the shouting was beginning to die down Chewee the -Chickadee broke out in his shrill little voice: “And Nibble Rabbit’s -mate said I was to tell him his bunnies were out of the ground and -ready to travel.” - -“Nibble Rabbit! Nibble Rabbit!” they hooted. “Oh, you sly one!” And -Nibble dragged his ear down and licked it so he could hide his shyness -behind it. There was more shouting and laughing than ever. But Doctor -Muskrat was fairly flabbergasted. “Nibble!” he gasped. “You never told -me!” - -He was hurt because Nibble Rabbit had gone off and found himself a -mate and raised a family without saying a word to him. He sat on his -stone and almost sulked about it. - -“But, Doctor Muskrat,” pleaded Nibble, “please let me explain----” - -“What is there to explain?” retorted the doctor, “except that you -never even told me.” - -“There’s this much,” Nibble answered with a funny smile, “I didn’t -know about them myself until just now.” - -“What do you mean-‘didn’t know’?” snorted the old muskrat. “Is this -some joke of Chewee’s? I don’t understand.” - -“No,” said Nibble, and he looked very happy about it. “They’re mine -all right enough, but this is the first I’ve heard from them.” Then he -went on to tell about how it happened. - -“You told me about scents. Of course I went off to find how everyone -used them. My, it was fun! I could tell how folks lived, and what they -ate, and when they were home, and where they went and who they saw -while they were away. And I found that nearly everyone was making love -to someone. I just couldn’t understand it. - -“I couldn’t until I found a rabbit trail back in the Deep Woods. It -was a lady rabbit’s trail. Of course I let her know I’d called before -I came away. But next day I went back there. And I could see her -bright eyes shining underneath the Pickery Things she hid in. By and -by she came hopping out. Oh, Doctor Muskrat, she was the loveliest -rabbit you’ve ever seen. She was just full of tricks and games and -frolics. And run? she was swift as a fish, darting across your pond. - -“She liked me, too. She didn’t even think I looked funny when I danced -under the last full moon, even if the mice say I do. I kept telling -her how nice it was here and she kept promising to come and meet you. -Wouldn’t you have been s’prised?” - -“No, I can’t really say I would,” chuckled the old muskrat. - -That did surprise Nibble. “Then,” he went on, “she disappeared. Of -course I thought Slyfoot the Mink had caught her. Why do you s’pose -she hid away like that?” - -“Ask her,” laughed Doctor Muskrat. “Run along, Bunny. Run along and -ask her that yourself. They all do it.” - -Everyone in the Woods and Fields insists that Chewee the Chickadee -can’t keep his wings still or his tongue silent for a minute at a -time. But they’re wrong. He sat perfectly quiet all the time Nibble -Rabbit was telling Doctor Muskrat about his mate back in the Deep -Woods. He had promised to let his mate know when Nibble was coming. He -didn’t even let himself laugh when Nibble wanted to know why she had -hidden away from him. That is, he didn’t until he saw Nibble hopping -around the end of Doctor Muskrat’s pond to the place where Nibble -jumps across the brook. Then Chewee took to his stubby wings and maybe -you think he didn’t chuckle about it. He got the giggles so hard that -he had to perch and hang on tight until he got over them. - -Lippity, lippity, lippity, went Nibble’s furry feet--my, but he was in -a hurry to find his mate and his baby bunnies! Thump, thump, he went -outside the Pickery Things she used to hide in while she waited for -him. And out she came, with five of the cunningest, fattest, softest -little balls of brown fur you ever saw. And they all twiddled their -little tufty, cottony tails and pricked up their soft ears and opened -their bright eyes wide at Nibble. But they wouldn’t let him come near -them. - -[Illustration: They all twiddled their little tufty, cottony tails.] - -That was because they thought he was angry. He thought he was, too. He -said: “Why did you treat me like this, running away and hiding from -me, and never even letting me know we had a family? You hurt my -feelings dreadfully, Silk-ears.” - -“Why, we always do it,” she protested. “Every mother rabbit makes her -nest in some place where it’s hidden even from the father rabbit.” - -“But you didn’t need to,” said Nibble. “We’re different. You didn’t -think I’d hurt them, did you? Birds don’t do that. I’d have helped you -take care of them.” - -“That’s what father rabbits always say,” laughed Silk-ears, for that -was the mother rabbit’s name. - -“How many families have you raised, anyway?” Nibble wanted to know. - -“This is the first,” smiled Silk-ears. “Aren’t they lovely bunnies for -the first ones? But I’ve had a wise old mother rabbit, who’s raised -ever and ever so many, to show me how. That was one reason I stayed -here. And the other reason is that you couldn’t have helped me. We’re -not like the birds. I don’t need your help to feed them and you leave -a trail that’s ever so much plainer than mine. You’d have insisted on -coming to see them and then Slyfoot the Mink would have followed you -and found them. That’s why we mother rabbits always hide them away, -even from you, until they’re big enough to run.” - -Then wasn’t Nibble sorry he’d been cross! “I might have known you had -a good reason,” he said. “You’re so clever.” He said it just as though -she’d thought of it all by herself. And the minute those bunny babies -heard he wasn’t angry any more they began to come closer and closer. -One of them patted his white tail that was so much bigger than its own -little puffy wisp, and another cuddled right up to him. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - NEW HOUSEHOLDS IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS - - -My, but Nibble was proud of his little bunnies! He wanted to take them -back to the pond, right away quick, and show them to Doctor Muskrat. -But Silk-ears, his mate, was quite stubborn about going. “No,” she -said. “The old mother rabbit who told me how to raise them said that -pond wasn’t a good place at all. She was there last year. Every one of -her bunnies disappeared the minute they left the nest. Hooter the Owl -got one, and Glider the Blacksnake got another, and Silvertip the Fox -caught the third, and the last one just disappeared. She thinks -Slyfoot the Mink found him while she was digging a new hole. She meant -to leave him the old hole to live in. He was a very scary little -bunny.” - -Nibble pricked up his ears. “She went to dig a new hole, did she?” he -asked. “Why was that?” - -“Why, because she was going to raise a new family, of course, and she -couldn’t have him tracking out and in.” - -“How silly I was,” said Nibble. “Now I see why the stars said in my -Fortune that Doctor Muskrat told me: ‘By dawn and by dusk you shall -travel alone.’ I was plenty old enough to begin without any telling. -And ‘All troubles are yours excepting your own.’ I was so busy getting -rid of other people’s troubles that my own went with them. Now the -Hooters have gone, and Silvertip, and Glider, and even Slyfoot doesn’t -live there.” Nibble never thought that maybe wise old Doctor Muskrat -had something to do with that fortune. - -Of course his mate didn’t understand what he was talking about; she -didn’t know any of the things he’d done. But she did know that he just -insisted on talking to that wise old mother rabbit. - -Of course you’ve guessed it before this--that wise old rabbit was -Nibble’s own Mammy Bunny. He was down by the pond when she came back -to see how he was getting along. She’d never think of going to ask -Doctor Muskrat about him. He told her all the stories he hadn’t told -Silk-ears and she shook her head when he told her that Tommy Peele was -his special friend. She didn’t like boys a bit. I don’t think she -really believed when he told her about Tommy’s dog, Watch, and Trailer -the Hound. But then, mothers don’t know all about everything. They now -what’s best for little bunnies, but you can’t expect them to know more -than a great big grown-up rabbit like Nibble. - -But Nibble didn’t care whether she believed him or not. “I’ve found -you again,” he said, and he waggled his long ears, because he was so -excited about it. “I’ve found you. Next thing you know we’ll have -found Tad Coon.” - -And maybe Mammy Rabbit wasn’t shocked at that! She didn’t think Tad -Coon was a safe friend for any rabbit, even a big one. But that didn’t -scare Silk-ears. It just made her prouder than ever of Nibble. So off -they set for Tommy Peele’s Woods and Fields. - -Maybe you think they didn’t have an exciting time getting their -bunnies all the way over from their nest in the Deep Woods. It wasn’t -because the little ones couldn’t run fast enough. It was mostly -because they ran too fast. They scuttled all over and they wouldn’t -pay the least attention to Nibble when he thumped his big furry feet -at them. Of course they did keep watch of their mother’s white -tail-tip--even tiny wee ones, as soon as their eyes are open at all, -know that’s what it’s for--but they didn’t see any use in a father at -all. - -Just once one did. That was when the hawk swooped down. Silk-ears -dodged into the Pickery Things, where no hawk could possibly reach -her. Three bunnies tagged after her. Nibble just stepped under an -elder bush, where the hawk couldn’t pounce from above, and one bunny -squirmed right under him. Then it poked out its curious little nose -from behind his elbow and blinked at the big bird. - -[Illustration: One bunny poked out its curious little nose and blinked -at the big bird.] - -She didn’t really mean them any harm. She was really hunting fieldmice -though a hawk will pick up a wee rabbit now and again. But when she -saw it was Nibble she just laughed. “Ca, ca! When did you take to -hatching?” and flapped right on. She had a nest of her own not far -from Nibble’s hole. Like a sensible bird she did her hunting away from -home to keep out of neighbourhood quarrels. If she took one of -Nibble’s babies she had a pretty good idea that someone would come -after one of her own babies who as yet had only pin feathers. - -But just as soon as the ungrateful little bunny saw his mother he ran -to her. “Where’s the other one?” asked Silk-ears. “Wasn’t she with -you?” - -“I thought you had her,” said Nibble. And then the hunt for that fifth -baby bunny began. They looked and looked until they were almost -discouraged. Then, there she was! Where do you s’pose? In a deep -footprint some horse had made. She thought she was pretty smart to -have hidden so well that even her mother couldn’t find her. - -“You bad little thing,” stamped Nibble. “That’s a regular hop-toad -trick. We’ll call you ‘hop-toad’ if you ever do it again.” - -But do you think he’d let Silk-ears shake her? Certainly not! And the -baby didn’t know what a hop-toad was yet, so she didn’t care. Anyway, -the Woodsfolk are very careless about naming their children. They just -nickname them from some way they act or look and then call them that. -And these were too little even to have nicknames yet. - -The most exciting time was when they came to the brook that runs into -Doctor Muskrat’s pond. The bunnies couldn’t jump, so Nibble had to -pick them up by their furry collars, like he did the lady mouse, and -carry them over, one by one, kicking and squirming. And Silk-ears -jumped over beside him each time--as though she could do something if -they did tumble in! Oh, she was glad to get them safe in Nibble’s -home, I can tell you. - -But if Nibble Rabbit had trouble with his naughty little bunnies you -just ought to have seen Stripes Skunk. His kittens had a great idea of -hunting things. When they hadn’t anything else to chase they chased -each other or their own tails. They chased Nibble’s bunnies, and -Nibble had to give one of them a kick that sent him tumbling. They -chased Bob White’s stubby-tailed chicks until Bob gave them a smart -pecking. They tried to chase the baby meadow-larks, but the little -birds who nest on the ground are up and flying before most of the -young furry things are out of their holes to bother them. That’s -exactly why Mother Nature lets them grow up so much faster. They were -very sweet-tempered kittens, anyway. They didn’t mean any harm, and -they soon learned what they mustn’t do, and saved most of their -chasing for the fieldmice. - -Only they never learned not to tease Doctor Muskrat. He would no more -get to sleep in the sun on his nice flat stone than somebody’s bad -baby would pounce on him. Both Nibble and Stripes were afraid maybe -he’d get cross about it. But that was before they caught him playing -with those teasing little ones. He’d dive under the water and swim up -underneath the stone. Then he’d pop up and snap at their paws when -they tried to grab him. And they weren’t the only ones who thought it -was fun. - -But if Doctor Muskrat liked them, you just ought to have heard Tommy -Peele the first time he saw them. He came out with his father to see -if it was time to go after those potato-bugs. And of course neither of -them could find a single one. - -“That’s funny,” said Tommy’s father. “Those potato-bugs have been -here. You can see holes where they’ve eaten the leaves. I wonder who -cleaned them all up?” - -Stripes Skunk sat up and saw what they were looking at. “It was the -birds,” he explained, only of course Tommy didn’t understand him. -Pretty soon Tommy saw something else. “This plant looks wilty,” he -said. “It looks as though a mouse had been gnawing it.” - -“It was a mouse,” smiled Nibble Rabbit, because he knew Stripes -wouldn’t tell that he’d tried to stop them. He came hopping up close -to Tommy. And Tommy didn’t know what he said, either, but his father -must have understood a little. - -“It’s queer about that stem,” he remarked. “I never knew mice to do -anything like that before, but mice must be what your skunk friend is -hunting here. That rabbit certainly isn’t afraid of him.” - -“Those rabbits!” Tommy fairly squealed. For Silk-ears and all the -babies were peeking at him with their long ears perked up among the -potato stems. “And those skunks!” For Stripes Skunk’s three kittens -were trying to squint at him from under the leaves, and the lower they -put down their heads the higher they arched up their tails. But they -didn’t know that. They thought they were beautifully hidden. And there -were their three black plumes, with white tips squirming at the ends -of them. No wonder Tommy laughed. No wonder he said: “Say, Dad. Let’s -catch one!” - -[Illustration: When Tommy tickled her nose with the tender end of a -grass-blade she ate it.] - - - - - CHAPTER III - - NIBBLE’S BUNNY MAKES ONE FRIEND TOO MANY - - -You remember how scary wild Nibble Rabbit was when he was a baby. That -was because his mother taught him that being scary is the very safest -thing for a bunny to be. Most everything will eat him if it can catch -him. But Nibble’s babies weren’t scary a bit. All they knew, so far, -was making friends with folks. They made friends with their father, -first of all. Then they’d made friends with Doctor Muskrat and with -Stripes Skunk and his kittens, and Bob White Quail and his nice brown -mate and all their little chicks. They hadn’t had a single thing to -frighten them. - -That’s why they weren’t very scared when Tommy Peele tried to catch -them. They weren’t as scared as Stripes Skunk’s kittens. You know the -kittens had seen their mother killed, so they knew dreadful things did -happen. But they could see their father wasn’t afraid of Tommy, and he -didn’t tell them to run. He just sat down to watch the fun. - -Fun it was! Those bunnies and kittens played hide and seek with the -little boy in and out of the potatoes until he didn’t have any wind -left for running and laughing. The minute he’d stop they’d all come -back as if they were teasing him to chase them again. They’d put up -their little noses and sniff at him and they’d stamp their little feet -at him. The skunks stamped their front feet and the bunnies stamped -their hind ones. And Tommy Peele’s father, who had come to look over -the potato patch, stamped the only feet he has and shouted: “Go it, -Tommy! That’s the time you nearly got one!” - -The only one who didn’t think it was funny was Nibble’s mate, -Silk-ears. She was terribly frightened. And she was pretty cross with -Nibble for laughing at her. - -“Don’t worry,” Nibble chuckled. “That boy can’t catch them. And he -wouldn’t hurt them if he could.” - -But Nibble was only half right. You remember the baby who hid in a -deep footprint, back in the Deep Woods? Nibble had called her a -“hop-toad” for doing it. Well, she tried it again. And this time -someone did see her--Tommy did. He scooped her up in his hand. - -Poor Silk-ears was nearly distracted. She thumped hard and called: -“Jump! Quick, bunny, jump!” - -But that bad bunny didn’t jump at all. She just cuddled down and -murmured: “It’s nice and warm in here. It’s comfortable.” And when -Tommy tickled her nose with the tender end of a grass-blade she ate -it. That most made the others envious. - -But Tommy’s father had been watching Silk-ears. “The mother rabbit is -so scared!” he said. “And she’s right. It’s nice to have them -friendly, but suppose they trusted somebody else like that, maybe -Louie Thomson. He might hurt them. And then it would be all your -fault. Better let it go.” So Tommy did. And Silk-ears was mighty glad -to get it back again. - -Tommy’s father was perfectly right. The bunny didn’t mind a bit; she -thought Tommy’s hand was a fine place to hide in, all soft and warm -and comfortable. But somebody else mightn’t be so gentle with her. The -only safety for wild things is to stay wild and be very, very careful. -And yet, there are two sides to being scary; you’ll find that out when -we come to it. - -Silk-ears thought exactly the same way. She said: “It’s all right for -you, Nibble, to be friendly with that Boy, because you’re a great big -grown-up rabbit and you know just who you can trust and who you can’t, -but something terrible will surely happen to that baby. If she wants -to hide, she must learn to find herself a nice safe place in the -grasses--she mustn’t just scrouch down into any little hollow and -think if she keeps still nobody will see her. I wish Tommy Peele had -given her a good shaking, I do! Then she’d have learned better.” - -But you see, Tommy hadn’t. She wasn’t a bit scared; indeed, she was -quite vain because she’d done something none of the others had dared -to do. And she was all ready to do it again. She couldn’t see what her -mother was making such a fuss about. - -“That’s a regular hop-toad trick,” said Nibble. “I’m going to show her -what one looks like. She won’t like that. And she won’t like being -called Hop-toad, either. She’ll hurry up and get over acting like -one.” - -So he took the whole family around to the end of the Quail’s Thicket -to where a great fat hop-toad lived under a big damp stone, and -knocked, thump, thump! And from the dark, shady crack a pair of ruby -eyes peeked out at them. Then a wrinkled hand came feeling out, a -black hand with a yellow palm showing between its fingers, all spread -out and grabby-looking. And then--out came the hop-toad’s nubbly head. -My, but he was ugly! - -But he’s very nice, you know. He never hurts anybody. Nibble never -dreamed that even a silly baby would be afraid of him. “Good morning, -Hop-toad,” said Nibble. “This is my family.” - -The hop-toad blinked, because he’d been asleep for ever so long and he -wasn’t all awake yet. “Oh-er-yes, your family. Quite a family.” He -yawned; he opened his toothless mouth wide as wide, and he didn’t even -put his hand up. And away went that bad bunny! - -Away she went, past the woods-bridge, through the wire fence that goes -around Tommy Peele’s Woods and Fields, out into a lane. She ran right -into a boy who was walking down it. Then she did her hop-toad trick -right over again--she scrouched down in a narrow wheel-rut. And the -boy saw her. He reached down and scooped her up in his hand, just as -Tommy Peele had done. But he wasn’t Tommy Peele, he was--Louie -Thomson! - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - DARK HOURS IN LOUIE THOMSON’S PRISON - - -Louie Thomson! Yes, Louie Thomson was the boy who caught Nibble -Rabbit’s runaway bunny baby. Just exactly what everyone was afraid of! -For Louie Thomson wasn’t good and kind, like Tommy Peele. He did more -awful things to the Wild Things than even Killer the Weasel, and they -were terribly scared of him. Every last one of them was scared, -excepting--excepting Nibble’s runaway bunny. - -She didn’t know enough to be scared. She was just contrary. She -wouldn’t believe that scrouching down in a little hollow like a -hop-toad is the surest way to get caught. She would be afraid of a -nice, toothless old hop-toad, who wouldn’t hurt anybody and she -wouldn’t be afraid of cruel Louie Thomson, who hurt everybody -excepting--excepting Nibble’s runaway bunny. - -[Illustration: “Good morning, Hop-toad,” said Nibble. “This is my -family.”] - -I told you the only way the Wild Things could be safe was to stay wild -and be very careful. That’s because most of their wild enemies are the -Things-from-under-the-Earth who came especially and particularly to -eat them. But men are different. Deep down inside him every man knows -that he’s just their big brother. He can half-remember the time when -he used to live with them, before he quarrelled with Mother Nature. - -Well, that wee bunny wasn’t a bit afraid of Louie Thomson; that’s just -why she was safe with him. His hand was soft and warm, like Tommy -Peele’s; when she cuddled down inside it he half-remembered what it -was like in the First-Off Beginning of Things, when little boys and -little bunnies played together. He didn’t want to hurt her. He said: -“You cunning little thing, I’m going to take you home and show that -smarty Tommy Peele he isn’t the only fellow who has pets. I guess I -can tame you.” But he wasn’t any too sure. He had one pet already that -he couldn’t tame. - -Catching pets is one thing; taming them is another. You have to make -them happy. And Louie hadn’t the least idea in the world how to do -that. He took little bunny out of the clean, windy air and the warm -sun and he put her in a smelly, dark cellar. He gave her some grass, -but it was all tops and she was too little to eat anything but the -tender white stems. He didn’t think to give her a drink of water. She -was shivery cold and there wasn’t any mother to snuggle against. She -was thirsty and there wasn’t any mother to give her a drink. She was -lonely and there wasn’t any mother to comfort her. Poor bunny baby. -She just sat in a miserable little heap and squalled, “Mammy, mammy, -mammy!” exactly the way Nibble did when he lost his mother. - -Suddenly a growly voice spoke up: “For sunlight’s sake, hush up, -Bunny! She can’t possibly hear you. And I’m listening for something.” - -That scared her quiet. Pretty soon the growly voice spoke up again, -“Who are you, anyway?” - -“I’m Nibble Rabbit’s bunny,” she sobbed. - -“You are?” said the voice. “Did you ever hear him speak of Tad Coon?” - -Now you know what happened to Tad Coon! It was Louie Thomson’s -corn-crib he chased those mice in. It was Louie Thomson who shut the -door on him. And it was Louie who put him in a cage in the dark, -smelly cellar. No wonder none of the Woodsfolk could find him! - -Now here was Nibble Rabbit’s baby, caged in an old box, right beside -him. She told Tad all about Louie’s catching her when she was running -away from the awful hop-toad. - -“You are a silly bunny,” said Tad. “That hop-toad hasn’t a tooth in -his head. He can’t hurt any one. And he’s wise. He’s most as wise as -old Doctor Muskrat.” - -“But he’s so scary ugly,” sniffed the bunny. “It must be horrid to be -as ugly as that.” - -“Ho!” snorted Tad. “He doesn’t think it’s horrid. He likes it. He -doesn’t have to be careful about hiding like you bunnies.” - -“I know,” sniffed the poor bunny. “I hid like a hop-toad. That’s why I -was caught. My daddy told me not to. He called me ‘Hop-toad’ to make -me stop doing it.” She began to cry again. - -“That sounds like Nibble,” chuckled Tad. “Well, listen to me; you nice -juicy little bunnies can’t hide too carefully. Everybody’ll eat you. -But nobody wants to eat a hop-toad. I know I wouldn’t--not even now.” - -“You wouldn’t eat me,” squealed the poor bunny. - -“I might,” said Tad. “You see I’m so starvation hungry. Dry bread and -carrots aren’t any food for a decent coon. Not even an ear of corn, by -way of a change.” - -“Oh, oh, oh!” cried the poor bunny. “Mammy! Mammy!” - -“Now whist,” said Tad soothingly. “I can’t get you, so you’re -perfectly safe. But if ever you get out of here you’ll be more careful -about trusting folks, won’t you? You never can tell just how hungry -they are, you know.” - -“But I never will. I’ll die right here. I’ll never get out.” - -“Yes, you will, too,” said Tad. “I’m going to get out. I don’t know -when or how, but I will. And if ever I do it won’t take me a minute to -open your cage with my handy-paws. And then I won’t want to eat you -any more. This place is just alive with mice. If ever I get after them -they’ll know it. Grr-r-r! I sit here and listen to them. I know all -their holes. I’ll hunt ’em!” and he licked his whiskers at the very -idea. “Now you cuddle down, little hop-toad, and I’ll tell you stories -about Nibble Rabbit.” - -And he did. He told her about the time he went fishing and splashed -Nibble, and how Grandpop Snapping-turtle nipped the end of his tail. -He forgot to be hungry and the bunny forgot to be scared until she -fell fast asleep. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - WHY LOUIE THOMSON WHISTLED - - -All night long Tad Coon kept still in his cage down in the dark, -smelly cellar. He wasn’t waiting for a mouse to come and nibble his -bread--they’d learned it wasn’t safe to do that. He was trying not to -wake Nibble Rabbit’s poor little bunny. - -All night he watched those mice scuttling about the floor with his -mouth just watering. He was so dreadfully hungry. He didn’t have -enough to eat, and it didn’t agree with him, and the damp air made his -bones ache. It was worse yet when a rat came snooping in and caught -one of the mice. He ate part of it and then left it lying right under -Tad Coon’s hungry whiskers. But it was worst of all when that rat -began to gnaw the bunny’s box. Tad shook his bars and chattered at -him. “Go away! Go away, you brute, or I’ll trim your ugly whiskers!” - -“Yah!” sneered the rat. “A lot you’ll do. You’ll die pretty soon. And -when they throw you out on the rubbish-pile I’ll be the one who eats -you!” Then he peered at the bunny. “I won’t bother to gnaw in and get -her,” said he. “They’ll throw her out in the morning. She’s dead -already!” - -My, but Tad was sorry! But the rat was mistaken. The bunny wasn’t -dead. She was just stretched out because she felt too weak to sit up -any more. And Tad had waked up Louie Thomson with his snarling and -shaking. - -The little boy looked in at Tad. Tad glared back and growled at him. -He gnashed his teeth when Louie tried the door to be sure it was -locked. “You’re a horrid, hateful thing!” Louie snapped crossly. But -he didn’t feel that way about the little rabbit. - -He picked her out of the box, and she tried to curl up in his hand -again, for it was the warmest thing she’d felt since she left her -Mammy Silk-ears. That was too much for Louie. She was still trusting -him; he felt a choke in his throat. “Don’t die, Bunny,” he almost -sobbed. “Please don’t die. I didn’t know you were too little to leave -your mother. If I take you home maybe she’ll find you.” - -So he covered her up all warm and snug in his hands and began to run. -He ran away down to the end of Doctor Muskrat’s pond, where it goes -under the woods-bridge. He didn’t put her down in the road where he -found her--even a boy knew that was no place for bunnies. He took her -across the fence and laid her down where she could hide under the edge -of the very same stone that belonged to the hop-toad. Then he went -back to the fence to watch. - -When she found herself all alone the poor baby began to call again in -her weak voice: “Mammy, mammy!” Of course, the hop-toad heard. Out he -came scrambling; he took just one look at Nibble Rabbit’s bad baby and -then off he went in the biggest kind of a hop-toad hurry after Nibble. - -Did you ever see a hop-toad in a hurry? He doesn’t hurry very often -and he doesn’t hurry very fast, but he makes an awful fuss about it. -He gulps a great big breath and then he shuts his mouth tight, tight, -and flops along as hard as ever he can. Because when he’s used up that -mouthful of breath he’ll have to stop and gulp another. That was the -way the hop-toad hurried when he went to find Nibble. - -But he didn’t have to hop so very far, because Bob White Quail was -scratching about in his thicket. The hop-toad took two big gulps and -then he had breath enough to gasp: “Fly quick! Tell Nibble Rabbit I’ve -found his lost bunny.” And Bob White didn’t stop to ask any questions; -he flew! - -It seemed a long time to the poor, cold, hungry little bunny; she lay -there under the edge of the hop-toad’s stone, calling her mammy, for -she didn’t know where the hop-toad had gone. But I can tell you it -seemed a lot longer to Louie Thomson. He was sitting on the fence -feeling very sorry that he’d picked up that cunning little rabbit, and -taken it home with him. And she wasn’t wishing her mother would come -any harder than he was. - -Then--ka-flick-it, ka-flick-it, ka-flick-it, came furry footsteps. -Silk-ears came leaping over the tops of the grasses faster than Nibble -ever ran, even when Glider the Blacksnake was after him. Faster than -Bob White Quail can fly she came; as fast as a fish darting across -Doctor Muskrat’s pond. And four other little bunnies came swishing -through the grasses behind her. They couldn’t begin to follow her -tail; they had to follow Nibble’s. - -In just about two licks of a tongue Silk-ears had that lost bunny -cuddled down beside her and was feeding her. My, how that hungry baby -did eat! She ate and ate with her little eyes shut, too busy to pay -any attention to her brothers and sisters, or to Nibble, or even to -that very nice hop-toad. Her little sides grew fatter and fatter. By -and by she felt so fat she had to roll over on her side, and the first -thing anybody knew she was asleep. Right there in the sun--no place in -the world for a sleepy bunny--but there she dozed. And nothing -troubled her, not even a buzzy fly--because the hop-toad soon gulped -him in. Tommy Peele’s Woods and Fields were all quiet and peaceful. - -Even Louie Thomson tried not to wriggle for fear of disturbing them. -But the top rail of that fence wasn’t any too comfortable, and the -flies buzzed about his ears, because he hadn’t any hop-toad to gulp -them, and at last a mosquito stabbed its stinger into his cheek. Slap! -You ought to have seen those rabbits scuttle home--and the little lost -bunny ran just about as fast as the rest. So Louie didn’t care. He put -his hands into his pockets and went off home, whistling as gayly as a -fiery-coloured oriole. - -He whistled so loud that all the birds stopped to listen. He didn’t -know just why he felt like whistling. He got to thinking about that -coon he caught in his corn-crib. He’d had it in a cage for ever and -ever so long, and it was crosser than ever. But he didn’t stop -whistling. He went right down into his cellar, leaving the cellar door -wide open behind him. Then he opened the door of the cage where he had -Tad Coon. “Git along, you bitey old thing,” he said. “I don’t want any -pets. They’re too much trouble.” - -Tad Coon sat back in a corner, snarling. He didn’t believe Louie meant -to be kind to anything. He just guessed that the minute he poked his -nose out Louie’d hit him with something. Then he’d be thrown out on -the rubbish-pile with Nibble Rabbit’s baby bunny, and the rats would -eat him. He thought of course Louie had killed it because all the -Woodsfolk knew he always killed things. - -Sure enough, Louie picked up a stick and poked him in the ribs. “Hey, -you!” he shouted crossly, “git out o’ there! Git a wiggle on!” - -Tad grabbed that stick with his teeth and his handy-paws and snatched -it right out of Louie’s hands. Then maybe he didn’t run! Bounce! He -hit the cellar floor! He hit the cellar steps just twice--blam! blam! -Louie came out and watched him gallop across the garden. When he -disappeared into the cornfield he was still running. Pretty soon Louie -saw him sneak under the fence into Tommy Peele’s potato patch. “Huh!” -he grunted disgustedly, “Tommy can have his cranky old coon if he -wants him.” He was just pretending he didn’t want Tad; he did, all the -same. He felt so sorry he stopped whistling. - -He just wanted him so much that he climbed up on the fence to see the -last of him. And what do you s’pose Tad Coon was doing? He was lying -on his back in the nice warm earth, wriggling and squirming. My, how -good that felt! When he jumped up again he was actually smiling. He -scrubbed his face and ears all neat and clean, and he fluffed out his -tail, and he didn’t look a bit like the snarly beast who’d been living -with Louie Thomson. He looked like the smarty one who had been playing -with Tommy Peele’s watch and chain the day Tommy and Tad Coon and -Stripes Skunk and Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat all went fishing. - -And when Louie Thomson saw how happy he was, why, he just began -whistling all over again louder than ever! But still he didn’t know -why. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE WOODSFOLK WONDER ABOUT LOUIE - - -When Tad Coon got out of that damp, smelly cellar he was just about -the happiest coon who ever hunted wood snails under a burdock leaf. He -was happy until he’d eaten several snails and three fieldmice and one -green frog. Then all of a sudden he remembered the bad news he had for -Nibble Rabbit. You know he thought Louie had killed Nibble’s poor -little bunny. My, how he hated to tell Nibble and Silk-ears! - -So he lost his smile. His face got longer and longer as he dragged his -feet toward Doctor Muskrat’s pond. It felt most as long as his tail. -His eyes got all teary and his nose got all sniffy, just thinking how -badly they were going to feel. But when he came around the end of the -Quail’s Thicket who should he see but Nibble talking excitedly to -Doctor Muskrat. Silk-ears and a lot of little bunnies were with him. - -“It was Tad Coon, all right,” Doctor Muskrat was answering. “No one -but Tad would have known all those stories he told the baby about you, -Nibble. Now we’ll get Tommy Peele’s dog Watch to take Tommy after him. -Tommy can undo that cage door. You’d better hurry right off and find -him. We can’t leave Tad there another hour!” - -How had that baby bunny come home? Tad couldn’t imagine. But here she -was, and here were all his friends planning to rescue him. He felt so -happy, all of a sudden, that he grinned until the tips of his prick-up -ears most met. He just danced up, like a skittish butterfly in a -breeze, squealing, “I’m here! I’m here!” - -“However did you get away?” gasped Nibble and Doctor Muskrat in the -same breath. - -“That awful boy opened the cage door and I just ran,” chuckled Tad. -“How did the baby get away from him?” - -“She didn’t,” Nibble explained. “He brought her back to the hop-toad’s -stone. And she says he isn’t awful a bit. She isn’t scared of him.” He -looked around for the bunny, but she’d scuttled into the Pickery -Things the second she saw Tad Coon. Nibble had to call and call. - -By and by she squeaked: “I’m not scared of that boy, but I’m awfully -scared of that coon. He said he’d eat me.” - -“Yes, I did,” Tad owned up. “I told her little rabbits mustn’t trust -us coons. But I won’t eat you now. I’m not a bit hungry.” - -“There’s something queer about this,” said Doctor Muskrat. “That bad -Louie Thomson wasn’t bad to the little bunny.” - -But if the Woodsfolk were wondering about Louie Thomson that morning, -they wondered a lot more that afternoon. And they weren’t the only -ones who wondered. Tommy Peele came down for some more fishing. Of -course Doctor Muskrat and Stripes Skunk were interested in that, and -Stripes’s three kittens sat still as still, with their toes tucked in -like a pussy-cat’s, and the white tips of their tails twitching, -because every other fish belonged to them. The bunnies were snoozing -in the Pickery Things, Chatter Squirrel and Chaik the Jay were having -an argument, and Tommy’s dog, Watch, was barking at them, and Tad Coon -was down at the lower end of the pond, happy as a frog on a lily pad, -full of mussels to his very chin. Suddenly he looked up and saw Louie -Thomson looking through the fence--right at him. - -Wow! But you ought to have seen him go! He bounced past Tommy Peele, -splattering water all over him. Everybody hid, even Chatter Squirrel; -everybody but Watch, who began growling and barking. - -This made Louie angry. He just leaned over the fence and squalled: -“You can have your darned old coon! He’s just as mean as your darned -old dog! I wisht I hadn’t let him go. I wisht I’d killed him when I -had him--I do!” - -“When did you ever have him?” jeered Tommy Peele. - -“This morning. I had one of your rabbits, too--a little bitty one--but -’twasn’t big enough to keep, so I let it go again.” - -“You broke your promise!” shouted Tommy. “You broke your promise. You -said you’d never come over here and catch my wild things again!” My, -but he was angry. - -“I didn’t--so, there!” snapped Louie. “I caught that coon in our -corn-crib. And I caught that little bunny right here where I’m -standing now. But I don’t want any of your old pets, seeing you’re so -selfish about them.” - -“I am not selfish,” Tommy answered back. “You could have pets -yourself, only you’re too lazy to feed them.” - -“I’d like to know what I’d feed them with?” asked Louie. “I see my pa -letting me go into his feed bins like your pa lets you. He wouldn’t -even let me have some for my coon, but Ma gave me bread for him.” No -wonder poor Tad was hungry! - -Tommy most forgot to be angry. Maybe Louie Thomson wasn’t so very bad, -after all. Maybe he did want to be friends. Every little boy didn’t -have a father like his, who knew all about boys and wild things. “Say, -Louie,” Tommy said in a different voice, “all these fellows love -roasting ears. You can get some from our cornfield if you want--my dad -won’t care.” - -Did Louie want to? Did he? You just ought to have seen the feast he -laid out, over by his fence, not by the flat stone where Tommy always -put his feasts, so the Woodsfolk would guess it wasn’t from Tommy -Peele. - -Before long, “Munch, munch!” went Nibble Rabbit and Silk-ears, and all -their little bunnies. “Crunch, crunch!” went Stripes Skunk and his -kittens. “Scrunch, scrunch!” went Doctor Muskrat, and Chatter -Squirrel, and Tad Coon. “Pick, peck, pick!” went Chaik the Jay, all -busy on those sweet, juicy young ears of corn. - -Tommy Peele and Louie Thomson were driving up Louie’s cows as friendly -as though they’d never had a quarrel. But Tommy’s dog, Watch, pricked -up both his ears as he listened to them. Then he galloped over to the -feast and barked: “That’s Louie Thomson’s corn. He’s trying to make -friends with you.” - -“Yah! ’Tis not!” squawked Chaik. “He got it in Tommy Peele’s own -field. I saw him!” You see, they didn’t know Tommy said he might -because Louie’s father wouldn’t let him take any from his own -cornfield, even if Louie did the hoeing. - -“It’s in Tommy’s woods,” pointed out Doctor Muskrat. “We haven’t made -any compact!” - -But Tad Coon surprised them all. “Are you sure, Watch?” he asked. -“’Cause if you’re certain sure I’m going back to his cellar again.” - -“Back to that smelly, stuffy, dark cage!” exclaimed Nibble Rabbit. And -his ears flicked straight up, he was so s’prised to be asking such a -foolish question. - -“Sure as mice is mice!” chuckled Tad. “That cellar’s just alive with -them. And there’s that rat who bothered your bunny, Nibble. I’ve got a -bone to pick with him--and he’s going to furnish the bone!” - -“Don’t do it!” warned Stripes excitedly. “You’ll get caught again!” - -“No, I won’t,” sniffed Tad. “I’m not going near that old trap.” Tad -meant the corn-crib. - -“But it’s all over traps!” Stripes insisted. “Traps and cages, for -cows and horses and pigs and sheep--and men, even!” You see Stripes -thought the houses and barns and sheds were all traps to catch the -things who live in them and keep them from going wild again. And -that’s half true, isn’t it? - -“Traps for men?” squealed everybody. “Men don’t hunt men.” - -“Don’t they, though?” asked Stripes. “Well, we skunks know something -about that. There used to be wolves and bears and all sorts of wild -things here, even wild men. They weren’t like these men. They were the -colour of Chatter Squirrel, and they lived in little shady trees made -of skin or in log piles, like the beavers.” He meant the tents and the -winter houses of the Indians. “We skunks used to be good friends with -them. But these men weren’t. They hunted them, just like they hunted -the bears and the wolves and the beavers, too. The wild men were -smarter than any of the other wild things, but these men who live here -now just kept building more and more traps to catch them in. Now every -last one of them is gone!” - -“That’s so,” said Doctor Muskrat. And it is half true, too. The -Indians did disappear when the white men built their houses, but of -course it wasn’t because the white men trapped them the same as they -trapped the wild things. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - TAD COON GOES BACK TO PRISON - - -Everybody looked serious when Stripes Skunk explained that all the -houses and barns and sheds on a farm were traps to catch the things -who live in them. Even Doctor Muskrat didn’t know any better than to -believe him, nor Chatter Squirrel, nor Chaik the Jay, nor Tad Coon. - -But Nibble Rabbit pulled down his ear with his paw and licked the end -of it very thoughtfully. “The cows aren’t trapped,” he said. “The -White Cow said that cows lived in those barns because they made a -compact with man. They give him milk, and he feeds them and keeps the -wolves from killing them.” - -“But there aren’t any more wolves!” argued Doctor Muskrat. - -“The cows don’t know that,” said Nibble. “They thought Silvertip the -Fox was a wolf. They were terribly excited about him.” My, but you -ought to have seen Silk-ears. She began sitting up straight and -putting her fur in order; she felt so vain because Nibble seemed to -know all about everything. - -And you ought to have seen Tad Coon’s eyes sparkle again. “Those big -cages--barns, you call them, do you, Nibble?--can’t all be traps. The -rats scuttle in and out of them.” - -“But you’re bigger than the rats,” said Stripes. He still felt scary. - -“But I’m not any bigger than Louie Thomson,” Tad argued. “I’m not -nearly as big. I can use his hole.” Of course he meant the cellar -door. “And I’ve just got to catch that mean old rat. He said he’d eat -me, he did. Guess I’ll show him who’s going to do the eating.” - -So off waddled that smarty coon. He sneaked round behind the woodpile -and scuttled down into the cellar when nobody was looking. There was -his cage, just the way he’d left it that morning. He climbed in and -lay down. - -It grew darker and darker. Pitter, pitter, sounded the feet of the -scuttling mice. Then came the sound he was listening for--the -scritchy-scratch of that rat’s claws on the cellar door. “Hey, you -coon!” called the rat. He wanted to be sure Tad wasn’t out of that -cage, hiding in some corner, ready to pounce on him. Tad didn’t -answer. So the rat ran up a pipe and crept along until he could peek -through the darkness. Tad could hear him sniffing. “Are you ready for -the rubbish-pile already?” he asked. Still Tad didn’t say anything. -Thump! He landed on the top of the cage. He felt the door was open. He -crept in! - -Bounce! Bite! Scree-ee-eech! That was the end of Mr. Rat! But--Bang! -went the door! Tad was locked in again. Poor Tad Coon! - -That’s what always happened to Tad. Every time he played a smarty -trick on somebody it was sure to come back on him. - -Tad Coon made some noise, I can tell you, when he caught that rat down -in his jangly old cage. And the cage door made some more when it fell -down and locked Tad in. And Tad made more yet, shaking the bars, -trying to get out again. - -Louie Thomson’s family was getting ready to go to bed. His father -growled: “If that beast in the cellar makes any more noise I’ll go -down there and kill him.” - -Louie didn’t answer. He didn’t dare to argue. Besides, he didn’t -believe it was really Tad. He’d let him go just that morning! - -Louie’s mother asked: “Louie, did you remember to feed that coon?” - -“No’m,” said Louie. - -“Well, then, you can pick some scraps out of the pig’s pail to give -him,” said she. She didn’t dare offer him anything else because his -father was listening. - -Do you think Louie would do that? I guess not. He’d learned something -that afternoon. Tommy Peele showed him how nice sweet roasting ears of -fresh corn were what you ought to feed a coon. He just pretended to -pick up something, and then he sneaked down to listen. The coon was -there all right enough; he could hear him. You just ought to have -heard Louie then. His bare feet went pat-pat-patting over to his -father’s cornfield. Then they came pat-pat-patting back again. Pat-pat -they went on the cellar floor. And Tad could smell the nice sweet -corn. - -[Illustration: Tad and Louie had the grain sacks flying, to find the -family of mice.] - -“There!” said Louie in a happy voice, “I guess you’ll be glad you came -back again.” And he poked the corn into the cage. “Oh, I thought you -hated me. I do want you to like me, you nice coon.” - -Was this the cross little boy who’d snapped and snarled at him? Tad -just couldn’t believe his ears. He stopped eating to listen. - -“I will be good to you--’deed I will--if you’ll only be tame,” Louie -was saying in this brand-new voice. - -Tad poked his nose through his bars and sniffed at him. Then he took -hold of his door in his handy-paws and shook it until the cellar -echoed with its jangly noise. - -“Don’t, don’t!” begged Louie. “My pa will hear you.” But Tad wanted to -be let out. He went on shaking. “Aw, what’s the use of locking you up, -you’ll come back to me, anyhow,” said Louie at last. He reached for -the door and Tad’s little handy-paw caught hold of his finger. But he -didn’t jerk it away, because this wasn’t a snappy, snarly coon. This -cunning little fellow didn’t bite him any more than he’d bite Tommy -Peele. He opened the door. - -Thump went Tad on the floor. But this time he didn’t try to run--he -was too busy examining Louie Thomson. He twitched Louie’s trousers and -he felt of Louie’s toes, and his curious little handy-paws were so -tickly they set Louie giggling. - -Louie’s mother finished sweeping out her kitchen. She was all ready to -go to bed now except for one thing. “It’s kind of funny,” she said to -herself, “I haven’t seen Louie since I sent him down cellar to feed -his coon.” So she took the lamp and started down the stairs, using the -broom for a cane, because it came in so handy when she felt tired and -stiff. On the fourth step she stopped to listen. That was a queer -sound! There it was again. She smiled herself. - -For what she heard was Louie giggling because Tad Coon’s handy-paws -tickled him. Tad was examining him to see if he carried a bug in his -pocket, like Tommy Peele. Nobody could convince Tad that Tommy’s noisy -ticky watch wasn’t a bug. - -The lamp cast a light on the cellar floor and Tad saw a mouse. He -whisked around and caught it. There, now he could see a pile of grain -sacks where he knew there was a whole family of them. He didn’t stop -to think where the light was coming from. He’d got used to light and -noises while Louie kept him locked up in that awful cage. He used to -hate the cellar, too. Now that he was free he thought it was fun--the -loveliest sort of a place to go hunting in. You’d better believe he -and Louie had those grain sacks flying. - -“Louie Thomson!” said his mother. “Whatever are you doing?” - -“My coon’s catching a mouse,” laughed Louie. “Oh, Ma, he’s tame! I let -him go this morning and he came right back again.” Of course Tad came -back to get even with that mean old rat who plagued him while he was -starving in his prison. But Louie didn’t guess that. “Shh, Ma!” he -said. “Hold your light so’s he can see. Look! He’s caught another!” - -“Good land!” exclaimed his mother again. “He’s smarter than a cat. I -wish he’d come up and clean a few out o’ my kitchen.” - -Just then, clump, clump, came Louie’s father down the stairs. Even Tad -could tell he was angry by the way he was stamping--you know coons and -skunks and bunnies, even, do it, too. He guessed it was time to be -going. - -“What does all this racket mean?” shouted Louie’s father. “I told you -I’d kill that beast if I heard any more from him; now I’m going to do -it.” And he snatched the broom from his wife’s hand. He wanted to use -it for a club. Then he looked in the cage. - -He didn’t see any coon, but he did see the corn Louie had brought for -him! “What do you mean,” he roared, “breaking off my corn for your -beast? I told you to leave my grain strictly alone. Now I’ll give you -a licking you won’t forget. Where’s that brute gone?” - -Tad was sneaking around behind him in the dark shadows. Whack! The -broomstick just missed him as he bounced out the cellar door. Whack, -whack, it came down on Louie Thomson’s shoulders. Out of the cellar -door he bolted, too, and raced after Tad Coon. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - COULD A LITTLE BOY GO WILD? - - -Patty, patty, ka-flip, ka-flip, went Tad’s feet, running away from -Louie Thomson’s house for the second time. Pad, pad, pad, pounded -Louie Thomson’s feet, running after him. Louie was mad clear through, -but he wasn’t mad at Tad Coon. He was angry at his father for trying -to beat him with a broom. - -All the same, he felt scary and lonely when he got out there in the -darkness. He could hear Tad’s feet running down the alleyways between -the corn. But the stalks were way up over his head. He couldn’t see -where he was going. Pretty soon he couldn’t even hear the coon--he was -all alone. - -But was he? He stubbed his toe on something--something soft and furry -and warm. It was Tad. For just as soon as Tad got over being scared -about himself he began to wonder if that cross man with the big stick -had done anything awful to poor Louie Thomson. He knew what it was -like to be chased. Besides, Tad’s the most curious beast in all the -woods and fields, and he had to know the meaning of those little, sad, -sniffly noises Louie was making. - -But Louie just knew Tad was sorry for him. The poor little boy threw -himself on the ground and cried and cried. “It isn’t fair,” he sobbed. -“I hoed that corn, I had a right to take just a little weeny bit of it -for you. Besides, you earned it. You killed the mice in our cellar -just as much as those old cats ever do. I wasn’t bad, and I just won’t -take a licking for it.” All the same, he knew that’s what he’d get if -he went back home. - -Tad kept cocking his ears and touching Louie with his shy little -handy-paws, trying to think what he was doing. Little coons cry, too, -but they cry, “Wa-wa-wa,” more like a hungry little bird. By and by he -got restless and started along. - -“Wait for me! Wait for me!” called Louie, and he got up and followed -Tad--all the way back to Doctor Muskrat’s pond. - -The night was clear and warm. And it wasn’t so very dark, after all. -Louie could see quite well. Now it was his turn to be curious about -what Tad Coon was doing. A frog jumped in the long grass and Tad -pounced on it, just the way he pounced on a mouse. But he didn’t eat -it--not yet. He carried it over to the water. Then he began splashing. - -“He’s washing it first,” thought Louie. “If that isn’t the -beatin-est!” - -Sure enough, when he had it washed all clean Tad gulped his frog. Then -he paddled his paws and scrubbed his mouth and whiskers. Yes, and even -reached up behind his ears. - -“Washing looks kind of nice,” thought Louie to himself. So he tried -it, too. He washed himself clean as clean--clean as that fat old coon, -even. And then he felt so comfortable he curled up by Doctor Muskrat’s -stone and fell fast asleep. - -You wouldn’t think even the wild woodsfolk would be afraid of a tired -little boy, fast asleep by the pond, but they were. They were most -scared to death. The whippoorwill sounded a desperate warning as she -circled about on her long pointed wings trying to make up her mind to -scoop up a mouthful of water, and the little bats squeaked as though -the big owl was after them. - -They woke up a lot of the Woodsfolk who had eaten their late supper by -moonlight and gone to bed. Stripes Skunk came over from the potato -patch, and Nibble Rabbit loped out to the edge of the Pickery Things -and stood there on tip-toe, even to his stick-up ears, he was so -s’prised. Chatter Squirrel looked from the lowest branch of Tad Coon’s -tree. Doctor Muskrat crawled up on his stone, and maybe you think he -didn’t jump when he found who was sleeping beside it. But fat old Tad -patted out of his nest in the cool bulrushes, where he’d been taking a -little cat-nap with one ear open, and settled it. - -“Needn’t anybody be afraid of Louie Thomson,” said Tad. “He’s my boy. -And he’s most as nice as Tommy Peele, Nibble. He’s friends.” - -“But we haven’t made any compact with him,” suggested Doctor Muskrat. - -“Compact!” sniffed Tad. “The minute he found I was shut up in my cage -he brought me the juiciest mouthful of corn you ever wet your whiskers -in.” - -“Yah!” jeered Stripes. “What did I tell you? Didn’t I say you’d get -caught? It’s all over traps, wherever you find men.” - -“You did,” admitted Tad. “It was the queerest thing. I could get into -that cage, and so could that mean old rat--he thought I was dead, Mr. -Scaly-tail did. You ought to have heard him squeal when I grabbed him. -But then I couldn’t get out again!” Tad didn’t know it was his very -own self who shook the cage door down. “It didn’t matter a bit,” he -went on comfortably. “Louie came right down and turned me loose. But -you’re right about another thing, Stripes, men do kill men.” - -“What!” exclaimed all the woodsfolk. - -Tad nodded solemnly. “Sure as tadpoles have tails! We were having the -nicest mouse hunt, Louie and I, when that big man came stamping in. He -tried to kill me with a stick, and he did hit Louie with it--twice.” -Of course Louie’s father didn’t mean to kill him; he only meant to -punish him for taking the corn. But Woodsfolk don’t beat their -children, they only shake them. - -“Louie could run, all the same,” Tad finished. “So he came with me; -he’s going to go wild again and live with us.” - -Doctor Muskrat looked at Louie in a very puzzled way. “I wonder if he -can go wild?” said he. “It’s a long, long time since men were wild.” -You ought to have seen the Woodsfolk prick up their ears over the -idea. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - LOUIE TAKES LESSONS OF THE WOODSFOLK - - -It was early in the morning when Louie woke up and began to rub his -eyes. Where was he? What were those little cheepy sounds all around -him and that rustling and pattering--yes, and splashing? He remembered -that splashing; it was the last thing he heard the night before. Tad -Coon had been splattering and scrubbing in Doctor Muskrat’s pond. - -That’s exactly where he was; down by Doctor Muskrat’s pond, with his -head pillowed on the grass at the edge of Doctor Muskrat’s flat stone. -The splashing wasn’t all Tad Coon’s; a little bit of it was the swish -of Doctor Muskrat diving in head first when Louie stretched his arm. -He dove in such a hurry that he left a nice newly dug sweetflag root -behind him. - -Louie opened his eyes, and then he lay very, very quiet. For all the -Woodsfolk were out getting their breakfasts; they weren’t paying the -least attention to him. He never knew there were so many of them. -Chatter Squirrel ran down a tree and nibbled the edge of a mushroom. -Three little mice ran down to drink; one gnawed the head of a bulrush -Doctor Muskrat had cut down, and another shinned up a leaning grass -stem and ate its seeds. Bob White Quail’s whole family came strolling -by, dear little bright-eyed, striped brown puffballs, just beginning -to have wing feathers. One of Stripes Skunk’s children jumped right -over his feet; he was chasing a grasshopper. Nibble Rabbit’s bunnies -were mostly chasing each other. They kicked up their furry heels and -flicked their tufty little tails at each other, playing hide and seek -in and out of some burdock leaves. Fat Tad Coon was making a happy -whiny little song through his nose while he scrubbed another frog -before eating it. And all the little birds would perk up their heads, -give a touch or two to their feathers, and fly down to spatter in the -pond and wet their whistles, maybe snatch a bug or a worm, before they -began their morning song. By the time they were all wide awake Louie’s -head was ringing with the racket. But he didn’t want them to stop--no, -indeed, he just wanted to sing with them. - -[Illustration: When Louie opened his eyes, all the woodsfolk were out -getting their breakfasts.] - -He was very careful about getting up because he didn’t want to scare -any of them. He sneaked down to wash, because everybody else was doing -it, you know. First thing he knew he felt so happy he was whistling. -Chaik the Jay shouted “Hey!” at him. And he just shouted back, “Hey -yourself!” Because by then he knew Chaik was just making fun of him. -Why, he was one of them; couldn’t he just make as much noise and have -as much fun? - -Yes, and have something to eat, too. He didn’t want a mushroom, like -Chatter, because mushrooms sometimes give little boys worse pains -inside them than the potato plants gave the foolish mice. He didn’t -want a grasshopper, or a seed, like the quail, or a plantain leaf, -like a bunny, or a frog or a bug or a worm. But there was that root of -Doctor Muskrat’s. He smelled it--just like the wild things do. He -tasted it. Then he ate it. Yum-m-m! It tasted like more. - -The rest of the Woodsfolk didn’t pay any attention to Louie, but old -Doctor Muskrat kept swimming round, wondering what had become of the -root; he never dreamed that little boy would eat it. - -Louie watched him for quite a while before he thought about it -himself. Then he said: “You poor old rat. Never mind, I’ll pay you -back.” And he waded right in among the cattails, scaring ’bout a dozen -turtles who were sitting on a log, and grubbed up another root that -had the same kind of leaves on it. He put that one on the stone where -he’d found the one he ate. - -Doctor Muskrat just blinked in surprise. He came out and sniffed it. -He tasted it. “Why, that boy’s awfully clever. He’s found the right -one first thing,” said he to himself. “Wonder if he could do it -again?” So this time he went after another kind of a root. - -Louie came up close and looked at it. Then he hunted and hunted until -he found the kind of a plant it grew on. It was a big juicy mallow, -the kind the doctor gave Nibble Rabbit that very first day when he -found the little bunny in his cattails. You know how good that was! He -laid it out on the flat stone and waited for Doctor Muskrat to taste -it so he’d be sure it was the right one. - -Wasn’t Doctor Muskrat pleased? Just wasn’t he! He called: “Tad, Tad -Coon. This is the smartest boy I ever saw. He’s learning faster than -any youngster I ever taught. If he doesn’t take to hunting us, these -woods and fields will be just like Mother Nature made the world in the -First-Off Beginning of Things.” - -“O-ho!” said Tad, waddling over to see what was going on. “We’ll just -have to show him what’s right and what isn’t--like we showed Stripes -Skunk. I don’t believe he knows a bit more about it. I don’t guess he -ever meant to be bad.” - -“Yes,” agreed Doctor Muskrat, “but we mustn’t show him all our secrets -right away; he might get caught again. I don’t want him carrying any -tales back to that man he lived with. He knows enough already.” - -Just then they pricked up their ears. Clump, clump, clump, came -Louie’s father down the lane. Louie pricked up his ears, too. He knew -his father would be angry because he had to drive up the cows himself. -He knew what his father would do if he caught his little runaway son. -Down he dropped on his hands and knees and crawled up the widest -tunnel where Tad Coon creeps into Nibble Rabbit’s Pickery Things. He -hid right in the very spot where Nibble hid the Red Cow’s bad baby. -And his father couldn’t find hide nor hair of any one. - -Tad chuckled to Doctor Muskrat: “He isn’t going to get caught again.” - -And Louie didn’t, either. It was fun down by Doctor Muskrat’s pond, -even if you were only a little boy instead of a furry wild thing--or a -feathery one. When the sun grew warm, all the furry folk found -themselves nice cool nests and went back to snooze again. Even the -birds were quiet. - -Louie wasn’t quite as comfortable as the rest because he didn’t have -any fur--his legs were bare, and the mosquitoes bothered him--and he -didn’t have any dark hole where he could crawl in and hide from them. -But he was pretty smart, all the same. He didn’t try to hide in the -bushes because all the little bugs who were taking their naps on the -under side of the leaves woke up and buzzed around him. He lay out -under Tad Coon’s tree, where the wind blew them right past, and -covered himself with some nice flat branches after he’d shaken the -bugs out of them. That certainly amused Tad Coon. - -Miau the Catbird, who wears a gray coat and makes a noise like a -week-old kitten, when he doesn’t sing, came and peeked at him. He -raised that little black patch on his head, just as though he were -lifting his hat to Louie. It looked as if he were a very polite little -bird trying to say “Good morning.” - -My, but didn’t he flutter when Louie answered, “Good morning, -yourself, Mr. Bird!” But the little boy said it in such a nice voice -Miau couldn’t stay scared, so he chirped back. - -“Is that the way you say it?” giggled Louie, and he tried to talk -exactly like him. He didn’t talk bird talk well at all. You ought to -have heard Miau squawk, because he thought it was funny. And Louie -squawked, too, so a couple of blackbirds with bright scarlet patches -on their shoulders came over to see what was going on. So did Bobby -Robin, and Chip Sparrow, who is one of Chirp Sparrow’s wild cousins, -not nearly so big or dressed up, but with a lovely song, and a -gorgeous black and orange oriole. A fine noise they were making. - -But right in the middle of all their fun Louie heard another noise. It -was his mother calling him. Her voice wasn’t happy, like those noisy -birds, but very sad and lonely. Louie jumped up and ran as fast as -ever he could to answer her. - -“Oh, Louie, Louie! Your father said you weren’t here, but I sort of -knew where I’d find you,” she cried when she had kissed him. “You -mustn’t run away from me! I’ve been so afraid something would happen -to you!” - -“It did,” laughed Louie; “lots of things.” And he told her all about -how nice all the Woodsfolk had been, and how the birds were teaching -him bird talk. And where he got his breakfast--just everything. But -she said, “Come home, and I’ll give you a better breakfast than that -muskrat has in his whole pond.” - -Do you know, Doctor Muskrat was really disappointed when he saw Louie -Thomson go trotting up the lane beside his mother. “It’s too bad,” -said he. “That boy of yours was learning very fast, Tad Coon. If he’d -stayed down here by the pond just a little while longer he’d have been -as wild as any of us.” You see the Woodsfolk wanted to have a nice -wild boy to play with just as much as Louie ever wanted a nice tame -coon. - -Tad Coon’s own ears were drooping. “Maybe he was hungry,” Tad guessed. -“Maybe we didn’t have the right things to feed him.” He knew what that -was, because he’d been so hungry himself when he was shut up in -Louie’s cage. - -“Nonsense!” sniffed Doctor Muskrat. “If he’d only wait until Tommy -Peele could teach him his way of fishing, he’d have had all he -wanted.” You see, muskrats can eat their fish without taking the -trouble to cook them. - -Tad sighed. He was really just as disappointed as the doctor. A little -boy was such fun; he did such queer things--he was as much fun for Tad -Coon as Tad was for him. “That was his mother,” he said at last. -“Maybe he was too little to leave her, like Nibble Rabbit’s bunny. He -isn’t anywhere near full grown. All the same, I don’t think she takes -very good care of him.” He was thinking that when Louie’s father -struck him with the broom, his mother never did anything to stop him. - -I guess Louie’s father would have been pretty s’prised to know Tad -thought he was trying to kill his very own little son. He didn’t mean -to hurt Louie--he just thought that Louie ought to obey him like Watch -the Dog obeyed Tommy Peele. Watch wanted awfully to fight with Tad -Coon because of what Tad did to Trailer the Hound, but Tommy just -wouldn’t let him. Louie wanted to take some corn for his coon, and he -just went ahead and took it anyway, even if his father forbade him. -Watch knew you ought to obey, but even he couldn’t have explained to -Tad Coon about it. Louie knew, deep down inside, but he didn’t want to -believe it. He was still angry. - -Tad Coon thought and thought. By and by he said, “Maybe our boy’s -mother knows what’s best for him. They mostly do. Maybe he couldn’t go -wild. He hasn’t a lick of fur to his skin. What would he do in the -winter time? Bury himself in the mud like a frog? Eh?” - -“Find himself one of those little trees of skin, like the red men -Stripes Skunk told us about,” answered the doctor. “Stripes might -remember where they got them.” He meant the skin tents the Indians -used and he didn’t know that they had to kill great big buffaloes and -tan their skins; he thought they just hunted for them like Tad hunts -for a hollow tree to sleep in. - -“I’m afraid they’re all gone, like those red men,” said Tad. “None of -us have ever seen one.” And he was sort of lonesome till the middle of -the afternoon, when who should come trotting back to the pond but -Louie! And Tad was just as glad to see him as Louie had been to find -Tad had come back to his old cage again. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - THE RULES OF TENTS - - -No one in all the Woods and Fields could understand how Louie Thomson -came to be back with them again. But here he was, and you ought to -have seen what he brought with him! He brought some carrots out of his -mother’s very own garden, and some corn bread out of her kitchen, and -some sugar in a little bitty paper bag for the birds because he -couldn’t bring them any grain, and he brought a blanket. His mother -just must have given those things to him. Maybe Tad Coon was right -when he said mothers know what is best for their little ones. Maybe -his mother thought it was good for little boys to go wild if they -wanted to in the summer-time--quite as good for them as hoeing corn in -the hot sun. - -Of course they had a feast. Doctor Muskrat was awfully taken up with -that corn bread. He couldn’t imagine where it was grown. He kind of -thought maybe housefolk made it out of pollen. You remember the wasps -told him that the yellow dust you get on your nose when you smell a -water lily was the bread they fed their little grubby young ones. - -But didn’t Stripes Skunk just love that blanket! Louie knew it would -be hot if he tried to sleep inside it. He didn’t want to be rolled up -tight like a bug in a cocoon. A cocoon is the little silky blanket a -caterpillar makes himself to go to sleep in. That may be nice for -caterpillars, even in the summer time, but Louie made himself a tent -instead. He slanted a long stick from the crotch of Tad Coon’s tree to -the ground and hung the blanket over that. Then he spread out the -corners and held them down with big flat stones. That was tent enough -for him. But the woodsfolk just wouldn’t let it alone; they are so -curious! - -Stripes was perfectly delighted. He hadn’t ever seen a real skin tent -like the Indians made, he’d only heard about them. This wasn’t much -like any skin he knew about, but it smelled kind of furry, and he -could see Louie meant to live in it. So he called his three kittens, -because he wanted to explain the rule of tents to them. And of course -curious old Tad Coon and Nibble Rabbit’s bunnies came, too, and -sniffed and burrowed and poked their noses into all the wrinkly places -and nibbled the fuzz till it set them sneezing. - -“The rule of tents is that every night at sundown we skunks must look -into every corner and see that there’s no one inside to disturb our -man when he’s sleeping,” said Stripes. He meant snakes and mice and -beetles--creepy-crawly things. - -“Aye, aye,” squealed the kittens. They cleared out those bunnies in no -time. Then they pounced on Tad Coon and pulled his fur until he was -laughing so hard he couldn’t box their impudent little pricky ears. He -tried to run out the wrong end. Down came the pole and off he walked, -dragging the whole blanket after him, and the kittens couldn’t think -where he was gone. And Louie most made himself sick laughing at them. - -Louie put it up again, as soon as he got done laughing, and fastened -it down with more stones all around. But Doctor Muskrat began to turn -over the stones to see what they had under them. That was because the -blanket smelled so queer. Then the mice came out to visit him and -Stripes Skunk came out to hunt them. After that the little owls came -and perched right over it. Louie could hear them talking. - -“What’s that?” asked one. “It wasn’t here this morning.” - -“It’s alive,” whispered the other, “I can hear it breathing.” - -“It’s very queer,” said the first little owl. “It surely does breathe. -But it hasn’t any head or any feet or any tail.” Of course the tent -didn’t have any. Louie Thomson had a head and some feet, but the owls -couldn’t see him. - -“Maybe it’s got them all pulled in, like a turtle,” said her mate. - -“Aw, you old squawk-sparrow!” she snapped. [That’s the same as calling -a boy a “’fraid cat.”] “I’ll soon find out what it is.” And she lit -right on Louie’s tent pole. “It’s all woolly,” she said. “I s’pose -maybe it’s a buffalo.” - -[Illustration: The woodsfolk were delighted with Louie’s tent.] - -“Buffaloes have horns,” insisted the little he-owl. “You just ask the -cows. They know. They’re right over there in those woods. I dare you -to ask ’em.” - -“Are they?” said she. “That shows how much you know. They’re breaking -into the cornfield this minute. Hear the fence--now!” - -Sure enough there was the whine and snap of a wire when a cow leans -into it, and a floundering and swishing as she tore at the leaves. -Even Louie could hear it; he put out his head to listen. - -“Whe-e-e-e!” yelled the little he-owl in the tree. “It is a turtle! It -is!” - -But as he spoke Louie gave the blankets a jerk, trying to climb out, -and the rude little owl who was perched on it came tumbling and -sliding down to the ground before she could catch herself. Didn’t she -squawk? And didn’t they flap off as fast as their wings would go? They -were too scared even to turn their heads as they flew. - -If they had they’d have seen Louie Thomson running, too. And his feet -were going most as fast as their wings--over to the cornfield. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - GREAT DOINGS BY NIGHT IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS - - -My, but Louie was excited when he found the cows in his father’s corn. -Of course it wasn’t his corn; his father told him so when he got angry -with Louie for taking a little bit to feed Tad Coon. But Louie forgot -all about that. Here were these bad old beasts biting and tearing and -tramping it down after he’d had to hoe it so hard to start it growing. - -“Get out of there!” he shouted. “Hi, boss! Move along!” - -“Humph!” snorted the oldest cow. “It’s only that boy. We don’t have to -pay any ’tention to him. It isn’t milking time.” And she snapped off -another stalk. - -“Get out of here, you cows!” said a new voice. “You don’t belong here, -and you know it. Be reasonable now and go along.” Who do you think it -was? It was Nibble Rabbit. He’d heard the noise, and he’d seen Louie -run over to stop them, and he remembered the way the Red Cow took -after Tommy Peele. He just knew it wasn’t safe for little boys to -drive cows all alone when they didn’t want to be driven. - -“I am reasonable,” said the cow stupidly. “The pasture’s all dried up. -I can give a lot more milk if I eat this corn.” She knew well enough -she was wrong. - -“Maybe you can,” said Nibble, “but it doesn’t happen to be your corn. -You walk right out of it and leave it alone, like Louie told you to.” - -“I won’t!” said the cow. “We won’t!” they all mooed together. “We -won’t, and you can’t make us. You go right back to the woods where you -belong and mind your own business. You eat what you want without -taking orders from any one.” - -“Yes, but I only take a nibble here and a nibble there. I don’t -destroy things,” Nibble Rabbit argued. “You’re worse than a whole -woods full of fieldmice.” - -That did make the cows cross. They hate mice. Mice make their grain -taste musty, so the poor cows can’t eat it. They felt insulted. And -just that very minute Louie hit one blam! right on her ribs with a -stone. - -“Moo-o-o-o!” she roared. “We’ll show you whether you can boss us!” And -she put down her horns and began charging around in the corn. But the -night was so dark and the corn was so tall she couldn’t find the -little boy in it. He just scuttled for the fence and shinned over. - -Slam! She hit the fence right behind him. But he was running up the -lane as fast as he could go before the foolish thing could find the -hole where she got into the cornfield, so she could get out again to -chase him. He was going for help. Even if his father was mean, Louie -just had to tell him what was happening. - -Nibble Rabbit squeezed under the fence, but he didn’t run. Not yet! He -stopped to shout at those foolish cows: “You made a mistake that time! -Nobody can chase a little boy, not even if it is a great big cow -without sense enough in her whole carcass to fill one of the slits in -her clumsy hoofs. We Woodsfolk won’t stand it.” He gave an angry stamp -and then his furry feet started twinkling. He was going for help, too. -He knew whom he wanted and where to find him! - -It didn’t take Louie Thomson very long to run up to his house and tell -his father how the cows were in the corn. It didn’t take his father -very long to get a hammer and some staples and a lantern. Or to hurry -down the lane so fast that Louie had to run to keep up with him. But -Nibble Rabbit beat them. - -Nibble bounced into Tommy Peele’s barnyard next door and woke up -Watch, the big shaggy, smiley dog who was his special friend. “It’s no -work of mine,” said Watch when Nibble explained what he wanted. “They -ought to have a dog of their own. But if Louie’s friends with all the -Woodsfolk I s’pose we can’t let his cows think they can chase him if -they want to and we won’t stop them.” So he took a good shake to get -his coat feeling comfortable and galloped off after Nibble, smiling to -himself because he thought it would be fun. And it was--for him! - -But you never saw anybody so surprised as those cows! They went out of -that cornfield a whole lot faster than they went in. Watch chased them -way down to the very farthest corner of the fence and Nibble skipped -along beside them, just kicking up his heels because he liked to see -them run. Then Watch made them listen while he laid down the law to -them. “How do you like being chased?” he barked. “Do you think it’s -fun? Are you ever going to chase that boy again?” - -“But he hit me with a stone!” moaned the cow. “He hit me with a -stone.” - -“Of course he did,” snapped Watch. “That’s because you didn’t obey -him. You’re his cows, and that’s his corn. Are you going to do what he -tells you or shall I teach you again?” - -“Don’t!” they bellowed. “We’ll be good!” They meant it, too. They were -so scared even Nibble Rabbit felt sure they did. - -“All right,” Watch agreed. “You have to obey whoever feeds you, -whether it’s Man or Mother Nature. You cows chose Man. Just remember -that.” And off he trotted with Nibble hopping along beside him. - -“I s’pose they can always go wild again, like the Red Cow’s mother -did, and like Louie’s doing,” Nibble remarked. “I’d hate to belong to -that man who was so cross to him and poor Tad Coon.” But right then -they came on that very person, nailing up the fence, with Louie -holding the lantern for him, friendly as anything. And he was saying, -“I’ll throw all this corn they’ve broken down over the fence so the -cows can finish it up in the morning, but you can take all you want -for your coon.” - -Louie looked up and saw Watch. “Why, that’s Tommy Peele’s dog!” he -exclaimed. “He’s been helping us. That’s why the cows were gone.” And -he ran right over to thank the furry old fellow who stood there -proudly wagging his tail at them. - -Even Louie’s father, who didn’t understand dogs any better than he did -boys, knew enough to say, “Good dog! I wish I had one like him.” And -Watch was so flattered over that, he wagged the whole hind half of -him. - -“Aren’t you coming home?” asked Louie’s father after he finished -nailing up the fence. He didn’t just say, “Come home!” like he mostly -gave orders. Because he wasn’t angry any more; he felt more like -thanking Louie, just like Louie thanked that smart old dog. He’d have -had an awful time trying to do it all alone because his cows were so -awfully stubborn and disobedient. - -“’Course not,” said Louie. He didn’t say why not because he knew the -minute he told his father what he meant to do there would be some good -reason why he mustn’t. Some grownups are like that, but some aren’t; -his mother wasn’t. He looked at Watch and grinned, and his father knew -he had some secret up his sleeve. The nice old dog smiled back and -cocked one ear. Watch didn’t have any sleeve, but he did have a fine -furry frill up the back of his leg to hide his secret in. - -“Well, you’re all right so long as you have that dog with you,” his -father agreed. “Come up in time for breakfast in the morning. Do you -want the lantern?” - -Louie was just going to say that wild folks like he was didn’t need -lanterns, when he remembered about his secret. That lantern would be -fine for picking up all that corn. And it would be fine to have his -feast by, now that the moon had gone down. Of course that was his -secret. So he did keep it. And he had to tie up the nice sweet ears in -his shirt and throw them over the fence that way because he got such a -load he couldn’t carry them. - -Of course Nibble Rabbit came sniffing up just as soon as his father -had gone. “What are you doing here?” asked Louie. “You’re Tommy -Peele’s rabbit. I ’spect next thing I’ll be finding Tommy Peele.” And -at that Watch began to bark. That was his secret. He thought it was a -shame to have all sorts of fun going on when Tommy wasn’t in it. He -was so pleased to have Louie guess, because it’s pretty hard to be a -dog and not be able to tell people what you want. - -First thing they got back to Louie’s tent--with the lantern. And they -piled up the corn beside it. Then Watch went sniffing round inside to -see if there wasn’t room for Tommy in it. And what do you s’pose he -found? That old scamp of a Tad Coon, fast asleep. - -So Watch gave Tad a little shake, just to wake him up. But you know -how scared of dogs Tad always was. He didn’t stop to see that it was -Watch. He let out a squall that woke up all the Woodsfolk and bounced -out of the tent and into the pond with a great big splash before he -got his eyes really opened. - -Up popped Doctor Muskrat. He took one look at the lantern and thought -it was a fire, like the ones that sometimes burn up the marsh. He -began to shout: “Take to the water, quick! Take to the water, quick! -It’s the only safe place!” Chatter Squirrel came out on a branch and -began to shout, “Climb a tree!” And all the Woodsfolk were scuttling -round, scared most to death at that little blinky light. Didn’t Watch -just enjoy the joke on them. - -But all the Woodsfolk didn’t run away from that twinkly light. There -was one furry-foot who stayed. And he was more pleased about it than -he even was about the feast--though he ate as much as any one. But I’m -not going to tell you who it was, or how it happened that he wasn’t -scared, or why he was so delighted. ’Cause if I tell you all my -s’prises ahead of time I won’t have any more to write about. - -Still I’ve given you such a great big hint maybe you’ll guess while -you’re waiting. And I’ve given you still a bigger hint who was the -next fellow who got to be friends with the Woodsfolk. I ’spect you -know already it was Louie Thomson’s dad. And of course that made him -friendly with Louie, too. And when a fellow’s dad gets to be a -really-truly friend he’s the best in all the world. - -But the stranger who came sneaking in to Louie’s lantern party after -all the fun was over and done--the fellow who wasn’t a friend--and the -ructions he stirred up--and how the Woodsfolk were too clever for -him--I haven’t given you the least little hint in the world. And I’m -not going to. Not till you read it in the next book. So there! - - THE END - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TAD COON'S GREAT ADVENTURE *** - -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. 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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: Tad Coon's Great Adventure</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: January 26, 2021 [eBook #64397]</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 TAD COON'S GREAT ADVENTURE ***</div> -<h1>TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE</h1> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div>Told at Twilight Stories</div> -<div>By JOHN BRECK</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>MOSTLY ABOUT NIBBLE THE BUNNY</div> -<div class='cbline'>NIBBLE RABBIT MAKES MORE FRIENDS</div> -<div class='cbline'>THE SINS OF SILVERTIP THE FOX</div> -<div class='cbline'>THE COON’S TRICKS</div> -<div class='cbline'>THE WAVY TAILED WARRIOR</div> -<div class='cbline'>TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE</div> -<div class='cbline'>THE BAD LITTLE OWLS</div> -<div class='cbline'>THE JAY BIRD WHO WENT TAME</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div id='i001' class='mt01 mb01 wi001'> - <img src='images/illus-001.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>Maybe Tad Coon didn’t run! He hit the cellar steps just twice--blam! blam!</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-bottom:1em;'>Told at Twilight Stories</div> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE</div> -<div>by</div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;'>John Breck</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>Book VI</div> -<div>Illustrated by</div> -<div style='font-size:1.1em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>William T. Andrews</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>Garden City--New York</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>Doubleday, Page & Company</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>1923</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='font-size:smaller;'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div>COPYRIGHT, 1923,</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY</div> -<div>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT</div> -<div>OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS</div> -<div>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES</div> -<div>AT</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.</div> -<div>First Edition</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center'>CONTENTS</div> -<table class='toc tcenter' summary="" style='margin-bottom:3em'> -<tbody> - <tr><td class='c1'>I.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chI'>The Romance of Nibble Rabbit</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>II.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chII'>New Households in the Woods and Fields</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>III.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIII'>Nibble’s Bunny Makes One Friend Too Many</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>IV.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIV'>Dark Hours in Louie Thomson’s Prison</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>V.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chV'>Why Louie Thomson Whistled</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VI.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVI'>The Woodsfolk Wonder About Louie</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVII'>Tad Coon Goes Back to Prison</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VIII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVIII'>Could a Little Boy Go Wild?</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>IX.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIX'>Louie Takes Lessons of the Woodsfolk</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>X.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chX'>The Rule of Tents</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XI.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXI'>Great Doings by Night in the Woods and Fields</a></td></tr> -</tbody> -</table> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</div> -</div> -<ul class='loi' style='list-style-type:none; display:table; margin-top:1em;;'> - <li><a href='#i001'>Maybe Tad Coon didn’t run!</a></li> - <li><a href='#i002'>They all twiddled their little tufty cottony tails</a></li> - <li><a href='#i003'>One bunny poked out its curious little nose</a></li> - <li><a href='#i004'>When Tommy tickled her nose with the tender end of a grass-blade she ate it</a></li> - <li><a href='#i005'>“Good Morning, Hop-toad. This is my family”</a></li> - <li><a href='#i006'>Tad and Louie had the grain sacks flying</a></li> - <li><a href='#i007'>When Louie opened his eyes, all the woodsfolk were out getting their breakfasts</a></li> - <li><a href='#i008'>The woodsfolk were delighted with Louie’s tent</a></li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;margin-top:4em;'>TAD COON’S GREAT ADVENTURE</div> -</div> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chI' title='I: THE ROMANCE OF NIBBLE RABBIT'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER I</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE ROMANCE OF NIBBLE RABBIT</span> -</h2> - -<p>Tad Coon was lost! And Doctor Muskrat and Nibble felt pretty -discouraged over their chances of ever seeing him again. All the same -they meant to try. They sent word of a meeting to the Woodsfolk by -everyone they met. When they reached the pond, Stripes Skunk was -sitting out on Doctor Muskrat’s flat stone, waiting for him.</p> - -<p>“I’m leaving,” said he. “But I have to thank you for all you’ve done -for me. Perhaps I’ll come back some time.” He seemed very sorry over -it. His tail was droopy.</p> - -<p>“You can’t go!” exclaimed the doctor. “You belong here in the Woods -and Fields ever since you killed the crook-tailed snake for us. Now -we’re counting on you to help us hunt for Tad.”</p> - -<p>“But I must go,” said Stripes. “My mate wouldn’t leave the Deep Woods. -She knew it was a dangerous place to live and she sent me hunting -about to find a better one. Then she refused to come. I couldn’t think -why she wouldn’t. But Chewee the Chickadee just came flying in with -the news that the weasel has killed her. And she’s left three little -kittens behind. I’ve got to do their hunting for them.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” nodded the doctor. “But you send Chewee back here to-morrow -at sunset. I’ll have a message for you.” He didn’t say a word about -the meeting. So off went Stripes, with his ears drooped low and his -tail most sorrowfully dragging.</p> - -<p>When the Woodsfolk gathered by his pond the next afternoon Doctor -Muskrat laid Tad Coon’s case before them. “We know what has happened -to Tad Coon,” he said. “He chased some mice into a corn-crib and a man -shut the door on him. What man, what corn-crib we do not know. One -mouse escaped to tell the tale but the little owls ate him. If Tad is -still alive the Woodsfolk must do their very best to find him.”</p> - -<p>“We will, we will!” they squealed and yapped and chirped and whistled -in all their different tongues. Even the little bats woke up inside -their hollow tree and squeaked out that they, too, would keep an eye -open for him.</p> - -<p>“Another thing,” went on Doctor Muskrat. “Tad Coon is gone. Now -Stripes Skunk has had to go into the Deep Woods to look after his -kittens. The fieldmice are foolish but they are many and full of -notions. We have only the hawks and owls to fight them. First thing we -know the minks will be creeping in, unless Stripes brings his family -to live with us.”</p> - -<p>“Hooray! Hooray! for Stripes and his family! Bring ’em along!” shouted -the Woodsfolk and that’s just the very message he wanted to send.</p> - -<p>But just as the shouting was beginning to die down Chewee the -Chickadee broke out in his shrill little voice: “And Nibble Rabbit’s -mate said I was to tell him his bunnies were out of the ground and -ready to travel.”</p> - -<p>“Nibble Rabbit! Nibble Rabbit!” they hooted. “Oh, you sly one!” And -Nibble dragged his ear down and licked it so he could hide his shyness -behind it. There was more shouting and laughing than ever. But Doctor -Muskrat was fairly flabbergasted. “Nibble!” he gasped. “You never told -me!”</p> - -<p>He was hurt because Nibble Rabbit had gone off and found himself a -mate and raised a family without saying a word to him. He sat on his -stone and almost sulked about it.</p> - -<p>“But, Doctor Muskrat,” pleaded Nibble, “please let me explain----”</p> - -<p>“What is there to explain?” retorted the doctor, “except that you -never even told me.”</p> - -<p>“There’s this much,” Nibble answered with a funny smile, “I didn’t -know about them myself until just now.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean-‘didn’t know’?” snorted the old muskrat. “Is this -some joke of Chewee’s? I don’t understand.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Nibble, and he looked very happy about it. “They’re mine -all right enough, but this is the first I’ve heard from them.” Then he -went on to tell about how it happened.</p> - -<p>“You told me about scents. Of course I went off to find how everyone -used them. My, it was fun! I could tell how folks lived, and what they -ate, and when they were home, and where they went and who they saw -while they were away. And I found that nearly everyone was making love -to someone. I just couldn’t understand it.</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t until I found a rabbit trail back in the Deep Woods. It -was a lady rabbit’s trail. Of course I let her know I’d called before -I came away. But next day I went back there. And I could see her -bright eyes shining underneath the Pickery Things she hid in. By and -by she came hopping out. Oh, Doctor Muskrat, she was the loveliest -rabbit you’ve ever seen. She was just full of tricks and games and -frolics. And run? she was swift as a fish, darting across your pond.</p> - -<p>“She liked me, too. She didn’t even think I looked funny when I danced -under the last full moon, even if the mice say I do. I kept telling -her how nice it was here and she kept promising to come and meet you. -Wouldn’t you have been s’prised?”</p> - -<p>“No, I can’t really say I would,” chuckled the old muskrat.</p> - -<p>That did surprise Nibble. “Then,” he went on, “she disappeared. Of -course I thought Slyfoot the Mink had caught her. Why do you s’pose -she hid away like that?”</p> - -<p>“Ask her,” laughed Doctor Muskrat. “Run along, Bunny. Run along and -ask her that yourself. They all do it.”</p> - -<p>Everyone in the Woods and Fields insists that Chewee the Chickadee -can’t keep his wings still or his tongue silent for a minute at a -time. But they’re wrong. He sat perfectly quiet all the time Nibble -Rabbit was telling Doctor Muskrat about his mate back in the Deep -Woods. He had promised to let his mate know when Nibble was coming. He -didn’t even let himself laugh when Nibble wanted to know why she had -hidden away from him. That is, he didn’t until he saw Nibble hopping -around the end of Doctor Muskrat’s pond to the place where Nibble -jumps across the brook. Then Chewee took to his stubby wings and maybe -you think he didn’t chuckle about it. He got the giggles so hard that -he had to perch and hang on tight until he got over them.</p> - -<p>Lippity, lippity, lippity, went Nibble’s furry feet--my, but he was in -a hurry to find his mate and his baby bunnies! Thump, thump, he went -outside the Pickery Things she used to hide in while she waited for -him. And out she came, with five of the cunningest, fattest, softest -little balls of brown fur you ever saw. And they all twiddled their -little tufty, cottony tails and pricked up their soft ears and opened -their bright eyes wide at Nibble. But they wouldn’t let him come near -them.</p> - -<div id='i002' class='mt01 mb01 wi002'> - <img src='images/illus-002.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>They all twiddled their little tufty, cottony tails.</p> -</div> - -<p>That was because they thought he was angry. He thought he was, too. He -said: “Why did you treat me like this, running away and hiding from -me, and never even letting me know we had a family? You hurt my -feelings dreadfully, Silk-ears.”</p> - -<p>“Why, we always do it,” she protested. “Every mother rabbit makes her -nest in some place where it’s hidden even from the father rabbit.”</p> - -<p>“But you didn’t need to,” said Nibble. “We’re different. You didn’t -think I’d hurt them, did you? Birds don’t do that. I’d have helped you -take care of them.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what father rabbits always say,” laughed Silk-ears, for that -was the mother rabbit’s name.</p> - -<p>“How many families have you raised, anyway?” Nibble wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“This is the first,” smiled Silk-ears. “Aren’t they lovely bunnies for -the first ones? But I’ve had a wise old mother rabbit, who’s raised -ever and ever so many, to show me how. That was one reason I stayed -here. And the other reason is that you couldn’t have helped me. We’re -not like the birds. I don’t need your help to feed them and you leave -a trail that’s ever so much plainer than mine. You’d have insisted on -coming to see them and then Slyfoot the Mink would have followed you -and found them. That’s why we mother rabbits always hide them away, -even from you, until they’re big enough to run.”</p> - -<p>Then wasn’t Nibble sorry he’d been cross! “I might have known you had -a good reason,” he said. “You’re so clever.” He said it just as though -she’d thought of it all by herself. And the minute those bunny babies -heard he wasn’t angry any more they began to come closer and closer. -One of them patted his white tail that was so much bigger than its own -little puffy wisp, and another cuddled right up to him.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chII' title='II: NEW HOUSEHOLDS IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER II</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>NEW HOUSEHOLDS IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS</span> -</h2> - -<p>My, but Nibble was proud of his little bunnies! He wanted to take them -back to the pond, right away quick, and show them to Doctor Muskrat. -But Silk-ears, his mate, was quite stubborn about going. “No,” she -said. “The old mother rabbit who told me how to raise them said that -pond wasn’t a good place at all. She was there last year. Every one of -her bunnies disappeared the minute they left the nest. Hooter the Owl -got one, and Glider the Blacksnake got another, and Silvertip the Fox -caught the third, and the last one just disappeared. She thinks -Slyfoot the Mink found him while she was digging a new hole. She meant -to leave him the old hole to live in. He was a very scary little -bunny.”</p> - -<p>Nibble pricked up his ears. “She went to dig a new hole, did she?” he -asked. “Why was that?”</p> - -<p>“Why, because she was going to raise a new family, of course, and she -couldn’t have him tracking out and in.”</p> - -<p>“How silly I was,” said Nibble. “Now I see why the stars said in my -Fortune that Doctor Muskrat told me: ‘By dawn and by dusk you shall -travel alone.’ I was plenty old enough to begin without any telling. -And ‘All troubles are yours excepting your own.’ I was so busy getting -rid of other people’s troubles that my own went with them. Now the -Hooters have gone, and Silvertip, and Glider, and even Slyfoot doesn’t -live there.” Nibble never thought that maybe wise old Doctor Muskrat -had something to do with that fortune.</p> - -<p>Of course his mate didn’t understand what he was talking about; she -didn’t know any of the things he’d done. But she did know that he just -insisted on talking to that wise old mother rabbit.</p> - -<p>Of course you’ve guessed it before this--that wise old rabbit was -Nibble’s own Mammy Bunny. He was down by the pond when she came back -to see how he was getting along. She’d never think of going to ask -Doctor Muskrat about him. He told her all the stories he hadn’t told -Silk-ears and she shook her head when he told her that Tommy Peele was -his special friend. She didn’t like boys a bit. I don’t think she -really believed when he told her about Tommy’s dog, Watch, and Trailer -the Hound. But then, mothers don’t know all about everything. They now -what’s best for little bunnies, but you can’t expect them to know more -than a great big grown-up rabbit like Nibble.</p> - -<p>But Nibble didn’t care whether she believed him or not. “I’ve found -you again,” he said, and he waggled his long ears, because he was so -excited about it. “I’ve found you. Next thing you know we’ll have -found Tad Coon.”</p> - -<p>And maybe Mammy Rabbit wasn’t shocked at that! She didn’t think Tad -Coon was a safe friend for any rabbit, even a big one. But that didn’t -scare Silk-ears. It just made her prouder than ever of Nibble. So off -they set for Tommy Peele’s Woods and Fields.</p> - -<p>Maybe you think they didn’t have an exciting time getting their -bunnies all the way over from their nest in the Deep Woods. It wasn’t -because the little ones couldn’t run fast enough. It was mostly -because they ran too fast. They scuttled all over and they wouldn’t -pay the least attention to Nibble when he thumped his big furry feet -at them. Of course they did keep watch of their mother’s white -tail-tip--even tiny wee ones, as soon as their eyes are open at all, -know that’s what it’s for--but they didn’t see any use in a father at -all.</p> - -<p>Just once one did. That was when the hawk swooped down. Silk-ears -dodged into the Pickery Things, where no hawk could possibly reach -her. Three bunnies tagged after her. Nibble just stepped under an -elder bush, where the hawk couldn’t pounce from above, and one bunny -squirmed right under him. Then it poked out its curious little nose -from behind his elbow and blinked at the big bird.</p> - -<div id='i003' class='mt01 mb01 wi003'> - <img src='images/illus-003.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>One bunny poked out its curious little nose and blinked at the big bird.</p> -</div> - -<p>She didn’t really mean them any harm. She was really hunting fieldmice -though a hawk will pick up a wee rabbit now and again. But when she -saw it was Nibble she just laughed. “Ca, ca! When did you take to -hatching?” and flapped right on. She had a nest of her own not far -from Nibble’s hole. Like a sensible bird she did her hunting away from -home to keep out of neighbourhood quarrels. If she took one of -Nibble’s babies she had a pretty good idea that someone would come -after one of her own babies who as yet had only pin feathers.</p> - -<p>But just as soon as the ungrateful little bunny saw his mother he ran -to her. “Where’s the other one?” asked Silk-ears. “Wasn’t she with -you?”</p> - -<p>“I thought you had her,” said Nibble. And then the hunt for that fifth -baby bunny began. They looked and looked until they were almost -discouraged. Then, there she was! Where do you s’pose? In a deep -footprint some horse had made. She thought she was pretty smart to -have hidden so well that even her mother couldn’t find her.</p> - -<p>“You bad little thing,” stamped Nibble. “That’s a regular hop-toad -trick. We’ll call you ‘hop-toad’ if you ever do it again.”</p> - -<p>But do you think he’d let Silk-ears shake her? Certainly not! And the -baby didn’t know what a hop-toad was yet, so she didn’t care. Anyway, -the Woodsfolk are very careless about naming their children. They just -nickname them from some way they act or look and then call them that. -And these were too little even to have nicknames yet.</p> - -<p>The most exciting time was when they came to the brook that runs into -Doctor Muskrat’s pond. The bunnies couldn’t jump, so Nibble had to -pick them up by their furry collars, like he did the lady mouse, and -carry them over, one by one, kicking and squirming. And Silk-ears -jumped over beside him each time--as though she could do something if -they did tumble in! Oh, she was glad to get them safe in Nibble’s -home, I can tell you.</p> - -<p>But if Nibble Rabbit had trouble with his naughty little bunnies you -just ought to have seen Stripes Skunk. His kittens had a great idea of -hunting things. When they hadn’t anything else to chase they chased -each other or their own tails. They chased Nibble’s bunnies, and -Nibble had to give one of them a kick that sent him tumbling. They -chased Bob White’s stubby-tailed chicks until Bob gave them a smart -pecking. They tried to chase the baby meadow-larks, but the little -birds who nest on the ground are up and flying before most of the -young furry things are out of their holes to bother them. That’s -exactly why Mother Nature lets them grow up so much faster. They were -very sweet-tempered kittens, anyway. They didn’t mean any harm, and -they soon learned what they mustn’t do, and saved most of their -chasing for the fieldmice.</p> - -<p>Only they never learned not to tease Doctor Muskrat. He would no more -get to sleep in the sun on his nice flat stone than somebody’s bad -baby would pounce on him. Both Nibble and Stripes were afraid maybe -he’d get cross about it. But that was before they caught him playing -with those teasing little ones. He’d dive under the water and swim up -underneath the stone. Then he’d pop up and snap at their paws when -they tried to grab him. And they weren’t the only ones who thought it -was fun.</p> - -<p>But if Doctor Muskrat liked them, you just ought to have heard Tommy -Peele the first time he saw them. He came out with his father to see -if it was time to go after those potato-bugs. And of course neither of -them could find a single one.</p> - -<p>“That’s funny,” said Tommy’s father. “Those potato-bugs have been -here. You can see holes where they’ve eaten the leaves. I wonder who -cleaned them all up?”</p> - -<p>Stripes Skunk sat up and saw what they were looking at. “It was the -birds,” he explained, only of course Tommy didn’t understand him. -Pretty soon Tommy saw something else. “This plant looks wilty,” he -said. “It looks as though a mouse had been gnawing it.”</p> - -<p>“It was a mouse,” smiled Nibble Rabbit, because he knew Stripes -wouldn’t tell that he’d tried to stop them. He came hopping up close -to Tommy. And Tommy didn’t know what he said, either, but his father -must have understood a little.</p> - -<p>“It’s queer about that stem,” he remarked. “I never knew mice to do -anything like that before, but mice must be what your skunk friend is -hunting here. That rabbit certainly isn’t afraid of him.”</p> - -<p>“Those rabbits!” Tommy fairly squealed. For Silk-ears and all the -babies were peeking at him with their long ears perked up among the -potato stems. “And those skunks!” For Stripes Skunk’s three kittens -were trying to squint at him from under the leaves, and the lower they -put down their heads the higher they arched up their tails. But they -didn’t know that. They thought they were beautifully hidden. And there -were their three black plumes, with white tips squirming at the ends -of them. No wonder Tommy laughed. No wonder he said: “Say, Dad. Let’s -catch one!”</p> - -<div id='i004' class='mt01 mb01 wi004'> - <img src='images/illus-004.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>When Tommy tickled her nose with the tender end of a grass-blade she ate it.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIII' title='III: NIBBLE’S BUNNY MAKES ONE FRIEND TOO MANY'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER III</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>NIBBLE’S BUNNY MAKES ONE FRIEND TOO MANY</span> -</h2> - -<p>You remember how scary wild Nibble Rabbit was when he was a baby. That -was because his mother taught him that being scary is the very safest -thing for a bunny to be. Most everything will eat him if it can catch -him. But Nibble’s babies weren’t scary a bit. All they knew, so far, -was making friends with folks. They made friends with their father, -first of all. Then they’d made friends with Doctor Muskrat and with -Stripes Skunk and his kittens, and Bob White Quail and his nice brown -mate and all their little chicks. They hadn’t had a single thing to -frighten them.</p> - -<p>That’s why they weren’t very scared when Tommy Peele tried to catch -them. They weren’t as scared as Stripes Skunk’s kittens. You know the -kittens had seen their mother killed, so they knew dreadful things did -happen. But they could see their father wasn’t afraid of Tommy, and he -didn’t tell them to run. He just sat down to watch the fun.</p> - -<p>Fun it was! Those bunnies and kittens played hide and seek with the -little boy in and out of the potatoes until he didn’t have any wind -left for running and laughing. The minute he’d stop they’d all come -back as if they were teasing him to chase them again. They’d put up -their little noses and sniff at him and they’d stamp their little feet -at him. The skunks stamped their front feet and the bunnies stamped -their hind ones. And Tommy Peele’s father, who had come to look over -the potato patch, stamped the only feet he has and shouted: “Go it, -Tommy! That’s the time you nearly got one!”</p> - -<p>The only one who didn’t think it was funny was Nibble’s mate, -Silk-ears. She was terribly frightened. And she was pretty cross with -Nibble for laughing at her.</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry,” Nibble chuckled. “That boy can’t catch them. And he -wouldn’t hurt them if he could.”</p> - -<p>But Nibble was only half right. You remember the baby who hid in a -deep footprint, back in the Deep Woods? Nibble had called her a -“hop-toad” for doing it. Well, she tried it again. And this time -someone did see her--Tommy did. He scooped her up in his hand.</p> - -<p>Poor Silk-ears was nearly distracted. She thumped hard and called: -“Jump! Quick, bunny, jump!”</p> - -<p>But that bad bunny didn’t jump at all. She just cuddled down and -murmured: “It’s nice and warm in here. It’s comfortable.” And when -Tommy tickled her nose with the tender end of a grass-blade she ate -it. That most made the others envious.</p> - -<p>But Tommy’s father had been watching Silk-ears. “The mother rabbit is -so scared!” he said. “And she’s right. It’s nice to have them -friendly, but suppose they trusted somebody else like that, maybe -Louie Thomson. He might hurt them. And then it would be all your -fault. Better let it go.” So Tommy did. And Silk-ears was mighty glad -to get it back again.</p> - -<p>Tommy’s father was perfectly right. The bunny didn’t mind a bit; she -thought Tommy’s hand was a fine place to hide in, all soft and warm -and comfortable. But somebody else mightn’t be so gentle with her. The -only safety for wild things is to stay wild and be very, very careful. -And yet, there are two sides to being scary; you’ll find that out when -we come to it.</p> - -<p>Silk-ears thought exactly the same way. She said: “It’s all right for -you, Nibble, to be friendly with that Boy, because you’re a great big -grown-up rabbit and you know just who you can trust and who you can’t, -but something terrible will surely happen to that baby. If she wants -to hide, she must learn to find herself a nice safe place in the -grasses--she mustn’t just scrouch down into any little hollow and -think if she keeps still nobody will see her. I wish Tommy Peele had -given her a good shaking, I do! Then she’d have learned better.”</p> - -<p>But you see, Tommy hadn’t. She wasn’t a bit scared; indeed, she was -quite vain because she’d done something none of the others had dared -to do. And she was all ready to do it again. She couldn’t see what her -mother was making such a fuss about.</p> - -<p>“That’s a regular hop-toad trick,” said Nibble. “I’m going to show her -what one looks like. She won’t like that. And she won’t like being -called Hop-toad, either. She’ll hurry up and get over acting like -one.”</p> - -<p>So he took the whole family around to the end of the Quail’s Thicket -to where a great fat hop-toad lived under a big damp stone, and -knocked, thump, thump! And from the dark, shady crack a pair of ruby -eyes peeked out at them. Then a wrinkled hand came feeling out, a -black hand with a yellow palm showing between its fingers, all spread -out and grabby-looking. And then--out came the hop-toad’s nubbly head. -My, but he was ugly!</p> - -<p>But he’s very nice, you know. He never hurts anybody. Nibble never -dreamed that even a silly baby would be afraid of him. “Good morning, -Hop-toad,” said Nibble. “This is my family.”</p> - -<p>The hop-toad blinked, because he’d been asleep for ever so long and he -wasn’t all awake yet. “Oh-er-yes, your family. Quite a family.” He -yawned; he opened his toothless mouth wide as wide, and he didn’t even -put his hand up. And away went that bad bunny!</p> - -<p>Away she went, past the woods-bridge, through the wire fence that goes -around Tommy Peele’s Woods and Fields, out into a lane. She ran right -into a boy who was walking down it. Then she did her hop-toad trick -right over again--she scrouched down in a narrow wheel-rut. And the -boy saw her. He reached down and scooped her up in his hand, just as -Tommy Peele had done. But he wasn’t Tommy Peele, he was--Louie -Thomson!</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIV' title='IV: DARK HOURS IN LOUIE THOMSON’S PRISON'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER IV</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>DARK HOURS IN LOUIE THOMSON’S PRISON</span> -</h2> - -<p>Louie Thomson! Yes, Louie Thomson was the boy who caught Nibble -Rabbit’s runaway bunny baby. Just exactly what everyone was afraid of! -For Louie Thomson wasn’t good and kind, like Tommy Peele. He did more -awful things to the Wild Things than even Killer the Weasel, and they -were terribly scared of him. Every last one of them was scared, -excepting--excepting Nibble’s runaway bunny.</p> - -<p>She didn’t know enough to be scared. She was just contrary. She -wouldn’t believe that scrouching down in a little hollow like a -hop-toad is the surest way to get caught. She would be afraid of a -nice, toothless old hop-toad, who wouldn’t hurt anybody and she -wouldn’t be afraid of cruel Louie Thomson, who hurt everybody -excepting--excepting Nibble’s runaway bunny.</p> - -<div id='i005' class='mt01 mb01 wi005'> - <img src='images/illus-005.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“Good morning, Hop-toad,” said Nibble. “This is my family.”</p> -</div> - -<p>I told you the only way the Wild Things could be safe was to stay wild -and be very careful. That’s because most of their wild enemies are the -Things-from-under-the-Earth who came especially and particularly to -eat them. But men are different. Deep down inside him every man knows -that he’s just their big brother. He can half-remember the time when -he used to live with them, before he quarrelled with Mother Nature.</p> - -<p>Well, that wee bunny wasn’t a bit afraid of Louie Thomson; that’s just -why she was safe with him. His hand was soft and warm, like Tommy -Peele’s; when she cuddled down inside it he half-remembered what it -was like in the First-Off Beginning of Things, when little boys and -little bunnies played together. He didn’t want to hurt her. He said: -“You cunning little thing, I’m going to take you home and show that -smarty Tommy Peele he isn’t the only fellow who has pets. I guess I -can tame you.” But he wasn’t any too sure. He had one pet already that -he couldn’t tame.</p> - -<p>Catching pets is one thing; taming them is another. You have to make -them happy. And Louie hadn’t the least idea in the world how to do -that. He took little bunny out of the clean, windy air and the warm -sun and he put her in a smelly, dark cellar. He gave her some grass, -but it was all tops and she was too little to eat anything but the -tender white stems. He didn’t think to give her a drink of water. She -was shivery cold and there wasn’t any mother to snuggle against. She -was thirsty and there wasn’t any mother to give her a drink. She was -lonely and there wasn’t any mother to comfort her. Poor bunny baby. -She just sat in a miserable little heap and squalled, “Mammy, mammy, -mammy!” exactly the way Nibble did when he lost his mother.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a growly voice spoke up: “For sunlight’s sake, hush up, -Bunny! She can’t possibly hear you. And I’m listening for something.”</p> - -<p>That scared her quiet. Pretty soon the growly voice spoke up again, -“Who are you, anyway?”</p> - -<p>“I’m Nibble Rabbit’s bunny,” she sobbed.</p> - -<p>“You are?” said the voice. “Did you ever hear him speak of Tad Coon?”</p> - -<p>Now you know what happened to Tad Coon! It was Louie Thomson’s -corn-crib he chased those mice in. It was Louie Thomson who shut the -door on him. And it was Louie who put him in a cage in the dark, -smelly cellar. No wonder none of the Woodsfolk could find him!</p> - -<p>Now here was Nibble Rabbit’s baby, caged in an old box, right beside -him. She told Tad all about Louie’s catching her when she was running -away from the awful hop-toad.</p> - -<p>“You are a silly bunny,” said Tad. “That hop-toad hasn’t a tooth in -his head. He can’t hurt any one. And he’s wise. He’s most as wise as -old Doctor Muskrat.”</p> - -<p>“But he’s so scary ugly,” sniffed the bunny. “It must be horrid to be -as ugly as that.”</p> - -<p>“Ho!” snorted Tad. “He doesn’t think it’s horrid. He likes it. He -doesn’t have to be careful about hiding like you bunnies.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” sniffed the poor bunny. “I hid like a hop-toad. That’s why I -was caught. My daddy told me not to. He called me ‘Hop-toad’ to make -me stop doing it.” She began to cry again.</p> - -<p>“That sounds like Nibble,” chuckled Tad. “Well, listen to me; you nice -juicy little bunnies can’t hide too carefully. Everybody’ll eat you. -But nobody wants to eat a hop-toad. I know I wouldn’t--not even now.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t eat me,” squealed the poor bunny.</p> - -<p>“I might,” said Tad. “You see I’m so starvation hungry. Dry bread and -carrots aren’t any food for a decent coon. Not even an ear of corn, by -way of a change.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, oh, oh!” cried the poor bunny. “Mammy! Mammy!”</p> - -<p>“Now whist,” said Tad soothingly. “I can’t get you, so you’re -perfectly safe. But if ever you get out of here you’ll be more careful -about trusting folks, won’t you? You never can tell just how hungry -they are, you know.”</p> - -<p>“But I never will. I’ll die right here. I’ll never get out.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you will, too,” said Tad. “I’m going to get out. I don’t know -when or how, but I will. And if ever I do it won’t take me a minute to -open your cage with my handy-paws. And then I won’t want to eat you -any more. This place is just alive with mice. If ever I get after them -they’ll know it. Grr-r-r! I sit here and listen to them. I know all -their holes. I’ll hunt ’em!” and he licked his whiskers at the very -idea. “Now you cuddle down, little hop-toad, and I’ll tell you stories -about Nibble Rabbit.”</p> - -<p>And he did. He told her about the time he went fishing and splashed -Nibble, and how Grandpop Snapping-turtle nipped the end of his tail. -He forgot to be hungry and the bunny forgot to be scared until she -fell fast asleep.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chV' title='V: WHY LOUIE THOMSON WHISTLED'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER V</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>WHY LOUIE THOMSON WHISTLED</span> -</h2> - -<p>All night long Tad Coon kept still in his cage down in the dark, -smelly cellar. He wasn’t waiting for a mouse to come and nibble his -bread--they’d learned it wasn’t safe to do that. He was trying not to -wake Nibble Rabbit’s poor little bunny.</p> - -<p>All night he watched those mice scuttling about the floor with his -mouth just watering. He was so dreadfully hungry. He didn’t have -enough to eat, and it didn’t agree with him, and the damp air made his -bones ache. It was worse yet when a rat came snooping in and caught -one of the mice. He ate part of it and then left it lying right under -Tad Coon’s hungry whiskers. But it was worst of all when that rat -began to gnaw the bunny’s box. Tad shook his bars and chattered at -him. “Go away! Go away, you brute, or I’ll trim your ugly whiskers!”</p> - -<p>“Yah!” sneered the rat. “A lot you’ll do. You’ll die pretty soon. And -when they throw you out on the rubbish-pile I’ll be the one who eats -you!” Then he peered at the bunny. “I won’t bother to gnaw in and get -her,” said he. “They’ll throw her out in the morning. She’s dead -already!”</p> - -<p>My, but Tad was sorry! But the rat was mistaken. The bunny wasn’t -dead. She was just stretched out because she felt too weak to sit up -any more. And Tad had waked up Louie Thomson with his snarling and -shaking.</p> - -<p>The little boy looked in at Tad. Tad glared back and growled at him. -He gnashed his teeth when Louie tried the door to be sure it was -locked. “You’re a horrid, hateful thing!” Louie snapped crossly. But -he didn’t feel that way about the little rabbit.</p> - -<p>He picked her out of the box, and she tried to curl up in his hand -again, for it was the warmest thing she’d felt since she left her -Mammy Silk-ears. That was too much for Louie. She was still trusting -him; he felt a choke in his throat. “Don’t die, Bunny,” he almost -sobbed. “Please don’t die. I didn’t know you were too little to leave -your mother. If I take you home maybe she’ll find you.”</p> - -<p>So he covered her up all warm and snug in his hands and began to run. -He ran away down to the end of Doctor Muskrat’s pond, where it goes -under the woods-bridge. He didn’t put her down in the road where he -found her--even a boy knew that was no place for bunnies. He took her -across the fence and laid her down where she could hide under the edge -of the very same stone that belonged to the hop-toad. Then he went -back to the fence to watch.</p> - -<p>When she found herself all alone the poor baby began to call again in -her weak voice: “Mammy, mammy!” Of course, the hop-toad heard. Out he -came scrambling; he took just one look at Nibble Rabbit’s bad baby and -then off he went in the biggest kind of a hop-toad hurry after Nibble.</p> - -<p>Did you ever see a hop-toad in a hurry? He doesn’t hurry very often -and he doesn’t hurry very fast, but he makes an awful fuss about it. -He gulps a great big breath and then he shuts his mouth tight, tight, -and flops along as hard as ever he can. Because when he’s used up that -mouthful of breath he’ll have to stop and gulp another. That was the -way the hop-toad hurried when he went to find Nibble.</p> - -<p>But he didn’t have to hop so very far, because Bob White Quail was -scratching about in his thicket. The hop-toad took two big gulps and -then he had breath enough to gasp: “Fly quick! Tell Nibble Rabbit I’ve -found his lost bunny.” And Bob White didn’t stop to ask any questions; -he flew!</p> - -<p>It seemed a long time to the poor, cold, hungry little bunny; she lay -there under the edge of the hop-toad’s stone, calling her mammy, for -she didn’t know where the hop-toad had gone. But I can tell you it -seemed a lot longer to Louie Thomson. He was sitting on the fence -feeling very sorry that he’d picked up that cunning little rabbit, and -taken it home with him. And she wasn’t wishing her mother would come -any harder than he was.</p> - -<p>Then--ka-flick-it, ka-flick-it, ka-flick-it, came furry footsteps. -Silk-ears came leaping over the tops of the grasses faster than Nibble -ever ran, even when Glider the Blacksnake was after him. Faster than -Bob White Quail can fly she came; as fast as a fish darting across -Doctor Muskrat’s pond. And four other little bunnies came swishing -through the grasses behind her. They couldn’t begin to follow her -tail; they had to follow Nibble’s.</p> - -<p>In just about two licks of a tongue Silk-ears had that lost bunny -cuddled down beside her and was feeding her. My, how that hungry baby -did eat! She ate and ate with her little eyes shut, too busy to pay -any attention to her brothers and sisters, or to Nibble, or even to -that very nice hop-toad. Her little sides grew fatter and fatter. By -and by she felt so fat she had to roll over on her side, and the first -thing anybody knew she was asleep. Right there in the sun--no place in -the world for a sleepy bunny--but there she dozed. And nothing -troubled her, not even a buzzy fly--because the hop-toad soon gulped -him in. Tommy Peele’s Woods and Fields were all quiet and peaceful.</p> - -<p>Even Louie Thomson tried not to wriggle for fear of disturbing them. -But the top rail of that fence wasn’t any too comfortable, and the -flies buzzed about his ears, because he hadn’t any hop-toad to gulp -them, and at last a mosquito stabbed its stinger into his cheek. Slap! -You ought to have seen those rabbits scuttle home--and the little lost -bunny ran just about as fast as the rest. So Louie didn’t care. He put -his hands into his pockets and went off home, whistling as gayly as a -fiery-coloured oriole.</p> - -<p>He whistled so loud that all the birds stopped to listen. He didn’t -know just why he felt like whistling. He got to thinking about that -coon he caught in his corn-crib. He’d had it in a cage for ever and -ever so long, and it was crosser than ever. But he didn’t stop -whistling. He went right down into his cellar, leaving the cellar door -wide open behind him. Then he opened the door of the cage where he had -Tad Coon. “Git along, you bitey old thing,” he said. “I don’t want any -pets. They’re too much trouble.”</p> - -<p>Tad Coon sat back in a corner, snarling. He didn’t believe Louie meant -to be kind to anything. He just guessed that the minute he poked his -nose out Louie’d hit him with something. Then he’d be thrown out on -the rubbish-pile with Nibble Rabbit’s baby bunny, and the rats would -eat him. He thought of course Louie had killed it because all the -Woodsfolk knew he always killed things.</p> - -<p>Sure enough, Louie picked up a stick and poked him in the ribs. “Hey, -you!” he shouted crossly, “git out o’ there! Git a wiggle on!”</p> - -<p>Tad grabbed that stick with his teeth and his handy-paws and snatched -it right out of Louie’s hands. Then maybe he didn’t run! Bounce! He -hit the cellar floor! He hit the cellar steps just twice--blam! blam! -Louie came out and watched him gallop across the garden. When he -disappeared into the cornfield he was still running. Pretty soon Louie -saw him sneak under the fence into Tommy Peele’s potato patch. “Huh!” -he grunted disgustedly, “Tommy can have his cranky old coon if he -wants him.” He was just pretending he didn’t want Tad; he did, all the -same. He felt so sorry he stopped whistling.</p> - -<p>He just wanted him so much that he climbed up on the fence to see the -last of him. And what do you s’pose Tad Coon was doing? He was lying -on his back in the nice warm earth, wriggling and squirming. My, how -good that felt! When he jumped up again he was actually smiling. He -scrubbed his face and ears all neat and clean, and he fluffed out his -tail, and he didn’t look a bit like the snarly beast who’d been living -with Louie Thomson. He looked like the smarty one who had been playing -with Tommy Peele’s watch and chain the day Tommy and Tad Coon and -Stripes Skunk and Nibble Rabbit and Doctor Muskrat all went fishing.</p> - -<p>And when Louie Thomson saw how happy he was, why, he just began -whistling all over again louder than ever! But still he didn’t know -why.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVI' title='VI: THE WOODSFOLK WONDER ABOUT LOUIE'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE WOODSFOLK WONDER ABOUT LOUIE</span> -</h2> - -<p>When Tad Coon got out of that damp, smelly cellar he was just about -the happiest coon who ever hunted wood snails under a burdock leaf. He -was happy until he’d eaten several snails and three fieldmice and one -green frog. Then all of a sudden he remembered the bad news he had for -Nibble Rabbit. You know he thought Louie had killed Nibble’s poor -little bunny. My, how he hated to tell Nibble and Silk-ears!</p> - -<p>So he lost his smile. His face got longer and longer as he dragged his -feet toward Doctor Muskrat’s pond. It felt most as long as his tail. -His eyes got all teary and his nose got all sniffy, just thinking how -badly they were going to feel. But when he came around the end of the -Quail’s Thicket who should he see but Nibble talking excitedly to -Doctor Muskrat. Silk-ears and a lot of little bunnies were with him.</p> - -<p>“It was Tad Coon, all right,” Doctor Muskrat was answering. “No one -but Tad would have known all those stories he told the baby about you, -Nibble. Now we’ll get Tommy Peele’s dog Watch to take Tommy after him. -Tommy can undo that cage door. You’d better hurry right off and find -him. We can’t leave Tad there another hour!”</p> - -<p>How had that baby bunny come home? Tad couldn’t imagine. But here she -was, and here were all his friends planning to rescue him. He felt so -happy, all of a sudden, that he grinned until the tips of his prick-up -ears most met. He just danced up, like a skittish butterfly in a -breeze, squealing, “I’m here! I’m here!”</p> - -<p>“However did you get away?” gasped Nibble and Doctor Muskrat in the -same breath.</p> - -<p>“That awful boy opened the cage door and I just ran,” chuckled Tad. -“How did the baby get away from him?”</p> - -<p>“She didn’t,” Nibble explained. “He brought her back to the hop-toad’s -stone. And she says he isn’t awful a bit. She isn’t scared of him.” He -looked around for the bunny, but she’d scuttled into the Pickery -Things the second she saw Tad Coon. Nibble had to call and call.</p> - -<p>By and by she squeaked: “I’m not scared of that boy, but I’m awfully -scared of that coon. He said he’d eat me.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I did,” Tad owned up. “I told her little rabbits mustn’t trust -us coons. But I won’t eat you now. I’m not a bit hungry.”</p> - -<p>“There’s something queer about this,” said Doctor Muskrat. “That bad -Louie Thomson wasn’t bad to the little bunny.”</p> - -<p>But if the Woodsfolk were wondering about Louie Thomson that morning, -they wondered a lot more that afternoon. And they weren’t the only -ones who wondered. Tommy Peele came down for some more fishing. Of -course Doctor Muskrat and Stripes Skunk were interested in that, and -Stripes’s three kittens sat still as still, with their toes tucked in -like a pussy-cat’s, and the white tips of their tails twitching, -because every other fish belonged to them. The bunnies were snoozing -in the Pickery Things, Chatter Squirrel and Chaik the Jay were having -an argument, and Tommy’s dog, Watch, was barking at them, and Tad Coon -was down at the lower end of the pond, happy as a frog on a lily pad, -full of mussels to his very chin. Suddenly he looked up and saw Louie -Thomson looking through the fence--right at him.</p> - -<p>Wow! But you ought to have seen him go! He bounced past Tommy Peele, -splattering water all over him. Everybody hid, even Chatter Squirrel; -everybody but Watch, who began growling and barking.</p> - -<p>This made Louie angry. He just leaned over the fence and squalled: -“You can have your darned old coon! He’s just as mean as your darned -old dog! I wisht I hadn’t let him go. I wisht I’d killed him when I -had him--I do!”</p> - -<p>“When did you ever have him?” jeered Tommy Peele.</p> - -<p>“This morning. I had one of your rabbits, too--a little bitty one--but -’twasn’t big enough to keep, so I let it go again.”</p> - -<p>“You broke your promise!” shouted Tommy. “You broke your promise. You -said you’d never come over here and catch my wild things again!” My, -but he was angry.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t--so, there!” snapped Louie. “I caught that coon in our -corn-crib. And I caught that little bunny right here where I’m -standing now. But I don’t want any of your old pets, seeing you’re so -selfish about them.”</p> - -<p>“I am not selfish,” Tommy answered back. “You could have pets -yourself, only you’re too lazy to feed them.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to know what I’d feed them with?” asked Louie. “I see my pa -letting me go into his feed bins like your pa lets you. He wouldn’t -even let me have some for my coon, but Ma gave me bread for him.” No -wonder poor Tad was hungry!</p> - -<p>Tommy most forgot to be angry. Maybe Louie Thomson wasn’t so very bad, -after all. Maybe he did want to be friends. Every little boy didn’t -have a father like his, who knew all about boys and wild things. “Say, -Louie,” Tommy said in a different voice, “all these fellows love -roasting ears. You can get some from our cornfield if you want--my dad -won’t care.”</p> - -<p>Did Louie want to? Did he? You just ought to have seen the feast he -laid out, over by his fence, not by the flat stone where Tommy always -put his feasts, so the Woodsfolk would guess it wasn’t from Tommy -Peele.</p> - -<p>Before long, “Munch, munch!” went Nibble Rabbit and Silk-ears, and all -their little bunnies. “Crunch, crunch!” went Stripes Skunk and his -kittens. “Scrunch, scrunch!” went Doctor Muskrat, and Chatter -Squirrel, and Tad Coon. “Pick, peck, pick!” went Chaik the Jay, all -busy on those sweet, juicy young ears of corn.</p> - -<p>Tommy Peele and Louie Thomson were driving up Louie’s cows as friendly -as though they’d never had a quarrel. But Tommy’s dog, Watch, pricked -up both his ears as he listened to them. Then he galloped over to the -feast and barked: “That’s Louie Thomson’s corn. He’s trying to make -friends with you.”</p> - -<p>“Yah! ’Tis not!” squawked Chaik. “He got it in Tommy Peele’s own -field. I saw him!” You see, they didn’t know Tommy said he might -because Louie’s father wouldn’t let him take any from his own -cornfield, even if Louie did the hoeing.</p> - -<p>“It’s in Tommy’s woods,” pointed out Doctor Muskrat. “We haven’t made -any compact!”</p> - -<p>But Tad Coon surprised them all. “Are you sure, Watch?” he asked. -“’Cause if you’re certain sure I’m going back to his cellar again.”</p> - -<p>“Back to that smelly, stuffy, dark cage!” exclaimed Nibble Rabbit. And -his ears flicked straight up, he was so s’prised to be asking such a -foolish question.</p> - -<p>“Sure as mice is mice!” chuckled Tad. “That cellar’s just alive with -them. And there’s that rat who bothered your bunny, Nibble. I’ve got a -bone to pick with him--and he’s going to furnish the bone!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t do it!” warned Stripes excitedly. “You’ll get caught again!”</p> - -<p>“No, I won’t,” sniffed Tad. “I’m not going near that old trap.” Tad -meant the corn-crib.</p> - -<p>“But it’s all over traps!” Stripes insisted. “Traps and cages, for -cows and horses and pigs and sheep--and men, even!” You see Stripes -thought the houses and barns and sheds were all traps to catch the -things who live in them and keep them from going wild again. And -that’s half true, isn’t it?</p> - -<p>“Traps for men?” squealed everybody. “Men don’t hunt men.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t they, though?” asked Stripes. “Well, we skunks know something -about that. There used to be wolves and bears and all sorts of wild -things here, even wild men. They weren’t like these men. They were the -colour of Chatter Squirrel, and they lived in little shady trees made -of skin or in log piles, like the beavers.” He meant the tents and the -winter houses of the Indians. “We skunks used to be good friends with -them. But these men weren’t. They hunted them, just like they hunted -the bears and the wolves and the beavers, too. The wild men were -smarter than any of the other wild things, but these men who live here -now just kept building more and more traps to catch them in. Now every -last one of them is gone!”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” said Doctor Muskrat. And it is half true, too. The -Indians did disappear when the white men built their houses, but of -course it wasn’t because the white men trapped them the same as they -trapped the wild things.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVII' title='VII: TAD COON GOES BACK TO PRISON'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>TAD COON GOES BACK TO PRISON</span> -</h2> - -<p>Everybody looked serious when Stripes Skunk explained that all the -houses and barns and sheds on a farm were traps to catch the things -who live in them. Even Doctor Muskrat didn’t know any better than to -believe him, nor Chatter Squirrel, nor Chaik the Jay, nor Tad Coon.</p> - -<p>But Nibble Rabbit pulled down his ear with his paw and licked the end -of it very thoughtfully. “The cows aren’t trapped,” he said. “The -White Cow said that cows lived in those barns because they made a -compact with man. They give him milk, and he feeds them and keeps the -wolves from killing them.”</p> - -<p>“But there aren’t any more wolves!” argued Doctor Muskrat.</p> - -<p>“The cows don’t know that,” said Nibble. “They thought Silvertip the -Fox was a wolf. They were terribly excited about him.” My, but you -ought to have seen Silk-ears. She began sitting up straight and -putting her fur in order; she felt so vain because Nibble seemed to -know all about everything.</p> - -<p>And you ought to have seen Tad Coon’s eyes sparkle again. “Those big -cages--barns, you call them, do you, Nibble?--can’t all be traps. The -rats scuttle in and out of them.”</p> - -<p>“But you’re bigger than the rats,” said Stripes. He still felt scary.</p> - -<p>“But I’m not any bigger than Louie Thomson,” Tad argued. “I’m not -nearly as big. I can use his hole.” Of course he meant the cellar -door. “And I’ve just got to catch that mean old rat. He said he’d eat -me, he did. Guess I’ll show him who’s going to do the eating.”</p> - -<p>So off waddled that smarty coon. He sneaked round behind the woodpile -and scuttled down into the cellar when nobody was looking. There was -his cage, just the way he’d left it that morning. He climbed in and -lay down.</p> - -<p>It grew darker and darker. Pitter, pitter, sounded the feet of the -scuttling mice. Then came the sound he was listening for--the -scritchy-scratch of that rat’s claws on the cellar door. “Hey, you -coon!” called the rat. He wanted to be sure Tad wasn’t out of that -cage, hiding in some corner, ready to pounce on him. Tad didn’t -answer. So the rat ran up a pipe and crept along until he could peek -through the darkness. Tad could hear him sniffing. “Are you ready for -the rubbish-pile already?” he asked. Still Tad didn’t say anything. -Thump! He landed on the top of the cage. He felt the door was open. He -crept in!</p> - -<p>Bounce! Bite! Scree-ee-eech! That was the end of Mr. Rat! But--Bang! -went the door! Tad was locked in again. Poor Tad Coon!</p> - -<p>That’s what always happened to Tad. Every time he played a smarty -trick on somebody it was sure to come back on him.</p> - -<p>Tad Coon made some noise, I can tell you, when he caught that rat down -in his jangly old cage. And the cage door made some more when it fell -down and locked Tad in. And Tad made more yet, shaking the bars, -trying to get out again.</p> - -<p>Louie Thomson’s family was getting ready to go to bed. His father -growled: “If that beast in the cellar makes any more noise I’ll go -down there and kill him.”</p> - -<p>Louie didn’t answer. He didn’t dare to argue. Besides, he didn’t -believe it was really Tad. He’d let him go just that morning!</p> - -<p>Louie’s mother asked: “Louie, did you remember to feed that coon?”</p> - -<p>“No’m,” said Louie.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, you can pick some scraps out of the pig’s pail to give -him,” said she. She didn’t dare offer him anything else because his -father was listening.</p> - -<p>Do you think Louie would do that? I guess not. He’d learned something -that afternoon. Tommy Peele showed him how nice sweet roasting ears of -fresh corn were what you ought to feed a coon. He just pretended to -pick up something, and then he sneaked down to listen. The coon was -there all right enough; he could hear him. You just ought to have -heard Louie then. His bare feet went pat-pat-patting over to his -father’s cornfield. Then they came pat-pat-patting back again. Pat-pat -they went on the cellar floor. And Tad could smell the nice sweet -corn.</p> - -<div id='i006' class='mt01 mb01 wi006'> - <img src='images/illus-006.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>Tad and Louie had the grain sacks flying, to find the family of mice.</p> -</div> - -<p>“There!” said Louie in a happy voice, “I guess you’ll be glad you came -back again.” And he poked the corn into the cage. “Oh, I thought you -hated me. I do want you to like me, you nice coon.”</p> - -<p>Was this the cross little boy who’d snapped and snarled at him? Tad -just couldn’t believe his ears. He stopped eating to listen.</p> - -<p>“I will be good to you--’deed I will--if you’ll only be tame,” Louie -was saying in this brand-new voice.</p> - -<p>Tad poked his nose through his bars and sniffed at him. Then he took -hold of his door in his handy-paws and shook it until the cellar -echoed with its jangly noise.</p> - -<p>“Don’t, don’t!” begged Louie. “My pa will hear you.” But Tad wanted to -be let out. He went on shaking. “Aw, what’s the use of locking you up, -you’ll come back to me, anyhow,” said Louie at last. He reached for -the door and Tad’s little handy-paw caught hold of his finger. But he -didn’t jerk it away, because this wasn’t a snappy, snarly coon. This -cunning little fellow didn’t bite him any more than he’d bite Tommy -Peele. He opened the door.</p> - -<p>Thump went Tad on the floor. But this time he didn’t try to run--he -was too busy examining Louie Thomson. He twitched Louie’s trousers and -he felt of Louie’s toes, and his curious little handy-paws were so -tickly they set Louie giggling.</p> - -<p>Louie’s mother finished sweeping out her kitchen. She was all ready to -go to bed now except for one thing. “It’s kind of funny,” she said to -herself, “I haven’t seen Louie since I sent him down cellar to feed -his coon.” So she took the lamp and started down the stairs, using the -broom for a cane, because it came in so handy when she felt tired and -stiff. On the fourth step she stopped to listen. That was a queer -sound! There it was again. She smiled herself.</p> - -<p>For what she heard was Louie giggling because Tad Coon’s handy-paws -tickled him. Tad was examining him to see if he carried a bug in his -pocket, like Tommy Peele. Nobody could convince Tad that Tommy’s noisy -ticky watch wasn’t a bug.</p> - -<p>The lamp cast a light on the cellar floor and Tad saw a mouse. He -whisked around and caught it. There, now he could see a pile of grain -sacks where he knew there was a whole family of them. He didn’t stop -to think where the light was coming from. He’d got used to light and -noises while Louie kept him locked up in that awful cage. He used to -hate the cellar, too. Now that he was free he thought it was fun--the -loveliest sort of a place to go hunting in. You’d better believe he -and Louie had those grain sacks flying.</p> - -<p>“Louie Thomson!” said his mother. “Whatever are you doing?”</p> - -<p>“My coon’s catching a mouse,” laughed Louie. “Oh, Ma, he’s tame! I let -him go this morning and he came right back again.” Of course Tad came -back to get even with that mean old rat who plagued him while he was -starving in his prison. But Louie didn’t guess that. “Shh, Ma!” he -said. “Hold your light so’s he can see. Look! He’s caught another!”</p> - -<p>“Good land!” exclaimed his mother again. “He’s smarter than a cat. I -wish he’d come up and clean a few out o’ my kitchen.”</p> - -<p>Just then, clump, clump, came Louie’s father down the stairs. Even Tad -could tell he was angry by the way he was stamping--you know coons and -skunks and bunnies, even, do it, too. He guessed it was time to be -going.</p> - -<p>“What does all this racket mean?” shouted Louie’s father. “I told you -I’d kill that beast if I heard any more from him; now I’m going to do -it.” And he snatched the broom from his wife’s hand. He wanted to use -it for a club. Then he looked in the cage.</p> - -<p>He didn’t see any coon, but he did see the corn Louie had brought for -him! “What do you mean,” he roared, “breaking off my corn for your -beast? I told you to leave my grain strictly alone. Now I’ll give you -a licking you won’t forget. Where’s that brute gone?”</p> - -<p>Tad was sneaking around behind him in the dark shadows. Whack! The -broomstick just missed him as he bounced out the cellar door. Whack, -whack, it came down on Louie Thomson’s shoulders. Out of the cellar -door he bolted, too, and raced after Tad Coon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVIII' title='VIII: COULD A LITTLE BOY GO WILD?'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VIII</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>COULD A LITTLE BOY GO WILD?</span> -</h2> - -<p>Patty, patty, ka-flip, ka-flip, went Tad’s feet, running away from -Louie Thomson’s house for the second time. Pad, pad, pad, pounded -Louie Thomson’s feet, running after him. Louie was mad clear through, -but he wasn’t mad at Tad Coon. He was angry at his father for trying -to beat him with a broom.</p> - -<p>All the same, he felt scary and lonely when he got out there in the -darkness. He could hear Tad’s feet running down the alleyways between -the corn. But the stalks were way up over his head. He couldn’t see -where he was going. Pretty soon he couldn’t even hear the coon--he was -all alone.</p> - -<p>But was he? He stubbed his toe on something--something soft and furry -and warm. It was Tad. For just as soon as Tad got over being scared -about himself he began to wonder if that cross man with the big stick -had done anything awful to poor Louie Thomson. He knew what it was -like to be chased. Besides, Tad’s the most curious beast in all the -woods and fields, and he had to know the meaning of those little, sad, -sniffly noises Louie was making.</p> - -<p>But Louie just knew Tad was sorry for him. The poor little boy threw -himself on the ground and cried and cried. “It isn’t fair,” he sobbed. -“I hoed that corn, I had a right to take just a little weeny bit of it -for you. Besides, you earned it. You killed the mice in our cellar -just as much as those old cats ever do. I wasn’t bad, and I just won’t -take a licking for it.” All the same, he knew that’s what he’d get if -he went back home.</p> - -<p>Tad kept cocking his ears and touching Louie with his shy little -handy-paws, trying to think what he was doing. Little coons cry, too, -but they cry, “Wa-wa-wa,” more like a hungry little bird. By and by he -got restless and started along.</p> - -<p>“Wait for me! Wait for me!” called Louie, and he got up and followed -Tad--all the way back to Doctor Muskrat’s pond.</p> - -<p>The night was clear and warm. And it wasn’t so very dark, after all. -Louie could see quite well. Now it was his turn to be curious about -what Tad Coon was doing. A frog jumped in the long grass and Tad -pounced on it, just the way he pounced on a mouse. But he didn’t eat -it--not yet. He carried it over to the water. Then he began splashing.</p> - -<p>“He’s washing it first,” thought Louie. “If that isn’t the -beatin-est!”</p> - -<p>Sure enough, when he had it washed all clean Tad gulped his frog. Then -he paddled his paws and scrubbed his mouth and whiskers. Yes, and even -reached up behind his ears.</p> - -<p>“Washing looks kind of nice,” thought Louie to himself. So he tried -it, too. He washed himself clean as clean--clean as that fat old coon, -even. And then he felt so comfortable he curled up by Doctor Muskrat’s -stone and fell fast asleep.</p> - -<p>You wouldn’t think even the wild woodsfolk would be afraid of a tired -little boy, fast asleep by the pond, but they were. They were most -scared to death. The whippoorwill sounded a desperate warning as she -circled about on her long pointed wings trying to make up her mind to -scoop up a mouthful of water, and the little bats squeaked as though -the big owl was after them.</p> - -<p>They woke up a lot of the Woodsfolk who had eaten their late supper by -moonlight and gone to bed. Stripes Skunk came over from the potato -patch, and Nibble Rabbit loped out to the edge of the Pickery Things -and stood there on tip-toe, even to his stick-up ears, he was so -s’prised. Chatter Squirrel looked from the lowest branch of Tad Coon’s -tree. Doctor Muskrat crawled up on his stone, and maybe you think he -didn’t jump when he found who was sleeping beside it. But fat old Tad -patted out of his nest in the cool bulrushes, where he’d been taking a -little cat-nap with one ear open, and settled it.</p> - -<p>“Needn’t anybody be afraid of Louie Thomson,” said Tad. “He’s my boy. -And he’s most as nice as Tommy Peele, Nibble. He’s friends.”</p> - -<p>“But we haven’t made any compact with him,” suggested Doctor Muskrat.</p> - -<p>“Compact!” sniffed Tad. “The minute he found I was shut up in my cage -he brought me the juiciest mouthful of corn you ever wet your whiskers -in.”</p> - -<p>“Yah!” jeered Stripes. “What did I tell you? Didn’t I say you’d get -caught? It’s all over traps, wherever you find men.”</p> - -<p>“You did,” admitted Tad. “It was the queerest thing. I could get into -that cage, and so could that mean old rat--he thought I was dead, Mr. -Scaly-tail did. You ought to have heard him squeal when I grabbed him. -But then I couldn’t get out again!” Tad didn’t know it was his very -own self who shook the cage door down. “It didn’t matter a bit,” he -went on comfortably. “Louie came right down and turned me loose. But -you’re right about another thing, Stripes, men do kill men.”</p> - -<p>“What!” exclaimed all the woodsfolk.</p> - -<p>Tad nodded solemnly. “Sure as tadpoles have tails! We were having the -nicest mouse hunt, Louie and I, when that big man came stamping in. He -tried to kill me with a stick, and he did hit Louie with it--twice.” -Of course Louie’s father didn’t mean to kill him; he only meant to -punish him for taking the corn. But Woodsfolk don’t beat their -children, they only shake them.</p> - -<p>“Louie could run, all the same,” Tad finished. “So he came with me; -he’s going to go wild again and live with us.”</p> - -<p>Doctor Muskrat looked at Louie in a very puzzled way. “I wonder if he -can go wild?” said he. “It’s a long, long time since men were wild.” -You ought to have seen the Woodsfolk prick up their ears over the -idea.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIX' title='IX: LOUIE TAKES LESSONS OF THE WOODSFOLK'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER IX</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>LOUIE TAKES LESSONS OF THE WOODSFOLK</span> -</h2> - -<p>It was early in the morning when Louie woke up and began to rub his -eyes. Where was he? What were those little cheepy sounds all around -him and that rustling and pattering--yes, and splashing? He remembered -that splashing; it was the last thing he heard the night before. Tad -Coon had been splattering and scrubbing in Doctor Muskrat’s pond.</p> - -<p>That’s exactly where he was; down by Doctor Muskrat’s pond, with his -head pillowed on the grass at the edge of Doctor Muskrat’s flat stone. -The splashing wasn’t all Tad Coon’s; a little bit of it was the swish -of Doctor Muskrat diving in head first when Louie stretched his arm. -He dove in such a hurry that he left a nice newly dug sweetflag root -behind him.</p> - -<p>Louie opened his eyes, and then he lay very, very quiet. For all the -Woodsfolk were out getting their breakfasts; they weren’t paying the -least attention to him. He never knew there were so many of them. -Chatter Squirrel ran down a tree and nibbled the edge of a mushroom. -Three little mice ran down to drink; one gnawed the head of a bulrush -Doctor Muskrat had cut down, and another shinned up a leaning grass -stem and ate its seeds. Bob White Quail’s whole family came strolling -by, dear little bright-eyed, striped brown puffballs, just beginning -to have wing feathers. One of Stripes Skunk’s children jumped right -over his feet; he was chasing a grasshopper. Nibble Rabbit’s bunnies -were mostly chasing each other. They kicked up their furry heels and -flicked their tufty little tails at each other, playing hide and seek -in and out of some burdock leaves. Fat Tad Coon was making a happy -whiny little song through his nose while he scrubbed another frog -before eating it. And all the little birds would perk up their heads, -give a touch or two to their feathers, and fly down to spatter in the -pond and wet their whistles, maybe snatch a bug or a worm, before they -began their morning song. By the time they were all wide awake Louie’s -head was ringing with the racket. But he didn’t want them to stop--no, -indeed, he just wanted to sing with them.</p> - -<div id='i007' class='mt01 mb01 wi007'> - <img src='images/illus-007.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>When Louie opened his eyes, all the woodsfolk were out getting their breakfasts.</p> -</div> - -<p>He was very careful about getting up because he didn’t want to scare -any of them. He sneaked down to wash, because everybody else was doing -it, you know. First thing he knew he felt so happy he was whistling. -Chaik the Jay shouted “Hey!” at him. And he just shouted back, “Hey -yourself!” Because by then he knew Chaik was just making fun of him. -Why, he was one of them; couldn’t he just make as much noise and have -as much fun?</p> - -<p>Yes, and have something to eat, too. He didn’t want a mushroom, like -Chatter, because mushrooms sometimes give little boys worse pains -inside them than the potato plants gave the foolish mice. He didn’t -want a grasshopper, or a seed, like the quail, or a plantain leaf, -like a bunny, or a frog or a bug or a worm. But there was that root of -Doctor Muskrat’s. He smelled it--just like the wild things do. He -tasted it. Then he ate it. Yum-m-m! It tasted like more.</p> - -<p>The rest of the Woodsfolk didn’t pay any attention to Louie, but old -Doctor Muskrat kept swimming round, wondering what had become of the -root; he never dreamed that little boy would eat it.</p> - -<p>Louie watched him for quite a while before he thought about it -himself. Then he said: “You poor old rat. Never mind, I’ll pay you -back.” And he waded right in among the cattails, scaring ’bout a dozen -turtles who were sitting on a log, and grubbed up another root that -had the same kind of leaves on it. He put that one on the stone where -he’d found the one he ate.</p> - -<p>Doctor Muskrat just blinked in surprise. He came out and sniffed it. -He tasted it. “Why, that boy’s awfully clever. He’s found the right -one first thing,” said he to himself. “Wonder if he could do it -again?” So this time he went after another kind of a root.</p> - -<p>Louie came up close and looked at it. Then he hunted and hunted until -he found the kind of a plant it grew on. It was a big juicy mallow, -the kind the doctor gave Nibble Rabbit that very first day when he -found the little bunny in his cattails. You know how good that was! He -laid it out on the flat stone and waited for Doctor Muskrat to taste -it so he’d be sure it was the right one.</p> - -<p>Wasn’t Doctor Muskrat pleased? Just wasn’t he! He called: “Tad, Tad -Coon. This is the smartest boy I ever saw. He’s learning faster than -any youngster I ever taught. If he doesn’t take to hunting us, these -woods and fields will be just like Mother Nature made the world in the -First-Off Beginning of Things.”</p> - -<p>“O-ho!” said Tad, waddling over to see what was going on. “We’ll just -have to show him what’s right and what isn’t--like we showed Stripes -Skunk. I don’t believe he knows a bit more about it. I don’t guess he -ever meant to be bad.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” agreed Doctor Muskrat, “but we mustn’t show him all our secrets -right away; he might get caught again. I don’t want him carrying any -tales back to that man he lived with. He knows enough already.”</p> - -<p>Just then they pricked up their ears. Clump, clump, clump, came -Louie’s father down the lane. Louie pricked up his ears, too. He knew -his father would be angry because he had to drive up the cows himself. -He knew what his father would do if he caught his little runaway son. -Down he dropped on his hands and knees and crawled up the widest -tunnel where Tad Coon creeps into Nibble Rabbit’s Pickery Things. He -hid right in the very spot where Nibble hid the Red Cow’s bad baby. -And his father couldn’t find hide nor hair of any one.</p> - -<p>Tad chuckled to Doctor Muskrat: “He isn’t going to get caught again.”</p> - -<p>And Louie didn’t, either. It was fun down by Doctor Muskrat’s pond, -even if you were only a little boy instead of a furry wild thing--or a -feathery one. When the sun grew warm, all the furry folk found -themselves nice cool nests and went back to snooze again. Even the -birds were quiet.</p> - -<p>Louie wasn’t quite as comfortable as the rest because he didn’t have -any fur--his legs were bare, and the mosquitoes bothered him--and he -didn’t have any dark hole where he could crawl in and hide from them. -But he was pretty smart, all the same. He didn’t try to hide in the -bushes because all the little bugs who were taking their naps on the -under side of the leaves woke up and buzzed around him. He lay out -under Tad Coon’s tree, where the wind blew them right past, and -covered himself with some nice flat branches after he’d shaken the -bugs out of them. That certainly amused Tad Coon.</p> - -<p>Miau the Catbird, who wears a gray coat and makes a noise like a -week-old kitten, when he doesn’t sing, came and peeked at him. He -raised that little black patch on his head, just as though he were -lifting his hat to Louie. It looked as if he were a very polite little -bird trying to say “Good morning.”</p> - -<p>My, but didn’t he flutter when Louie answered, “Good morning, -yourself, Mr. Bird!” But the little boy said it in such a nice voice -Miau couldn’t stay scared, so he chirped back.</p> - -<p>“Is that the way you say it?” giggled Louie, and he tried to talk -exactly like him. He didn’t talk bird talk well at all. You ought to -have heard Miau squawk, because he thought it was funny. And Louie -squawked, too, so a couple of blackbirds with bright scarlet patches -on their shoulders came over to see what was going on. So did Bobby -Robin, and Chip Sparrow, who is one of Chirp Sparrow’s wild cousins, -not nearly so big or dressed up, but with a lovely song, and a -gorgeous black and orange oriole. A fine noise they were making.</p> - -<p>But right in the middle of all their fun Louie heard another noise. It -was his mother calling him. Her voice wasn’t happy, like those noisy -birds, but very sad and lonely. Louie jumped up and ran as fast as -ever he could to answer her.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Louie, Louie! Your father said you weren’t here, but I sort of -knew where I’d find you,” she cried when she had kissed him. “You -mustn’t run away from me! I’ve been so afraid something would happen -to you!”</p> - -<p>“It did,” laughed Louie; “lots of things.” And he told her all about -how nice all the Woodsfolk had been, and how the birds were teaching -him bird talk. And where he got his breakfast--just everything. But -she said, “Come home, and I’ll give you a better breakfast than that -muskrat has in his whole pond.”</p> - -<p>Do you know, Doctor Muskrat was really disappointed when he saw Louie -Thomson go trotting up the lane beside his mother. “It’s too bad,” -said he. “That boy of yours was learning very fast, Tad Coon. If he’d -stayed down here by the pond just a little while longer he’d have been -as wild as any of us.” You see the Woodsfolk wanted to have a nice -wild boy to play with just as much as Louie ever wanted a nice tame -coon.</p> - -<p>Tad Coon’s own ears were drooping. “Maybe he was hungry,” Tad guessed. -“Maybe we didn’t have the right things to feed him.” He knew what that -was, because he’d been so hungry himself when he was shut up in -Louie’s cage.</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” sniffed Doctor Muskrat. “If he’d only wait until Tommy -Peele could teach him his way of fishing, he’d have had all he -wanted.” You see, muskrats can eat their fish without taking the -trouble to cook them.</p> - -<p>Tad sighed. He was really just as disappointed as the doctor. A little -boy was such fun; he did such queer things--he was as much fun for Tad -Coon as Tad was for him. “That was his mother,” he said at last. -“Maybe he was too little to leave her, like Nibble Rabbit’s bunny. He -isn’t anywhere near full grown. All the same, I don’t think she takes -very good care of him.” He was thinking that when Louie’s father -struck him with the broom, his mother never did anything to stop him.</p> - -<p>I guess Louie’s father would have been pretty s’prised to know Tad -thought he was trying to kill his very own little son. He didn’t mean -to hurt Louie--he just thought that Louie ought to obey him like Watch -the Dog obeyed Tommy Peele. Watch wanted awfully to fight with Tad -Coon because of what Tad did to Trailer the Hound, but Tommy just -wouldn’t let him. Louie wanted to take some corn for his coon, and he -just went ahead and took it anyway, even if his father forbade him. -Watch knew you ought to obey, but even he couldn’t have explained to -Tad Coon about it. Louie knew, deep down inside, but he didn’t want to -believe it. He was still angry.</p> - -<p>Tad Coon thought and thought. By and by he said, “Maybe our boy’s -mother knows what’s best for him. They mostly do. Maybe he couldn’t go -wild. He hasn’t a lick of fur to his skin. What would he do in the -winter time? Bury himself in the mud like a frog? Eh?”</p> - -<p>“Find himself one of those little trees of skin, like the red men -Stripes Skunk told us about,” answered the doctor. “Stripes might -remember where they got them.” He meant the skin tents the Indians -used and he didn’t know that they had to kill great big buffaloes and -tan their skins; he thought they just hunted for them like Tad hunts -for a hollow tree to sleep in.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid they’re all gone, like those red men,” said Tad. “None of -us have ever seen one.” And he was sort of lonesome till the middle of -the afternoon, when who should come trotting back to the pond but -Louie! And Tad was just as glad to see him as Louie had been to find -Tad had come back to his old cage again.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chX' title='X: THE RULES OF TENTS'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER X</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE RULES OF TENTS</span> -</h2> - -<p>No one in all the Woods and Fields could understand how Louie Thomson -came to be back with them again. But here he was, and you ought to -have seen what he brought with him! He brought some carrots out of his -mother’s very own garden, and some corn bread out of her kitchen, and -some sugar in a little bitty paper bag for the birds because he -couldn’t bring them any grain, and he brought a blanket. His mother -just must have given those things to him. Maybe Tad Coon was right -when he said mothers know what is best for their little ones. Maybe -his mother thought it was good for little boys to go wild if they -wanted to in the summer-time--quite as good for them as hoeing corn in -the hot sun.</p> - -<p>Of course they had a feast. Doctor Muskrat was awfully taken up with -that corn bread. He couldn’t imagine where it was grown. He kind of -thought maybe housefolk made it out of pollen. You remember the wasps -told him that the yellow dust you get on your nose when you smell a -water lily was the bread they fed their little grubby young ones.</p> - -<p>But didn’t Stripes Skunk just love that blanket! Louie knew it would -be hot if he tried to sleep inside it. He didn’t want to be rolled up -tight like a bug in a cocoon. A cocoon is the little silky blanket a -caterpillar makes himself to go to sleep in. That may be nice for -caterpillars, even in the summer time, but Louie made himself a tent -instead. He slanted a long stick from the crotch of Tad Coon’s tree to -the ground and hung the blanket over that. Then he spread out the -corners and held them down with big flat stones. That was tent enough -for him. But the woodsfolk just wouldn’t let it alone; they are so -curious!</p> - -<p>Stripes was perfectly delighted. He hadn’t ever seen a real skin tent -like the Indians made, he’d only heard about them. This wasn’t much -like any skin he knew about, but it smelled kind of furry, and he -could see Louie meant to live in it. So he called his three kittens, -because he wanted to explain the rule of tents to them. And of course -curious old Tad Coon and Nibble Rabbit’s bunnies came, too, and -sniffed and burrowed and poked their noses into all the wrinkly places -and nibbled the fuzz till it set them sneezing.</p> - -<p>“The rule of tents is that every night at sundown we skunks must look -into every corner and see that there’s no one inside to disturb our -man when he’s sleeping,” said Stripes. He meant snakes and mice and -beetles--creepy-crawly things.</p> - -<p>“Aye, aye,” squealed the kittens. They cleared out those bunnies in no -time. Then they pounced on Tad Coon and pulled his fur until he was -laughing so hard he couldn’t box their impudent little pricky ears. He -tried to run out the wrong end. Down came the pole and off he walked, -dragging the whole blanket after him, and the kittens couldn’t think -where he was gone. And Louie most made himself sick laughing at them.</p> - -<p>Louie put it up again, as soon as he got done laughing, and fastened -it down with more stones all around. But Doctor Muskrat began to turn -over the stones to see what they had under them. That was because the -blanket smelled so queer. Then the mice came out to visit him and -Stripes Skunk came out to hunt them. After that the little owls came -and perched right over it. Louie could hear them talking.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” asked one. “It wasn’t here this morning.”</p> - -<p>“It’s alive,” whispered the other, “I can hear it breathing.”</p> - -<p>“It’s very queer,” said the first little owl. “It surely does breathe. -But it hasn’t any head or any feet or any tail.” Of course the tent -didn’t have any. Louie Thomson had a head and some feet, but the owls -couldn’t see him.</p> - -<p>“Maybe it’s got them all pulled in, like a turtle,” said her mate.</p> - -<p>“Aw, you old squawk-sparrow!” she snapped. [That’s the same as calling -a boy a “’fraid cat.”] “I’ll soon find out what it is.” And she lit -right on Louie’s tent pole. “It’s all woolly,” she said. “I s’pose -maybe it’s a buffalo.”</p> - -<div id='i008' class='mt01 mb01 wi008'> - <img src='images/illus-008.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>The woodsfolk were delighted with Louie’s tent.</p> -</div> - -<p>“Buffaloes have horns,” insisted the little he-owl. “You just ask the -cows. They know. They’re right over there in those woods. I dare you -to ask ’em.”</p> - -<p>“Are they?” said she. “That shows how much you know. They’re breaking -into the cornfield this minute. Hear the fence--now!”</p> - -<p>Sure enough there was the whine and snap of a wire when a cow leans -into it, and a floundering and swishing as she tore at the leaves. -Even Louie could hear it; he put out his head to listen.</p> - -<p>“Whe-e-e-e!” yelled the little he-owl in the tree. “It is a turtle! It -is!”</p> - -<p>But as he spoke Louie gave the blankets a jerk, trying to climb out, -and the rude little owl who was perched on it came tumbling and -sliding down to the ground before she could catch herself. Didn’t she -squawk? And didn’t they flap off as fast as their wings would go? They -were too scared even to turn their heads as they flew.</p> - -<p>If they had they’d have seen Louie Thomson running, too. And his feet -were going most as fast as their wings--over to the cornfield.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXI' title='XI: GREAT DOINGS BY NIGHT IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XI</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>GREAT DOINGS BY NIGHT IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS</span> -</h2> - -<p>My, but Louie was excited when he found the cows in his father’s corn. -Of course it wasn’t his corn; his father told him so when he got angry -with Louie for taking a little bit to feed Tad Coon. But Louie forgot -all about that. Here were these bad old beasts biting and tearing and -tramping it down after he’d had to hoe it so hard to start it growing.</p> - -<p>“Get out of there!” he shouted. “Hi, boss! Move along!”</p> - -<p>“Humph!” snorted the oldest cow. “It’s only that boy. We don’t have to -pay any ’tention to him. It isn’t milking time.” And she snapped off -another stalk.</p> - -<p>“Get out of here, you cows!” said a new voice. “You don’t belong here, -and you know it. Be reasonable now and go along.” Who do you think it -was? It was Nibble Rabbit. He’d heard the noise, and he’d seen Louie -run over to stop them, and he remembered the way the Red Cow took -after Tommy Peele. He just knew it wasn’t safe for little boys to -drive cows all alone when they didn’t want to be driven.</p> - -<p>“I am reasonable,” said the cow stupidly. “The pasture’s all dried up. -I can give a lot more milk if I eat this corn.” She knew well enough -she was wrong.</p> - -<p>“Maybe you can,” said Nibble, “but it doesn’t happen to be your corn. -You walk right out of it and leave it alone, like Louie told you to.”</p> - -<p>“I won’t!” said the cow. “We won’t!” they all mooed together. “We -won’t, and you can’t make us. You go right back to the woods where you -belong and mind your own business. You eat what you want without -taking orders from any one.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but I only take a nibble here and a nibble there. I don’t -destroy things,” Nibble Rabbit argued. “You’re worse than a whole -woods full of fieldmice.”</p> - -<p>That did make the cows cross. They hate mice. Mice make their grain -taste musty, so the poor cows can’t eat it. They felt insulted. And -just that very minute Louie hit one blam! right on her ribs with a -stone.</p> - -<p>“Moo-o-o-o!” she roared. “We’ll show you whether you can boss us!” And -she put down her horns and began charging around in the corn. But the -night was so dark and the corn was so tall she couldn’t find the -little boy in it. He just scuttled for the fence and shinned over.</p> - -<p>Slam! She hit the fence right behind him. But he was running up the -lane as fast as he could go before the foolish thing could find the -hole where she got into the cornfield, so she could get out again to -chase him. He was going for help. Even if his father was mean, Louie -just had to tell him what was happening.</p> - -<p>Nibble Rabbit squeezed under the fence, but he didn’t run. Not yet! He -stopped to shout at those foolish cows: “You made a mistake that time! -Nobody can chase a little boy, not even if it is a great big cow -without sense enough in her whole carcass to fill one of the slits in -her clumsy hoofs. We Woodsfolk won’t stand it.” He gave an angry stamp -and then his furry feet started twinkling. He was going for help, too. -He knew whom he wanted and where to find him!</p> - -<p>It didn’t take Louie Thomson very long to run up to his house and tell -his father how the cows were in the corn. It didn’t take his father -very long to get a hammer and some staples and a lantern. Or to hurry -down the lane so fast that Louie had to run to keep up with him. But -Nibble Rabbit beat them.</p> - -<p>Nibble bounced into Tommy Peele’s barnyard next door and woke up -Watch, the big shaggy, smiley dog who was his special friend. “It’s no -work of mine,” said Watch when Nibble explained what he wanted. “They -ought to have a dog of their own. But if Louie’s friends with all the -Woodsfolk I s’pose we can’t let his cows think they can chase him if -they want to and we won’t stop them.” So he took a good shake to get -his coat feeling comfortable and galloped off after Nibble, smiling to -himself because he thought it would be fun. And it was--for him!</p> - -<p>But you never saw anybody so surprised as those cows! They went out of -that cornfield a whole lot faster than they went in. Watch chased them -way down to the very farthest corner of the fence and Nibble skipped -along beside them, just kicking up his heels because he liked to see -them run. Then Watch made them listen while he laid down the law to -them. “How do you like being chased?” he barked. “Do you think it’s -fun? Are you ever going to chase that boy again?”</p> - -<p>“But he hit me with a stone!” moaned the cow. “He hit me with a -stone.”</p> - -<p>“Of course he did,” snapped Watch. “That’s because you didn’t obey -him. You’re his cows, and that’s his corn. Are you going to do what he -tells you or shall I teach you again?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t!” they bellowed. “We’ll be good!” They meant it, too. They were -so scared even Nibble Rabbit felt sure they did.</p> - -<p>“All right,” Watch agreed. “You have to obey whoever feeds you, -whether it’s Man or Mother Nature. You cows chose Man. Just remember -that.” And off he trotted with Nibble hopping along beside him.</p> - -<p>“I s’pose they can always go wild again, like the Red Cow’s mother -did, and like Louie’s doing,” Nibble remarked. “I’d hate to belong to -that man who was so cross to him and poor Tad Coon.” But right then -they came on that very person, nailing up the fence, with Louie -holding the lantern for him, friendly as anything. And he was saying, -“I’ll throw all this corn they’ve broken down over the fence so the -cows can finish it up in the morning, but you can take all you want -for your coon.”</p> - -<p>Louie looked up and saw Watch. “Why, that’s Tommy Peele’s dog!” he -exclaimed. “He’s been helping us. That’s why the cows were gone.” And -he ran right over to thank the furry old fellow who stood there -proudly wagging his tail at them.</p> - -<p>Even Louie’s father, who didn’t understand dogs any better than he did -boys, knew enough to say, “Good dog! I wish I had one like him.” And -Watch was so flattered over that, he wagged the whole hind half of -him.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you coming home?” asked Louie’s father after he finished -nailing up the fence. He didn’t just say, “Come home!” like he mostly -gave orders. Because he wasn’t angry any more; he felt more like -thanking Louie, just like Louie thanked that smart old dog. He’d have -had an awful time trying to do it all alone because his cows were so -awfully stubborn and disobedient.</p> - -<p>“’Course not,” said Louie. He didn’t say why not because he knew the -minute he told his father what he meant to do there would be some good -reason why he mustn’t. Some grownups are like that, but some aren’t; -his mother wasn’t. He looked at Watch and grinned, and his father knew -he had some secret up his sleeve. The nice old dog smiled back and -cocked one ear. Watch didn’t have any sleeve, but he did have a fine -furry frill up the back of his leg to hide his secret in.</p> - -<p>“Well, you’re all right so long as you have that dog with you,” his -father agreed. “Come up in time for breakfast in the morning. Do you -want the lantern?”</p> - -<p>Louie was just going to say that wild folks like he was didn’t need -lanterns, when he remembered about his secret. That lantern would be -fine for picking up all that corn. And it would be fine to have his -feast by, now that the moon had gone down. Of course that was his -secret. So he did keep it. And he had to tie up the nice sweet ears in -his shirt and throw them over the fence that way because he got such a -load he couldn’t carry them.</p> - -<p>Of course Nibble Rabbit came sniffing up just as soon as his father -had gone. “What are you doing here?” asked Louie. “You’re Tommy -Peele’s rabbit. I ’spect next thing I’ll be finding Tommy Peele.” And -at that Watch began to bark. That was his secret. He thought it was a -shame to have all sorts of fun going on when Tommy wasn’t in it. He -was so pleased to have Louie guess, because it’s pretty hard to be a -dog and not be able to tell people what you want.</p> - -<p>First thing they got back to Louie’s tent--with the lantern. And they -piled up the corn beside it. Then Watch went sniffing round inside to -see if there wasn’t room for Tommy in it. And what do you s’pose he -found? That old scamp of a Tad Coon, fast asleep.</p> - -<p>So Watch gave Tad a little shake, just to wake him up. But you know -how scared of dogs Tad always was. He didn’t stop to see that it was -Watch. He let out a squall that woke up all the Woodsfolk and bounced -out of the tent and into the pond with a great big splash before he -got his eyes really opened.</p> - -<p>Up popped Doctor Muskrat. He took one look at the lantern and thought -it was a fire, like the ones that sometimes burn up the marsh. He -began to shout: “Take to the water, quick! Take to the water, quick! -It’s the only safe place!” Chatter Squirrel came out on a branch and -began to shout, “Climb a tree!” And all the Woodsfolk were scuttling -round, scared most to death at that little blinky light. Didn’t Watch -just enjoy the joke on them.</p> - -<p>But all the Woodsfolk didn’t run away from that twinkly light. There -was one furry-foot who stayed. And he was more pleased about it than -he even was about the feast--though he ate as much as any one. But I’m -not going to tell you who it was, or how it happened that he wasn’t -scared, or why he was so delighted. ’Cause if I tell you all my -s’prises ahead of time I won’t have any more to write about.</p> - -<p>Still I’ve given you such a great big hint maybe you’ll guess while -you’re waiting. And I’ve given you still a bigger hint who was the -next fellow who got to be friends with the Woodsfolk. I ’spect you -know already it was Louie Thomson’s dad. And of course that made him -friendly with Louie, too. And when a fellow’s dad gets to be a -really-truly friend he’s the best in all the world.</p> - -<p>But the stranger who came sneaking in to Louie’s lantern party after -all the fun was over and done--the fellow who wasn’t a friend--and the -ructions he stirred up--and how the Woodsfolk were too clever for -him--I haven’t given you the least little hint in the world. And I’m -not going to. Not till you read it in the next book. So there!</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-top:1.0em;'>THE END</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TAD COON'S GREAT ADVENTURE ***</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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