Chapter VIII: Jimmy Hedgehog's Escape

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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