ew what to. Their mother came into the sitting-room of the
burrow, from the dark bedroom where she had gone to lie down, because of
a headache, and she also was much alarmed. So was Uncle Wiggily
Longears, who was awakened from his nap by the cries of the nurse.

"Run and hide! Run and hide!" called Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and all the
rabbits ran and hid. The ferret, which was a long, slender animal,
something like a white rat, had been put into the burrow by the hunter,
who stood outside at the back door, hoping the rabbits would run out so
he could shoot them. But they did not. Instead, they went into the
darkest part of the underground house. Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went
bravely up to the ferret.

"Now you get right out of this house," she said. "We don't want you
here!"

The ferret said nothing, but kept crawling all around, looking for the
rabbits. He was careful to keep away from the muskrat, for, in spite of
her soft name, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had very sharp teeth.

"Come on, now; get right out of here!" the nurse said again, but the
ferret would not go. He wanted to catch the rabbits. Then the muskrat
jumped right up on his back and bit him quite hard on one of his little
ears. The ferret squealed at this.

Next Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy nipped him on the other ear; not very hard, you
know, but just hard enough to make that ferret wish he had stayed out of
the underground house.

"Now will you go?" asked the nurse.

"Yes," said the ferret, "I will," and he turned around and walked right
out of the house. The hunter was very much surprised when his ferret
appeared without having driven out any rabbits. He could not understand
it.

"Well," he said, "I guess I made a mistake, but I was sure I saw a
rabbit go down that hole. I guess I had better be going." So he called
his dog, put his ferret into his pocket and went away. And, oh, how glad
Sammie and Susie Littletail were!

Pretty soon Papa Littletail came hurrying home. As soon as he entered
the burrow the children noticed that he was rather pale. He said that
he had had a terrible fright, for, as he was on his way home from Mr.
Drake's house, a boy had pointed a big, black thing at him, which
clicked like a gun, but did not make a loud noise. Then Susie told him
about the dog who chased her, and how the ferret had frightened them.

"It is a good thing you were not shot," said Mamma Littletail to her
husband. "I don't know what we would have done if such a dreadful