r, now terribly frightened, and panting for breath, made
a dive for a big, dark hole that suddenly opened directly in his pathway.

He ran in this as fast as he could. Carlo followed a short distance, and
then got stuck. The black hole grew smaller at the other end, and Bumper
felt that he was safe for the present.

"My, what a narrow escape!" he said, panting for breath. "Now, how am I
ever going to get out again! Carlo will pounce on me if I stick my nose
out. I guess the best thing I can do is to sleep in here, and in the
morning go out when Edith calls me. She'll keep Carlo away."

And with this remark, he rolled up in a ball, and went to sleep.

STORY VII

BUMPER MEETS THE SEWER RAT

Bumper was so young and inexperienced that he didn't know a drain-pipe
from an ordinary hole in the ground, nor for that matter a tree trunk that
was hollow inside from a rabbit's burrow. Bumper was a city-bred rabbit,
born in the backyard of a tenement house, and how could you expect him to
know much of the things that ordinary wild rabbits learn by heart before
their whiskers begin to sprout?

When he opened his eyes the next morning, he stretched himself, and
blinked hard at the circular roof over his head, wondering what sort of a
house he was in now. It took some time for his brain to recall the events
of the previous night. Then he sat up and smiled.

"Ho! Ho!" he laughed. "Carlo must have had a long, cold wait outside for
me. I think I'll take a peek at him."

He was really anxious to see if the little girl was up yet, and if she had
missed him. He had perfect confidence in her, and knew that she would call
off the dog the instant she saw him.

Bumper could see that it was morning, for the bright light shining through
the big end of the drain-pipe proved that. He crawled along cautiously,
making as little noise as possible. If Carlo was waiting at the entrance
to pounce upon him, he wasn't going to be caught napping.

Another thing which drew him toward the mouth of the pipe was the fragrant
odor of good things from the garden. In spite of the big feast of the
night before, Bumper was hungry again, and he longed to get back in the
garden and devour a few more carrots and crisp lettuce leaves.

He was within a few feet of the mouth of the drain-pipe, quite confident
that Carlo had grown tired of watching and left, when a shadow came
between him and the light. Bumper caught sight of a head and forelegs
thrust