but
Brushtail to look out for. But he's surely enough! I should say he is!
And if Farmer Roe does not get him soon, I'm going to keep right on
thinking of some plan to get him out of here. We can't scare him as we
did Tom Wildcat. Brushtail is too cunning for that. He'd just laugh at
us if we painted signs and put them up on our doors, no matter _what_
was painted on the signs. I heard Brushtail tell Mrs. Brushtail that
he would not live in that thicket any more. He said he would get
himself a new den not far off and probably a little nearer to the
Murmuring Brook. So you see we could not lead Yappy to Brushtail now
if we wanted to. And I am afraid Yappy will be a good while in finding
Brushtail's new den. I may find it," Doctor Rabbit continued, "but I'd
never risk trying to lead Yappy to it, and Jack Rabbit has a sprained
foot, so he can't. But from the way he talked to me, I don't think
he'd be willing to try it even if his foot weren't sprained."

Brushtail the Fox seized her by the neck

"Possibly," suggested Chatty Red Squirrel, "Brushtail will not have a
fallen tree near his new den, nor any other way of making Yappy lose
the trail. And possibly Yappy will smell along old Brushtail's trail
and find him right in his den."

"Don't you ever think Brushtail will be foolish enough to walk
straight along the ground to his den," said Doctor Rabbit. "He's far
too wise for that, no matter where his den is. No, sir, he will make
big jumps sidewise and walk back on his trail and walk in big circles,
and better still, walk for a distance in the Murmuring Brook. Ah!
he'll do a whole lot of things before he goes into his den. Of
course," Doctor Rabbit said softly, "it is possible Farmer Roe may
trap old Brushtail. I saw him working with a trap only this morning."

A FOOLISH OLD HEN

Several days after Doctor Rabbit had talked to his friends under the
big sycamore tree he was hopping along near the edge of the Big Green
Woods when he saw Brushtail the Fox hiding behind a tree and looking
toward Farmer Roe's house.

Doctor Rabbit crept under a big brush pile and looked in the same
direction. What do you suppose Brushtail was watching? Well, he was
looking at a big Plymouth Rock hen coming across the field right
toward the place where he lay hidden.

Now, if Doctor Rabbit had had something better than a brush pile to
hide under, he might have made some sort of noise and warned the hen.
But if he had made the leas