ed by seeing us in such a state that
he actually quivered.

"Of course I had sense enough to know that we hadn't a single second
to spare in that neighborhood, and it was up to me to save the family,
or go down into the stew with them. I don't like to boast, as do the
Squirrels; but yet I must say that, except when we come face to face
with Mr. Weasel, we Rabbits can do a powerful lot of thinking in a
short time when we are in a hole--or, perhaps I should say, when we
want to get into our own particular hole.

"I twisted one of Mrs. Rabbit's ears right sharp, to bring her to her
senses quickly, and jumping straight for Sonny Bunny, tossed him
around with my nose, as I whispered:

"'Run for your life, Sonny, and run as you never did before. It's up
to you to see that your mother gets home before those wicked boys can
lay their hands on her, so move lively!'

"Sonny Bunny is a good deal like me in some things, and it was as if
the little fellow understood the whole situation in a sniff of your
nose. Before you could say Jack Robinson, in case you wanted to, he
was showing his mother the way home, his little legs twinkling like
drumsticks amid the bushes.

"Mrs. Bunny and Sonny hadn't much more than disappeared when Mr. Man's
boy Tommy was almost the same as walking all over me, and I had to do
some mighty lively hopping to keep out from under his feet. Now I'm
not trying to make myself out the bravest fellow that ever walked; but
it is a fact that I had sense enough not to run straight for home, as
I knew the rest of the family were doing, and when that busy Tommy
caught a glimpse of me, I was steaming off as if we lived in the very
middle of the big swamp. Of course he came after me with a whoop and a
yell and, if the noise was anything to be judged by, there were more
than a hundred other boys close at his heels.

"I wasn't fretting very much just then, because I'd had a breathing
spell, to say nothing of knowing that Mrs. Bunny and Sonny were clean
out of the muss, so off I went limperty, limperty, limp, taking my own
time and leading that crowd of boys and sling-shots straight into the
swamp, where I was allowing they'd pitch head over heels into the mud
till they were in such shape that their mothers couldn't help whipping
them soundly when they got home.

"Mr. Man's boy Tommy wasn't quite so simple as I'd taken him to be,
for when he came to the edge of the swamp he fired one shot that never
came anywhere n