ck!"

The little woolly lamb-like dog, who certainly possessed a larger amount
of courage than would reasonably have been imagined from his attenuated
appearance, at once darted after the rabbits, who, jerking their short
tails in the funniest way possible and throwing up their hind-legs as if
they were going to turn somersaults and come down on the other side,
darted off down the glade, making for the holes of their burrows under
the coppice.

The artful Puck, however, having chased the gentry before, was up to all
their little dodges, so, instead of running for the rabbits directly, he
attacked their flank, endeavouring to cut off their retreat; and, in
this object succeeding, away went the hunted animals, now scared out of
their lives, down the side of the hill to the bottom, with Puck charging
after them, and Teddy following close behind, and Cissy and Liz bringing
up the rear.

Miss Conny was much too dignified to chase rabbits.

"Stop, Master Teddy! stop!" cried Mary. "Come back, Miss Liz and
Cissy--come back at once!"

The little girls immediately obeyed their nurse; but Teddy, who perhaps
in the ardour of the chase might not have heard her call, continued on
racing down the hill after Puck, as fast as his stumpy little legs could
carry him, his hat flying off and his pinafore streaming behind him in
the wind.

"Stop, Master Teddy, stop!" called out Mary again.

"Why can't you let him be?" said Jupp. "He's only enj'ying hisself with
the rabbits, and can't come to no harm on the grass."

"Little you know about it," retorted Mary, rather crossly it seemed to
Jupp. "Why, the river runs round just below the coppice; and if Master
Teddy runs on and can't stop himself, he'll fall into it--there!"

"My stars and stripes!" ejaculated Jupp starting up in alarm. "I'll go
after him at once."

"You'd better," said Mary as he set off running down the hill after
Teddy, singing out loudly for him to stop in a sort of reef-topsails-in-
a-heavy-squall voice that you could have heard more than a cable's
length ahead!

The momentum Teddy had gained, however, from the descent of the glade
prevented him from arresting his rapid footsteps, although he heard
Jupp's voice, the slope inclining the more abruptly towards the bottom
of the hill. Besides, Puck in pursuit of the rabbits was right in front
of him, and the dog, unable or unwilling to stop, bounded on into the
mass of rushes, now quite close, that filled the l