The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-04

bounded after Molly but she kept just
beyond his reach and led him where the
mlllon daggers struck fast and deep
I'LL his tender ears We're scratched raw
and guided him at last plump into a
hidden barbed-Wire fence, where he got
such a gashing that he went homeWdrd
howling with pain. After making a
short double, a loop and a balk in case
the dog should come back, Molly re-
turned to find that Rag in his eager
ness was standing bolt upright and
craning his neck to see the sport.
This disobedience made her so angry
that she struck him with her hind foot
and knocked him over in the mud.
One day, as they fed on the near clo-
Yer field, a red-tailed hawk came
sWooping after them. Molly kicked up
her hind legs to make fun of him and
skipped into the briaTs. along one Of
their old pathways, where, of course,
the hawk could not follow. 1t was the
main path from the Crcekside thicltet
to the stove pipe brush pile. Several
creepers had grown across it, and Mol
ly, keeping one eye on the hawk, set to
work and cut the creepers out. Rag
watched her, then ran ON ahead and
cut some more that We're across the
path. That's right" said Molly, al
ways keep the run-a-Ways clear; yea
will need them often enough. Not wide,
but clear. Cut everything like d creep
er across them and some day you VIII
find you have cut snare" "A WHAT
asked Rag, as he sCrached his right ear
with his left hind foot
"A snare is something that looks like
creeper, but it doesn't grow, and it is
worse than all the hawks in the
world" said Molly, glancng at tine now
far away red-tail, for there it hides
nd law n, he
chance to catch you comes"
Il don't believe it could catch me-"
said Rag, with the pride of youth as
he rose on his heels to rub his chin and
WhiskerS high up on a smooth sapliug.
Rag did not know he was doing this.
but his mother saw and knew it was q
sign, like the changing of a boys voice.
that her little one was no longer a baby
but would soon be a grown up cotton
tail.
There is magic in running water. The
hounds come to the very spot and halt
and cast about, and halt and cast in
vain. Their spell is broken by the
merry stream, and the wild thing lives
its life.
And this was one Of the great Sc
crets that Raggylug learned from his
mother, After the brier rose, the
water is your friend"
VIC Iiul, LHuSSy night IN August,
MoIy lea Rag through the woods The
cotton-white cushions she wore under
her tail twinkled ahead and was his
guiding lantern, though it went out as
soon as she stopped and sat on it, At
ter few runs and stops to listen
they came to the edge Of the pond
The hylas in the trees above them were
singing Sleep sleep" and away out
on sunken log in the deep water up
to his chin in the cooling bath, a bIoat-
ed bull frog was singing the praises Of
jug o rum.
Follow me STILL" said Molly. in rab-
bit and Cop she Went into the pond
and struck out to the sunken log in the
middle. Rag finched but plunged with
little ouch grasping and webbing
his nose very fast, but still copying his
mother The same movement as on
land sent him through the water, and
thus he found he could swim. On he
went until he reached the sunken log
and scrambled up by his dripping
mother on the high, dry end, with a
rushy screen around them and the
water that tells no tales After this.
In warm, black nights, when that old
fox from Springfield came proWling
through the swamp, Rag would note
the place of the bull frogs voice, for in
case of direct need, it might be a guide
to safety. And thenoeforth the words
of the song that the bull frog sang
We're Come, come, in danger, come"
This was the latest study that Rae.
took up with his mOther-it was really
q postgraduate course, for many little
rabbits never learn it at all.