THE GARDEN THIEF
"What are we doing, Grandfather?" asked Mary Jane as she trotted along behind her grandfather and Bob. "What are we doing and where are we going and who's the thief?"
"No time to talk," called Grandfather over his shoulder. "You'll see! Come along and take hold of my hand."
Mary Jane ran as fast as ever she could till she caught up with her grandfather and got a firm hold of his hand. Then she felt better: for when a little girl doesn't know what is going on, she wants to have hold of something—you know how that is yourself. Bob led them out of the corner of the garden; across the small cornfield back of the barn; across the pasture and into the woods beyond. There he stopped and sniffed in the bushes and through the dead leaves in what Mary Jane thought was the most curious way she had ever seen a dog act.
"Well!" exclaimed Grandfather disgustedly, "if you can't find him any better than that—I'll hunt myself!" And to Mary Jane's amazement, he too, began hunting in the piles of dead leaves where Bob was diligently sniffing.
Suddenly he cried, "Mary Jane! Mary Jane! Come here this minute!"
Mary Jane, who had been standing by a stump where her grandfather left her when he followed Bob into the woods, eagerly ran over to where he stood. He waited quietly till she was clear up to him and then he reached down and lifted up a pile of dead leaves and rubbish.
"Oh, Grandfather!" exclaimed the little girl, "what are they?"
"What do you think they are?" he asked.
"I don't think," replied Mary Jane, "'cause I never saw them before. But they look like the Easter things at the store."
"Right you are!" exclaimed Grandfather much pleased. "They're baby rabbits—and in one of the prettiest little nests I ever found. I'm glad you were along to see."
"Were they what you were hunting, Grandfather?" asked Mary Jane as she half timidly bent over the little bundle of gray and white fur. "They wouldn't steal your garden, would they?"
"No, not those pretty little things," replied Grandfather, "but their father would. Can't say as I blame him though," continued Grandfather, laughing, "with such a family to feed he'd naturally have to get whatever he could. Usually the rabbits don't bother my garden. Well, Pussy, what shall we do with them?"
"Do with them?" asked Mary Jane. "What is there to do?"
Grandfather looked down at the little girl; by this time she was on her knees beside the nest, and bending over the little rabbits as though she'd like to touch them but didn't feel quite well enough acquainted. "Shall we leave them out here or—"
But Mary Jane didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence.
"Oh, Grandfather!" she exclaimed, "could we take them home?"
"I guess we could if you wanted to," he said. "Your mother was always a great hand for pet rabbits and I believe that the very house I once built for her, is up in the loft to this day. Let's cover them over again and go find it."
"Will they stay here while we're gone?" asked Mary Jane as he tenderly laid the leaves back over the little creatures.
"They will till their mother gets a chance to take them away," answered Grandfather. "If she thinks we'll hurt them, she'll carry them to some other hiding place. But if we hurry, we'll get them first."
"Won't she know that we'll take good care of them?" asked Mary Jane.
"She won't know it at first," replied Grandfather, "but she'll soon find out. We'll fix them up in a comfortable box and they'll be as safe and happy and perhaps even better fed than if they'd stayed out here in the woods where stray dogs might hurt them. Come on, now, Pussy; let's hurry for the box."
Mary Jane took hold of his hand again and they hurried back through the pasture and the cornfield to the barn.
It didn't take Grandfather long to find the little rabbit house he had made for Mary Jane's mother years ago. "The box part is good as new," he said, "and I'll get some fresh screening from the attic to cover over this open side."
Mary Jane trotted along beside him up to the mysterious, big attic at the top of the house, where, from a dark corner, he pulled a strip of new wire screen. They took it down to the back porch where he had left the box and in less than half an hour he had the new home all ready for the rabbits.
Of course Grandmother heard them working around and came to see what was going on.
"Oh, the cunningest bunnies, five of them, we found," Mary Jane told her, "little and soft and gray and white just like the Easter bunnies in the store, and we're going to bring them up to your house to live so not any bad dogs will hurt them and so I can feed them."
"Won't that be fun," said Grandmother approvingly, "but how are you going to carry them?"
Mary Jane stared at her grandmother thoughtfully. "Will they go in my hand?"
"Carry five?" asked Grandmother. "I thought you said five. You couldn't get that many in your hand."
"No-o-o, I 'spect I couldn't," said Mary Jane. "How'll I do it?"
"Suppose we fix a basket," suggested Grandmother, "then they would be safe and comfortable while they made the journey."
Mary Jane thought that a wonderful idea and she helped Grandmother hunt up a basket from the storeroom and fold a soft old cloth to line it. By the time they had it all ready, Grandfather had the new home finished and he and Mary Jane set out for the woods to get their new family.
Just before they got to the nest they saw the mother rabbit dart away. Such a pretty little thing she was, all soft gray except her tiny stub of a tail which was snow white. She hurried away so quickly Mary Jane hardly got more than a glance at her before she was out of sight behind a log.
"I'll wager she'll watch us," said Grandfather, chuckling, "and then she'll know where we take her babies. Well, that's all right, Mrs. Rabbit," he added; "you've a right to know where your family is. If you'd made a safer nest, I'd leave them here for you, but as it is, they'll be better off where they're going than where they are."
"But didn't you say they ate the garden?" asked Mary Jane, suddenly remembering what had started them out on their journey.
"Yes, they do a bit," answered Grandfather, "but they mostly let us alone so I guess we won't think any more about the little they stole." While he was talking, he had set the basket on the ground and now he lifted off the rubbish and tenderly took out two little rabbit babies and set them in the basket.
"Why!" exclaimed Mary Jane as she bent over to see, "they's only three bunnies!"
"Sure enough!" agreed Grandfather. "How many did you think there were?"
"I didn't think," said Mary Jane. "I counted them; they had five noses when we saw them before. I know because I can count one, two, three, four, five!"
"You surely can," said Grandfather much puzzled, "then their mother must have taken two away. Like as not she was after another one when she saw us coming. Now cover them up good and warm, Mary Jane," he added as he set the third bunny into the basket, "and we'll hurry off home."
He let her carry the basket every bit of the way, and she was careful, oh, so very careful, not to jiggle the bunnies as she walked.
When they got back to the porch Grandmother came out to watch them put the bunnies onto the nice soft cotton she had fixed in the corner of the box and she showed Mary Jane how to fix water and some freshly picked lettuce for them.
"Now, then," she said, "that's enough for now. Dinner's ready and I guess you're ready for it!"
Mary Jane was hungry enough to be willing to leave the rabbits long enough to eat—but no longer. The minute she had finished she ran out to watch her pets. She sat down on the grass beside the box and watched and watched and watched, but those funny little fellows didn't eat or do anything! They just stayed snuggled up in the soft cotton as tight as ever they could.
"They feel strange and queer, just like you would if some one took you away from your bed," said Grandmother when she came out to see how Mary Jane was getting along. "Why don't you come and take a ride with me and maybe by the time you come home, they'll be better acquainted and will come out and eat."
So Mary Jane reluctantly left her post of watching and went riding. Grandfather surprised them and went along too, and the new gardening tools and a big sun hat were bought and stowed away in the back of the car.
"Let's not stay too long," said Mary Jane, as they turned away from the store; "let's see if the bunnies feel better now."
"I don't believe that child wants to ride a bit," laughed Grandmother. "We might as well go home!" So they turned back the way they had come.
The minute she was out of the car, Mary Jane ran to the rabbit house. Not a rabbit was there! Not one of the pretty bunnies she had left snugged up in the corner!
"Grandfather!" called Mary Jane, "Grandmother! Come quick! They's gone!"
"Think of that!" exclaimed Grandfather as he hurried up to see.
"Poor child! That's too bad!" cried Grandmother sympathetically as she peered into the empty box. "Like as not their mother came after them, though how she got them out I don't quite see."
"I do," laughed Grandfather, and he pointed to a hole in the back of the box. "I guess this wood wasn't as sound as I thought it was! Well, if she wanted them that much, I guess she deserves them! But who'd a thought she'd be so quick!"
"Where are my bunnies?" cried Mary Jane, "where did she take them?" And Grandmother noticed that she was bitterly disappointed.
"Never you mind, pet," said Grandmother, and she put her arm comfortingly around the little girl. "They're not far away, depend on that. But if you want something to feed and take care of, something all your own—I'll get it for you."
"Will you, Grandmother, really truly?"
"Really truly," nodded Grandmother, "and you shall keep it in this pretty little house!"
"Goody!" exclaimed Mary Jane, "and will it be pretty like my Easter rabbits?"
"Every bit as pretty," said Grandmother, "just come with me to see if it isn't!"
And she took hold of Mary Jane's hand and together they went toward the chicken house.