But Eepersip, finding herself caught, became angry, and cried in a loud, commanding voice: “Put me down! Drop me immediately!” She added quietly to herself: “Now it’s all over.”
Then she began to struggle very violently indeed. They had hold of her securely, and so her struggles were in vain. But just as they carried her past a sleeping doe which had no fawn, she uttered a shrill, wild cry; and this so startled the six that they almost dropped her. The doe woke up; and though she was afraid for herself, she was more afraid for Eepersip. She came galloping after them.
To see the doe galloping swiftly toward them naturally startled old Mrs. Ikkisfield, who supposed that all wild animals would flee at the sight of a human being. That was so generally—but not when Eepersip was in danger! Now, Mrs. Ikkisfield had hold of the most important part of Eepersip’s anatomy, though no one suspected it at the time—namely, her feet. Mrs. Ikkisfield dropped them, and for the fraction of an instant which Eepersip needed they were allowed to touch the ground. Eepersip wrenched herself free and leaped to the back of the trembling, excited creature, and they bounded away quick as a flash. The others, agitated, turned to chase the doe; but she, with Eepersip on her back, had vanished.
“Whew, that was a narrow escape!” Eepersip whispered in one of the doe’s long ears, as they lay down together.
The next day it rained hard. Eepersip’s parents and their friends spent much time making plans for a day when they could go out. Mrs. Ikkisfield now made a suggestion
“It is,” she said, “very like the plan that we tried last night—namely, to find Eepersip while she is sleeping. But we must have more people, more people! If we can get some friends from the village at the foot of the mountain, they can drive the deer that we meet away from the people that are carrying Eepersip. In that way she cannot be saved by deer.”
“That is true,” said Mrs. Eigleen; “but, you know, often an angry herd of deer is a terrible thing to drive back.”
“I know that,” said Mrs. Ikkisfield. “But we might be able to keep them cool—keep them from getting angry. However, let’s make some other plans now. That is not a very good one.”
“I was thinking,” said Mrs. Wraspane, “if we could only get Eepersip into a small fenced-in area where we could catch her. But I have it: let us find Eepersip in her sleep again, and carry her to the tent in a roundabout route through the woods, chopping the bushes as we go, where there aren’t so many deer, and where it will be harder for them to rescue her.”
“Great idea!” cried Mrs. Ikkisfield.