“You two talkers stay here while I go after the little rabbit,” said Mr. Wicked Wolf, and he ran down the stairs as fast as he could. But, goodness me! it was dark. And every once in a while he’d knock his head against something, but he kept on just the same, and pretty soon he saw a little light ahead.
And then, all of a sudden, a voice said:
“What are you doing down here under ground,
You wicked old wolf from the hill,
You haven’t got brains to go in when it rains
If you wake up a man when he’s ill.”
“I don’t know who you are and I didn’t know you were ill,” answered Mr. Wicked Wolf, looking all around to see who was talking. “Who are you, anyway?”
A PRISONER
Well, before Mr. Wicked Wolf found out who was talking to him as I meant to tell you in the last story, he saw the tip of Little Jack Rabbit’s tail. So he didn’t stop to find out, but ran down the dark tunnel as fast as he could.
“Oh, dear me,” said the little rabbit to himself, “I thought Mr. Mole would keep him for a few minutes till I got away.” And then the little rabbit hopped along faster than ever, and I guess Mr. Wicked Wolf would have caught him only the tunnel was so low and so narrow that Mr. Wicked Wolf had to be very careful not to bump his head off.