So we dropped the little creature on the floor, and it ran around the room as hard as it could go, while one of us cried out in a loud whisper "Ghost!" Then every boy in the room pulled the bedclothes over his head, and did not dare to uncover again.
We kept the rabbit for a pet, and made a box for it. We liked to watch it eat, and it did not suffer for want of food so long as we had it. One of the "gangs" among the small boys came to us one day while we were feeding our pet, and offered us some clay marbles for it. We looked upon their offer with contempt, for we all knew how to make clay marbles ourselves, and had all we wanted.
"I'll tell you what we'll do though," said Brush to the would-be purchasers. "If you will give each one of us seventeen cakes, you can take the rabbit."
The boys retired and held a private consultation, then came back, and the leader said, "We'll take the rabbit."
These boys must have coveted the rabbit very much, for there was not a boy in the school who did not love cake, and the one slice of brown ginger-cake we were each given for Sunday noon lunch was the only delicacy we tasted. This cake became a currency among the boys, and all contracts for cakes were faithfully kept. I know of only one instance where a boy failed to keep his bargain, and he was so persecuted by the other scholars that he was obliged to pay his debt in order to live in peace.
Brush thought he had put the price of the rabbit so high that it would not be accepted; but as we could not back out of our agreement, we were obliged to part with our ghost rabbit for eighty-five cakes.
As the number of the "gang" purchasing the rabbit was the same as ours, for seventeen Sundays these five boys went without their cakes, while each one of us enjoyed a double share.