Killer looked up and caught sight of this great host, and then ducked his head. He tried to crawl away and hide in the bushes, but the birds found him and darted down at him. Their sharp bills caught him in the head, the body, the tail, and wherever he was the most sensitive.
Killer tried to fight back at first, but there were too many for him. They attacked him on all sides, and punished him so that he ached and pained all over. Then he ran, and the birds followed him. Again and again they pecked him. It was like sticking dozens of needles in his body.
Finally he discovered a hole in the ground, and disappeared in it, but not until after he had been wounded so many times that he could not count them. It was a proper punishment for breaking the truce, and the birds were glad they had been in time to save Hermit’s egg. They helped the rabbit to get out of the thicket, and then all talked together and laughed and sang until the woods echoed with the noise. Next story will tell of an adventure with Sneaky and Mr. Fox.
STORY XIV
An Adventure With Sneaky and Mr. Fox
As the end of the two days of truce declared by the animals in the woods drew near, Bumper was pleased to find that all of his friends had new homes and were contentedly settled in them. Pink Nose, Rolly Polly, Crooked Ears and Brindley the Lame had found burrows carefully hidden in the heart of the forest for their families. Mr. Beaver had constructed a new dam and a run-way from it to a house in the middle of the stream. Billy the Mink and Browny the Muskrat had burrowed under the river’s embankment a most elaborate system of tunnels for their hiding places.
The birds had likewise found nests for their little ones, some swinging from the top branches of tall trees, and others hidden under the leaves on the ground. White Tail the Deer had retired to a lonely part of the forest for his home; Bobby Gray Squirrel and Stripe the Chipmunk had made their nests in secret holes in the trees. Even Spotty the Chameleon was settled, and Lazy the Snail was safe in the mud.
“Everything’s all right now—just as it was before the fire,” remarked Bumper as he hopped through the woods toward his own burrow, after making a round of the woods to see if any of his friends were still homeless. He had made so many friends now that it took him a long time to visit them in turn, and he was very tired.