“My, how thankful I am to get out with a whole skin!” he exclaimed. “It was a narrow escape.”
He cleaned the dirt from his white fur, and glanced up happily at the moon. “It will go hard with Mr. Fox and Sneaky,” he added. “I suppose Loup will kill both of them.”
He shuddered at the very thought, and hopped along in silence. In a short time he stopped again. He couldn’t get out of his mind the thought of Mr. Fox’s fate and of Sneaky’s. After all they would suffer just as much in being killed as he would. Of course, in a way they deserved it, for they intended to kill him.
“Still, I can’t bear to think of them suffering so,” he reflected, “not even if they did intend to eat me.”
Bumper was very tender hearted, and the more he thought of the terrible fate of his two enemies the less he liked it. Finally, he sat upright, and said: “I must see Buster the Bear. Maybe he can do something to help Mr. Fox and Sneaky. Anyway I must tell him.”
After that he hopped along more rapidly, and long before morning he found Buster’s den and knocked on the door. Buster wasn’t very pleased at being roused out of his sleep in the middle of the night, and he grumbled angrily.
“What do you want, Bumper? If it isn’t anything important go away, and let me finish my nap.”
“It is important, Buster, or I shouldn’t disturb you,” was the reply.
Bumper told him the story of his adventures, which pleased Buster, who soon lost all desire for sleep. Before Bumper was through he was chuckling.
“And you say Loup, and Sneaky and Mr. Fox are in the pit now, and can’t get out?” he queried.