“NO! No!” shouted a hundred voices. “We’ll not be his slaves! We’ll not follow him!”
“Listen, friends!” Old Blind Rabbit called back. “You have been deceived. Spotted Tail has spread false rumors. He knew they were false, and he couldn’t get Rusty or Mr. Woodpecker or Towhee or any of the birds, who were his friends, to carry the message to you. Then when they all failed him he appealed to Shrike the Butcher Bird.”
He paused, and looked with his sightless eyes over the big assemble. Then, raising his voice, he continued: “Since when have you come to believe what Shrike tells! When has he ever spread anything but lies in the woods? He has no friends among the birds—”
Suddenly there was a commotion on the outskirts of the crowd. Shrike flew in their midst and whistled sharply. Then out of the bushes crashed Buster the Bear, followed by Mr. Fox. Screams and shouts went up from all sides as every rabbit scurried for cover. They ran pell-mell hither and thither, with Mr. Fox and Buster after them, laughing in their glee at the fright they had caused.
It was a miracle that some were not killed, for it hardly seemed there were enough hiding-places in the woods to conceal them. Old Blind Rabbit stumbled back in his burrow, and invited as many to follow him as the place would hold.
Mr. Fox and Buster the Bear were more interested in frightening them than in killing
STORY XII
SPOTTED TAIL RECEIVES HIS PUNISHMENT
Yes, it was certainly a miracle that there wasn’t a great slaughter of rabbits in the woods when Buster and Mr. Fox broke up the huge assemble! To this day they marvel at it. The only explanation the leaders could give was that Mr. Fox and Buster the Bear were more interested in frightening them than in killing. So they bowled over as many as they could, and didn’t stop to bite any of them.
What a crowded house Old Blind Rabbit had, though! Every rabbit who could squeeze through the doorway had followed him in the burrow. It was the most mixed audience ever gathered in one burrow.