"Where is my cabbage?" Sammie wanted to know. "I am so hungry for it."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, but I had to drop it," went on Susie. "Oh, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, is papa home safe. Where is Uncle Wiggily Longears? I hope neither of them is out, for I'm afraid that hunter and his dog will see them."
"Your uncle is asleep in his room," said the muskrat nurse. "His rheumatism hurts him this weather. As for your papa, he has not come home yet, but I guess he is wise enough to keep out of the way of dogs. Now don't make any noise, for your mamma is lying down with a headache. I have a little preserved clover, done up in sugar, put away in the cupboard, and I will give you some."
"That is better than cabbage," declared Sammie, joyfully.
But, just as Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went to the cupboard to get the sugared clover, something ran down into the underground house. It was a long, thin animal, with a sharp nose, sharper even than Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy's, and when the nurse saw the curious little beast, she cried out in fright:
"Oh, run, children! Run!" she screamed. "This is a very dreadful creature indeed! It is a ferret, but I will drive him out, and he shan't hurt you!"
Then Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, dropping the pan of potatoes she was peeling for supper, sprang at the ferret. And to-morrow night, if you are good children, you shall hear how Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy drove the ferret from the underground home and saved the bunny children.