WE HEARD A TERRIBLE NOISE AMONG THE BUSHES
"Well, there was the boy Tommy, and in his hand was the sling, with a little stone in it ready to be fired. Mr. Crow had crept around the trunk of the tree, hoping to keep out of sight; but the boy, looking for something to shoot at, espied the old bird, and in another second the president of the club flew away crying 'Caw, caw, caw' with all his strength. Mr. Man's boy Tommy shot at him, but Mr. Crow wasn't there, so he didn't get hit.
"It seemed to me that the moment had come when I should take to my heels, for I was hidden only by a few mullein leaves, and Tommy wouldn't have to hunt very long before he stumbled right over me. While he was putting another stone in the sling I jumped out from under the leaves, and headed straight for home, but unluckily for me, the boy got a glimpse of the tip of my tail, short though it is, as I darted through a clump of alders.
"Now it so happened that lying on the ground where he could get at it handily was a piece of half-decayed wood, which had most likely fallen from the big oak a long while before, and, if you'll believe it, that boy had time to pick it up and shy the thing at me before I got out of sight. Not once in a hundred times could he have hit me; but it so happened that this was the unfortunate once, and I was knocked head over heels into the brook, so nearly stunned that I was almost drowned before I came to myself.
"When I did get my senses that miserable boy was just reaching out his hand to pick me up, and you never saw a rabbit struggle as I did then! Being in the water, and not knowing how to swim, it was quite a task to get out quickly. More than once he had his fingers on my ears; but each time I contrived to wriggle away, and at the very moment when it seemed as if I must give up and go into the stew or pie, as his mother should decide, I gave him the slip.
"I was wet as a drowned rat; the mud stuck to my hair until it seemed as if my coat were twice as heavy as usual, and I was sore all over from the blow; but yet I could run faster than he, and if ever a rabbit put his best foot forward, it was I! I had never believed he could move as quickly as he did then, and no matter how I struggled he kept uncomfortably near my heels till just as I darted around a clump of mullein stalks whom should I come plump upon but Mrs. Rabbit herself.
"'Gracious me, Bunny, what a disgraceful condition you are in!' she cried, holding up both front paws and getting ready to read me one of her long lectures; but I swung her around by the ears as I said, speaking queerly, I suppose, because of breathing so hard after the long chase:
"'Don't stop here to talk if you want to save your skin! Mr. Man's boy Tommy has nearly killed me, and he can't be far away this very minute. Run, run for your life!'
"Sometimes Mrs. Rabbit is a very sensible animal, and on this occasion she took my advice, running at full speed, especially when she heard Tommy cry: