TOWSER AND THE SENATOR
Mr. Bunny seemed to have forgotten that he was telling a story, and continued to gaze at the waving ferns as if his thoughts were very far away, until it appeared absolutely necessary to ask whether Mr. Towser succeeded in making very great trouble for him.
"Oh, it didn't amount to anything much," he said with a chuckle as of satisfaction, pulling himself up with a start such as he might have given at the moment he made the unpleasant discovery that Mr. Towser was on his track. "Of course it wasn't very great fun for me to run for my life at a time when I was scared nearly to death; but before the thing was ended I had a heap of fun. Say, what do you think of the Senator, anyway?
"Don't you know him? Of course you know Senator Bear! We call him the Senator because he doesn't amount to half as much as he thinks he does, and goes around pushing his chest out as if he were the most dangerous thing in the big woods, when all of us at the club know that he's only a big bunch of fur that doesn't dare to make any kind of fight, large as he is, unless Mr. Man gets him in a corner where it's a case of putting in the big licks to save his own skin. I do think a bear is about the most useless creature we have among us; he spends the whole winter long sleeping, and when he finally comes out of his den all he does is to go pottering around stealing honey from the bees, or watching for a chance to get hold of what some smaller fellow has gathered in.
"Mr. Crow says there are bears who really do amount to something—big, big fellows who wouldn't think anything of making one bite of a boy like Tommy Man, and who are the very worst kind of fighters; but we don't have any such in these woods. Why, do you know, there have been lots of times when I've really felt ashamed for the Senator because of his showing himself to be such a coward! Bobby Coon has thrown it in my face more than once that I'm the most scared thing to be found in the big woods, but I've seen the Senator run many a time at the littlest kind of noise when I'd held my ground, at least, until I'd found out what really was the matter.
"You can't make out why I should be talking about Senator Bear when I'd started to tell about Mr. Towser's chasing me, eh? Well, it's because the Senator got mixed up with Mr. Towser and me a good bit before that chase came to an end. I suppose you want me to go back and tell about it in what Mr. Crow would call a 'proper manner,'—he's mighty particular about the way he tells a story, and always kicks up a terrible fuss if one of us so much as wags an ear when he's holding forth with one of his long-winded yarns.
"Let me see, I'd got to where Mr. Towser took after me, without paying any attention to Bobby Coon, and I was making my legs move the best I knew how, being all out of breath at the beginning of the race because of having started so suddenly. Well, I kept my nose pointed straight ahead, and if I'd run far in that direction I'd brought up in the swamp where I'd found more water than dry land, though I didn't think of anything like that at the time.
"Mr. Towser made certain he'd got me that time and once, when I looked back over my shoulder, I saw that he was laughing. Now, do you know that helped me to put in the big licks more than anything else could have done? I folded my ears back so's they wouldn't hold the wind, and straightened myself out till I wasn't much thicker than a streak of daylight, jumping through the bushes whenever I saw a chance, so's Mr. Towser would be forced to go a good ways round, and before many minutes went by I had all my wits about me.
"I don't want to say anything that may sound like bragging, but it's a fact that when I get right down to business in the woods there aren't many members of the club who can come anywhere near me for speed—there's no telling how fast I can run when it gets right down to a pinch, and I was needing all my feet just then, for Mr. Towser isn't anybody's fool when it comes to a race, owing to his legs being so long.
"Well, as I was saying, I went through every bush that stood in the way and had just made a leap that beat anything ever done by a member of my family when what do you think? I came within half an inch of jumping down the throat of Senator Bear, who was lying on the dry moss in the sun, enjoying himself. Of course, he came up on his feet like a steel spring when I flew past him; but he was too clumsy to do me any mischief and then I pulled up mighty short, for I knew there'd be quite a surprise party when Mr. Towser came along.