"I dodged into a big bed of ferns, for it stood to reason that my race had been called off on account of general conditions, and there I waited, stuffing my paws into my mouth so's I shouldn't roar right out loud, for I was laughing till it really seemed as if there was danger I'd burst. The Senator was standing with his mouth half open, wondering if it were actually a rabbit or only a little bit of sunlight that had given him such a start and then Towser came around the edge of the bushes full tilt, but pulling himself in mighty quick when he saw what he was up against.
"I saw the Senator's ears twitch, and knew he wanted to run; but there wasn't any time to get headway on, so he had to stop and do the best he knew how. Mr. Towser didn't claim to be any bear dog, and I reckon he'd have given the biggest bone he ever saw to have been out of the scrape without actually running away. There the two stood, one afraid and the other scared, but both knowing there wasn't any chance of keeping the peace without owning right up to being cowards. I'll bet six of Mr. Man's biggest carrots that if I'd gone right out and coaxed them not to fight they'd thanked me with tears in their eyes for helping them out of a bad hole.
"The Senator came up on his hind legs, waving his fore paws in the air as if all he wanted was to make fur fly, and Mr. Towser growled in a way that would make your blood run cold; but neither of them moved out of his tracks. I was looking over the tops of the ferns, wondering who'd make the first move when suddenly somebody came up against me so strong that I was nearly knocked over, and a great deal more scared than I'd be willing to admit. Who do you think it was? Why, nobody but Bobby Coon, and I felt like pulling his tail real hard because he'd given me such a scare. Most likely I would have done it, for I'm awfully reckless when I'm angry, if it hadn't been that I wanted to keep my eyes on the Senator and Mr. Towser.
"Well, you know how foolish Bobby Coon can be without trying very hard, and instead of waiting to find out how the two would fix things, he whispered to me: 'Just hold your breath a minute and see me give those two great ninnies the scare of their lives!' Then, before I could say a word to stop him, he scratched around among the leaves at a furious rate, singing out as if he were just regularly thirsting for somebody's blood: 'Let me at 'em! I'm needing just about that much meat!'
"It was mean of Bobby to break the meeting up; but even though I was furious with him I couldn't help laughing till my sides really ached. Oh, dear! how those stupid things did run at the first word that foolish coon spoke! They were in such a hurry to get away that they tumbled over each other, and before you could say 'Jack Robinson,' provided you'd wanted to say it, there was nothing to be seen but their hind feet as they clipped it through the bushes!
"I gave Bobby a real serious scolding for breaking up the fun so soon, for I had been aching to see how much of a fight they would have made and, besides, I had the least little bit of a hope that the Senator might have done up Mr. Towser, for there are times when that dog makes the lives of us club members a burden with sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.
"LET ME AT 'EM"
"If you could have seen Bobby Coon capering around after the Senator and Mr. Towser ran away from each other you'd thought he had done the whole trick. He threw out his chest as if he were the biggest thing in the woods, and began telling about what the Coon family had done in days past, till I got provoked and said right sharply: