"'You're to go straight up to the club, Mr. Rabbit,' he said when I stopped short to look over my left shoulder for luck. 'Mr. Crow has called a meeting right away, and all the members of both sections are expected to be on hand. Bobby Coon is dead, and old Mr. Slowly Turtle is ready to swear that he heard Jimmy Hedgehog stumping the poor fellow to tackle Mr. Towser.'
"When I got to the big oak it seemed as if every member of the club was waiting for me, and I felt really bashful when the president croaked:
"'Here comes Mr. Rabbit, and now we shall be able to get at the truth of the matter, for even though he hasn't very much courage, he will always tell the truth.'
"Just think of that! It was the same as being called a coward after all I'd done to prevent it, and if I'd behaved myself in the first place, poor Bobby might have been alive at that very minute! Yes, Jimmy Hedgehog was there, and you could see that he was feeling mighty grouchy, for he'd rolled himself into a ball, with his quills sticking out in every direction. I could just see the tip of his nose and one eye, and by the way he looked at me I knew he was practically threatening to serve me out if I should say anything he didn't like.
"Mr. Crow didn't give me any chance to look around after he saw me eyeing Jimmy, for he called me up to the foot of the tree, and all hands crowded near, as if I were the fellow who was having a trial, instead of being only a witness.
"'It has been reported to me as the president of this club that you heard young Hedgehog urging Bobby Coon to trifle with Mr. Towser, by doing which he lost his life. You are accused of being in Mr. Coon's company at the time, and those who saw you claim that you did not even so much as raise your voice against the advice which Jimmy Hedgehog was giving his cousin. We demand from you a straightforward account of the whole matter, for, as members of the Fur and Feather Club, it is our duty to learn if one member has acted toward another member in an unbrotherly fashion.'
"You might have knocked me down with a feather by the time Mr. Crow finished his long-winded speech. I wasn't so blind but that I could see Jimmy wasn't the only one who would get it warm, and yet I give you my solemn word I hadn't the slightest idea of telling anything but the honest truth. I got up on my hind legs to answer the president, when Mr. Jay shouted, excitedly:
"'Look out for your skins! Here comes that disreputable Professor Hawk!'"
Mr. Bunny had no more than ceased speaking as if to take a long breath, when the Professor sailed slowly by, and the story-teller watched curiously until he had disappeared from view in the distance.