"Mrs. Bunny never did like the idea of my joining the club; but she hadn't come out quite so strong before, and it staggered me so much that, just for the moment, I forgot that my poor little Sonny seemed to be in trouble. It was quite a spell before I could coax her to tell what had happened, and when she did speak I found out how mean a sneak Jimmy Hedgehog could be without trying very hard.
"It seems that poor Sonny was lying on the moss sunning himself, at the very place where I fancied it was possible to smell blood, when along came Jimmy. Of course, Sonny stayed where he was, never thinking one of the Hedgehog family would do him any harm, and without saying a word Jimmy lay down on the poor little fellow, rolling over on him as many as six times. There's no need for me to say that my dear little rabbit looked, when Jimmy got up, a good deal like one of Mrs. Man's pin-cushions, for quills were sticking out all over him.
"'You can tell your father that that's what he gets for tattling about me,' Jimmy said in a terribly ugly voice, 'and if he doesn't mind his business from now on I'll come and fix your mother the same way!'
"Poor Sonny was so frightened and hurt that he couldn't say a word, and there he lay, not daring to move because every time he wiggled the least little bit the quills would stick into him worse than ever, till his mother found him. She had just finished pulling out the quills when I came in, and, of course, felt a good deal excited; wouldn't even let me touch Sonny, but declared that until I'd left the club for good and all I couldn't come where she or the children were.
"It wasn't the least little use for me to promise that I'd take my name off the list of members next morning; she insisted that I do it that very same minute, and, if you'll believe me, nearly drove me out of my own home, threatening to pour hot water on me if I didn't notify the president right away that I was through with joining clubs.
"When Mrs. Bunny gets really mad there isn't any sense in trying to argue with her, for she won't listen, and, seeing that I was driven out of the hole, there was nothing left but to do as she had said. You can't think how bad I felt about being obliged to do it, for I knew all the members would laugh at me, or say I didn't dare to stand up for my rights; but there wasn't any other way out of the scrape, as I figured it, so off I went, hopping mighty slow, and trying to think up what I could say to make the other fellows believe I'd got tired of going to the club meetings.
"I suppose because I was so mixed up in my mind I didn't look after myself as I would have done at almost any other time, and all of a sudden there was one of Grandfather Fox's grandchildren standing right in front of me, so near that I could have touched him with my paw! Now you'd better believe I was frightened, and I had good reason to be, for if he made one snap I was a gone rabbit, as I couldn't make the first jump without his nabbing me!
"He licked his chops, thinking, I suppose, that a bit of fresh rabbit would taste mighty good, and I couldn't help saying to myself that I was the freshest thing in the big woods, else I'd have had better sense than to have run straight into that impudent young fox as I had. He was a member of the family with which I wasn't very well acquainted, but when I understood by the swinging of his tail that he was getting ready to pounce on me I said, as if he were the best friend I ever had in the world:
"'Good afternoon, Mr. Fox. Your grandfather was an old acquaintance of mine, and I'm mighty glad to meet a grandson of his who looks so much like him.'
"Mr. Fox grinned, but he never said a word, and I made up my mind right off quick that there wouldn't be any need for me to tell Mr. Crow to take my name off the club list, for in two or three minutes more there wouldn't be enough left of me to talk about."