"That was the part of the race that broke his heart, and when I circled over the top, allowing I'd give him a sight of the club's meeting place, I saw him sitting down trying to pull a thorn out of his left hind foot. Then I laughed and cut capers till he started down the hill again on his way home, after which I went off hipperty-hop, saying to myself that it would do poor little Sonny Bunny a world of good when I told the story to him.
"Of course I had to go right past the big oak in order to get home, and when I was there the most sensible thing I could do was to stop and have a chat with President Crow, for I wanted to tell him how well I'd served out young Mr. Fox.
"Old Mr. Crow was roosting mighty low that day, talking with Bobby Coon's brother, and when I told him what had happened he laughed till the tears got all mixed up with feathers on his cheeks, for he had heard young Fox telling 'Squire Owl that he was going to make the Rabbit family look mighty sick as soon as he had time to attend to the matter.
"Well, after we'd had a good time over what I'd done and when Bobby's brother had gone away I up and told Mr. Crow that I had to leave the club that very day, else there'd never be any more peace at home for me. The news surprised him terribly, as I understood by the way he kept smoothing out his tail feathers, and it was quite a spell before he could seem to say anything, but when he did speak it was the kind of talk that counted.
"'We'll be sorry to lose you from the club, Bunny,' he said, 'for even though you don't cut any great figure in helping the business along we can always count on you to do the running about when the House Committee want to send out notices, or if it is necessary for me to call a special meeting. Of course I don't want to advise you to do anything which may make trouble at your home; but it's my solemn advice for you to leave your name on the rolls till I've had a chance to talk with Mrs. Bunny. Perhaps she'll look at it in a different light when I've shown her how much good you're getting from keeping company with the other wood folks.'
"Now, I had a pretty good idea that Mrs. Bunny would take a broom to the president, instead of listening to him, if he went to my home while Sonny Bunny was so sick and I told him as much, breaking it gently so he wouldn't get angry; but, bless you, he didn't seem to mind it. He's been around the world so much that he's got a mighty good idea of how things may be at a fellow's home when one of the children has been abused.
"'I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Bunny,' he said, ruffling the feathers on his neck as he always does when he's got some big scheme in his mind, 'Jimmy Hedgehog is the one who's responsible for all the trouble we've been having, and if I can find Mr. Turtle at home I'll rig up a plan that'll make Mr. Hedgehog wish he'd never been quite so pert with the president of the Fur and Feather Club. I don't count on letting that prickly young chap run things his own way around Crow's Corner!'
"'What do you count on doing?' I asked, for I was dreadfully curious by the time he'd got through talking.
"'Leave it to me, Bunny Rabbit. I've been out of the shell too long to stand such nonsense from a hedgehog; but at the same time I don't count on letting you into one of my secrets till the plans are all laid. We'll go around by the way of your home, and there I'll tell Mrs. Bunny what you've said about leaving the club. That'll keep her quiet for a while, or, at least, calm her down so you and she can live in the same house a bit longer, and if my plan works as I think it will she'll be so tickled that you won't hear anything more about her wanting you to keep away from Crow's Corner.'
"Of course I let him have his own way, for, being old, he's so headstrong that you can't stop him from doing what he's set his mind on, no matter how foolish it may be; but I wasn't much surprised, after we came to my home and I'd called Mrs. Bunny out of her hole, to hear her talk quite disrespectfully to him about the club, which she declared was nothing more nor less than an excuse for us animals and birds to idle our time away when we should be at home attending to household affairs.