“Don’t do that,” pleaded Nibble. “If he bit your foot you certainly bit his. Now he doesn’t mean ever to use those jaws again. He threw them into that very hole.”
Pop! Down went the doctor to have a look. And his face was mighty surprised when it popped up again. “It’s the truth!” he said. “Those jaws are biting the mud. We needn’t worry so long as we can keep an eye on them. Nibble, I’ll just dip a whisker into that present Tommy Peele left for me!”
And he liked the meal quite as well as Nibble had—better, in fact. “I tell you what, Nibble,” he said as he stopped for breath, “this was mighty thoughtful of that Man. Now I wonder if he knew that I couldn’t dig or swim with my paw hurting me, because his paw was hurting him? I hope not.”
And that was very nice of him, because it was all Tommy’s fault in the beginning. Tommy had deliberately set that trap.
Chaik the Jay swallowed such a big beakful of meal that he had to crane his neck over it; then he blinked very seriously because Nibble was giggling at him. “Do you s’pose we could all trust Tommy the way Nibble can if we all were friends with him?” he demanded.
“Of course, of course!” chirped the enthusiastic Chickadee.
“Hm!” sniffed old Doctor Muskrat a bit gruffly, “that sounds very well from you birds. You have wings so you can fly away from him.”
“Certainly,” Chaik retorted, “but I’ve never seen him swim.”
“Hmm, hmm!” the doctor snorted again. And he hitched himself on his three sound legs over to a big stone that had grown warm in the sun and spread himself out flat like a small furry rug. He meant to think it over. But he felt so comfortable and full that he fell into a snooze.
Nibble was snoozing, too, snuggled up beside him, but he awoke when he heard Tommy’s tall rubber boots splattering through the slush. His father had put a patch on the hole, when he was mending an automobile tire, so it was as good as ever. Nibble nudged the doctor and then hurried over to greet Tommy, jumping the splashiest puddles and pattering right through the little ones because he didn’t want his friend to think Chaik and Chewee were the only ones who’d take the trouble. And Tommy took an ear of corn out of his pocket and shared it between them.