“I’m leaving,” said he. “But I have to thank you for all you’ve done for me. Perhaps I’ll come back some time.” He seemed very sorry over it. His tail was droopy.
“You can’t go!” exclaimed the doctor. “You belong here in the Woods and Fields ever since you killed the crook-tailed snake for us. Now we’re counting on you to help us hunt for Tad.”
“But I must go,” said Stripes. “My mate wouldn’t leave the Deep Woods. She knew it was a dangerous place to live and she sent me hunting about to find a better one. Then she refused to come. I couldn’t think why she wouldn’t. But Chewee the Chickadee just came flying in with the news that the weasel has killed her. And she’s left three little kittens behind. I’ve got to do their hunting for them.”
“I see,” nodded the doctor. “But you send Chewee back here to-morrow at sunset. I’ll have a message for you.” He didn’t say a word about the meeting. So off went Stripes, with his ears drooped low and his tail most sorrowfully dragging.
When the Woodsfolk gathered by his pond the next afternoon Doctor Muskrat laid Tad Coon’s case before them. “We know what has happened to Tad Coon,” he said. “He chased some mice into a corn-crib and a man shut the door on him. What man, what corn-crib we do not know. One mouse escaped to tell the tale but the little owls ate him. If Tad is still alive the Woodsfolk must do their very best to find him.”
“We will, we will!” they squealed and yapped and chirped and whistled in all their different tongues. Even the little bats woke up inside their hollow tree and squeaked out that they, too, would keep an eye open for him.
“Another thing,” went on Doctor Muskrat. “Tad Coon is gone. Now Stripes Skunk has had to go into the Deep Woods to look after his kittens. The fieldmice are foolish but they are many and full of notions. We have only the hawks and owls to fight them. First thing we know the minks will be creeping in, unless Stripes brings his family to live with us.”
“Hooray! Hooray! for Stripes and his family! Bring ’em along!” shouted the Woodsfolk and that’s just the very message he wanted to send.
But just as the shouting was beginning to die down Chewee the Chickadee broke out in his shrill little voice: “And Nibble Rabbit’s mate said I was to tell him his bunnies were out of the ground and ready to travel.”
“Nibble Rabbit! Nibble Rabbit!” they hooted. “Oh, you sly one!” And Nibble dragged his ear down and licked it so he could hide his shyness behind it. There was more shouting and laughing than ever. But Doctor Muskrat was fairly flabbergasted. “Nibble!” he gasped. “You never told me!”