“There,” said Watch proudly, “Trailer, I told you Nibble would find him.”
“But I don’t see how we lost him,” Trailer insisted. “He simply disappeared in the middle of a hot trail. I never lifted my nose from it.”
“The whippoorwill said he took to water and then climbed up into the woodduck’s nest in the top of that fallen tree,” said Nibble. “But why didn’t the gun catch him? That’s what I want to know.”
“The gun’s a stupid thing,” Trailer explained. “It bangs twice and then it has to be fed again before it will do anything more.” (He knew it was no use to tell Nibble about putting fresh shells into a double-barrelled shotgun, because even Watch, who was a very wise dog, didn’t understand.) “My man Sandy was so excited over shooting the snake that he forgot to feed it. He didn’t hear me bark until Silvertip and I were out of sight in the brush. And Silvertip was gone before he found me again. That gun has to use his eyes to see with and his legs to run with, and no man’s fast enough to chase a fox. That’s why Watch and I think we can get him just as easily if we go out alone.”
“Yes, and I don’t like taking Tommy Peele to meet strange snakes in strange woods,” said Watch. “It worries me so I can’t keep my mind on what I’m doing.”
“Of course,” Nibble agreed. “Well, last night I overheard the little screech owls in the Brushpile—my paddy-paws are good for more than to scrub my ears with, I can tell you. They’re so quiet even the owls didn’t hear them, and they said they were going to tell Silvertip to watch the flat stone where I thump for Doctor Muskrat, or my hole. He’ll be one place or the other. And please tell Doctor Muskrat I’ll go around to the far side of the pool to meet him.”
“All right,” promised Watch. And off went the dogs with their tails wagging. “I tell you what,” growled Trailer, “that rabbit is a great help to hunt with.”
CHAPTER XIII
HOW THE GREAT HUNT ENDED
Nibble Rabbit cuddled down comfortably in the bottom of the haystack. Pretty soon he heard Trailer bark. “Aough! Here, Watch! Quick! Catch him!”
“They didn’t get him that time, either,” thought Nibble as Trailer’s voice settled down to the hunting call. “But I guess Silvertip’s too busy to hurt me, and I must tell Doctor Muskrat to keep away from that flat stone.” So off he went to the woods as fast as ever his paddy-feet would carry him.