As he flew over little Luke's head he looked down. Perhaps he saw a slight movement as little Luke tried to look up at him. Instantly he swooped and his sharp claws struck the little boy's hat.
"Hi, there!" said little Luke in astonishment. It was Ko-ko-ka's turn to be astonished now. He dropped the hat, flapped his great wings, and floated off towards the woods.
Little Luke left his hat where it fell and waited to see what the rabbits would do. After a short time the fun began again. There were two young ones that little Luke noticed in particular. They began their race in the middle of the field. Round and round they went and each time round their circles became larger.
Now on the other side of the clover field there was an open gap in the fence. All at once the danger signal sounded again. Thump! thump! thump! Again every rabbit squatted, with ears and eyes alert to catch sound or sight of an enemy.
It was too late. Through the gate bounded a ball of reddish, yellow fur. Snap! And the teeth of Kee-wuk the Red Fox had seized one of the young rabbits by the neck. Swinging the limp body over his shoulders, he trotted quietly off through the gap.
That ended the fun. As they saw the Red Fox every rabbit sprang to his feet, and with a hop, skip, and jump went over the fence and out of the clover field. And little Luke saw them no more that night.
XXVIII. WHY THE WILD FOLK NO LONGER TALK THE MAN-TALK
Now in his talks with his wild friends little Luke noticed that they used many Indian words such as he had learned from Old John the Indian.
"Why is it," said he, one day to Wa-poose, "that you wild folk use so many of the Red Men's words?"