And this was true. Barking and growling, the dog came to the edge of the brook where Flop Ear had waded into the water, but the rabbit was out of sight. Then the dog had to stop for a minute.
“Now which way did that rabbit go?” he asked himself, for you see the smell of rabbits’ feet, or those of other animals, will not stay on the water. That was where the dog was puzzled.
“I guess the rabbit jumped across the brook, and is in the woods on the other side,” said the dog. “I’ll go over there myself.”
So across the water went the dog, but when he got on the other side he could neither see Flop Ear nor smell where he was. For the rabbit was quite a way down the stream you see. The dog ran all around, trying to get track of the rabbit smell, but he could not.
“He got away from me after all!” said the dog. “I call that a mean trick!”
But for Flop Ear it was a good trick. He did not want to be bitten, any more than that dog would like to get a nip. So Flop Ear got himself out of one danger.
“My! That was a long run!” said Flop Ear, as he came to a rest on a bed of soft moss. “I thought that dog would surely get me.” He listened very hard, but he could not hear the dog barking now. The dog had gone back to his home in the farmhouse, near the big pile of hay.
Flop Ear was hungry again now; so, after resting, he looked about and found some sweet bark from a tree. He ate as much of this as he wanted, taking a little sassafras bark as a sort of dessert—as you take pudding or pie—and then he hopped on again, still looking for his lost home.
All that day Flop Ear wandered about in the woods. Then, as night was coming on, he looked for a place to sleep. He was wondering if he had better not go back to the pile of hay, when, all at once he saw another rabbit just ahead of him.
“Oh, if that is only one of my folks!” thought Flop Ear, his heart beating very fast, “how happy I shall be! Hello there!” he called to the other bunny.