“Good-by!” called Flop Ear.
“My, he certainly is a funny rabbit,” thought Slicko to herself as she watched him going along through the woods, with one ear up and the other ear down. “He makes me laugh and feel jolly just to look at him. I hope he finds his home.”
On and on through the woods went Flop Ear. Now and then he would stop and thump on the ground with his feet, hoping some of his folks might be near, and hear him.
But no answering thumps came, and Flop Ear felt sad and lonely. That night he found a hollow tree with some dried leaves piled up in it, and there he slept. It was not cold out, and as Flop Ear found some sweet roots to eat, and a nice spring of water out of which to get a drink, he was not so badly off.
The wood in which Flop Ear slept that night was near a road which was between two large cities. In the middle of the night the rabbit was awakened by hearing a rumbling sound.
“That must be thunder,” he said to himself. “It isn’t a hunter’s gun, for they don’t shoot at night. I wonder if a storm is coming up. Well, if it is, I’ll be safe in my hollow tree. I guess I’ll take a look outside though.”
The rumbling noise grew louder, but as Flop Ear looked out he could see no lightning. The moon was shining brightly, too, so the rabbit knew it could not be a storm. Then as he looked toward the road he saw some big wagons being hauled along by many horses, and from the wagons came the smell of wild animals.
“Why—why!” exclaimed Flop Ear, wide awake now. “This must be a circus—a circus such as Blackie, the cat, told me about. She said it went from one city to another by night. I guess I’ll go out and look at it. Nobody will mind me, and I may see Tum Tum, the jolly elephant Blackie told of. I have never seen an elephant.”
Out of his hollow tree hopped Flop Ear. The rumbling noise was very loud now, for many of the big circus wagons were passing along the road. Then some of them stopped, for the horses were tired.
Flop Ear hopped up close to one wagon in which he could see a lot of straw. Suddenly a big, black animal rose up from the straw and looked out through the bars of the cage. The white rabbit, sitting beside the road, was plainly to be seen in the moonlight.