DOCTOR RABBIT LAYS A TRAP
The day after Doctor Rabbit cured the little Chipmunk children, he thought of a new plan for catching Brushtail the Fox, and he decided to try it at once.
Doctor Rabbit knew very well that somehow he must drive Brushtail out of the Big Green Woods. None of the little creatures would be safe for a moment until this was done. Yes, cruel, sly old Brushtail must be driven away, and everything depended on our clever Doctor Rabbit.
As Doctor Rabbit started hopping along through the woods he said quietly to himself, "Of course this scheme I have in mind may not work. But it is worth trying anyway. I won't tell any of my friends about it, and then if I don't catch Brushtail they won't be disappointed. But if I do catch him!"
Right here Doctor Rabbit stopped and laughed and laughed. "My," he continued, "if I do catch him, won't Stubby Woodchuck and Cheepy Chipmunk and all the others be surprised! Well, I should say they will be surprised!"
And Doctor Rabbit went hopping along, chuckling to himself and feeling mighty fine. He is always happy when he has thought of a plan to get rid of some big, cruel animal.
Doctor Rabbit kept going until he came to a part of the Big Green Woods where the Murmuring Brook was widest and deepest. He knew just what he was looking for, too. You see, Farmer Roe's boy had been setting his fishing lines here every night. Each morning he would pull his lines out of the water, take the fish off, and then leave one or two of the lines lying on the bank until evening.
Doctor Rabbit wanted one of these fishing lines, and when he reached the place, sure enough, there was a long, stout fishing line lying right on the ground. There were some hooks on the end of the line, but Doctor Rabbit did not want these, so with his sharp teeth he cut them off. Then he picked up the line and took it some distance away to a big thicket. Here Doctor Rabbit began making a loop in one end of that fishing line and chuckling as he worked.
Well, in just a little while he had that loop all fixed. Then he spread out the loop, which was made so it would slip, on a nice patch of open ground near the thicket. The other end of the line he hid in the thicket. Then he went over to the edge of the Murmuring Brook. He moved along the edge of the brook and watched ever so carefully. Now what do you suppose Doctor Rabbit was looking for this time? Well, sir, he was looking for a live fish. He saw several and made a grab for them, but they all got away. But Doctor Rabbit is very patient, and presently he seized a nice one and carried it, wiggling in his mouth, back to the loop he had made in that line. He dropped the small fish in the center of the loop. The fish didn't jump much now; it only wiggled and flapped its tail a little, and that was just what Doctor Rabbit wanted it to do.
He ran into the thicket where the other end of the line was and waited for Brushtail the Fox to come along.