The old squire loved a bit of fun as well as anybody, and it was a pity he could not have been in his own corn field that morning.
Tad Murray had to catch hold of old Ben the moment they were over the fence, for he half buried himself in the nearest shock of corn the first thing.
"Oh dear! if there was only one of 'em in sight, so he'd have something to run after!"
"Whip! Whip!" shouted Carr Hotchkiss. "Rabbits, Whip—rabbits!"
Whip had been dancing around the shock as if the ground under him were red-hot, and he couldn't keep his feet on any one spot for two seconds; but now he made a sudden dive into the gap from which Tad had pulled out old Ben.
"Find 'em, Whip—find 'em!"
"There's a rabbit in there somewhere," said Dan Burrel, in a loud, earnest whisper.
"Look out you don't scare him," whispered back Eph McCormick; and Frank Perry picked up a long stiff corn stalk, and began to poke it in at every crack he could find.
"Don't, Frank; you'll scare the rabbit."
"Scare him, Eph? Why, that's just what we're up to. If we don't scare him, he won't come out."