Bumper, The White Rabbit Part 5

Edith came out so soon that b.u.mper knew right away that she hadn't eaten much breakfast, and half of it was in her hands, and apparently the other half was on her face instead of being in her stomach where it should have been.

"Do you like bread and jam?" she asked, poking the bread she had been eating at b.u.mper.

Like a well-bred rabbit, b.u.mper stuck his nose up and sniffed at the dainty proffered him; but when he got some of the jam on his nose he hopped away and sneezed. It was gooseberry jam, and b.u.mper hated gooseberries, although he had never tasted of them before.

"Oh, you funny bunnie!" exclaimed the girl. "Why don't you like jam?"

Then she caught a reflection of her face smeared with jam in the pan of water, and she laughed happily. "I don't wonder you don't like it on your face, b.u.mper," she said. "It does look awful, doesn't it? My, I must have nearly a quart on my face."

Then she began cleaning her lips and chin, using b.u.mper's pan of water for a wash basin. b.u.mper didn't object to this, but he did hope she'd remember to change it, and give him clean water to drink. Even gooseberry-jam-water wasn't to his liking.

Early in the morning Edith was carried away by the nurse for her lessons, and then her music teacher appeared, and b.u.mper could hear her fine, small voice singing in accompaniment to the piano. After that she came into the garden again to play with him.

But she was soon called away to lunch, and then she had to go walking with her mother, and it was nearly sundown when she returned. Her first thought was of the rabbit, and she came running pell-mell across the garden to greet him.

"Have you missed me, b.u.mper?" she asked, squatting down on the gra.s.s in her new white dress. "I've been awfully lonely without you. I do hate music lessons and visiting. I wish I could stay here all the time with you, and maybe eat gra.s.s and green things, and grow fat and white like you. I wonder how it feels to be a rabbit. Yes, I believe next to being a little girl, I'd rather be a rabbit than anything else. Rabbits don't have to work or study or sing or do anything. Goodness! what an easy time you have of it."

b.u.mper thought so, too, and he began to swell up with pride. He was a very young rabbit, and he was easily flattered. He wanted to tell her that he would rather be a white rabbit than a girl with red hair, when the nurse called Edith to dinner, and she had to leave him.

It was a beautiful moonlight night, and b.u.mper wasn't a bit sleepy. What rabbit could be in such a wonderful garden with the moon shining down upon it. b.u.mper danced around in his small pen, and sat upon his hind legs as if praying to the moon; but in reality he was trying to see how high the wire fence was, and wondering if he could jump over it. He had tried all day to nibble through it, and dig under it, but the wire had only hurt his teeth without giving way a particle. If he was going to get out so he could run around the garden, he would have to do it by jumping clear over the wire fence.

He tried it once, and fell short by several inches. He got a hard jolt in doing it, and rubbed his head where it hit the earth. But the next time he nearly reached the top.

"I can do it with a few more trials," he said, happy at the thought of his freedom. "I'll surprise the little girl when she hunts for me in the morning."

He hopped back a few feet, and then took a flying leap, and landed plump on the top of the fence. The wire caught him in the middle of the stomach, and there he hung for a moment undecided which way to fall. But he kicked with his hind feet, and that seemed to upset his balance, for he plunged headfirst down, and landed on the other side in a wild somersault.

"Well, that wasn't exactly graceful," he said, "but I'm here, and that's where I wanted to be. Now I'll explore the garden by moonlight."

First he ran to the vegetable garden, and nibbled at whatever he could find; but he was really so full he couldn't eat much more. Then he frisked around on the lawn, playing with his tail, and trying to jump as high up in the air as he could. It was great fun, and b.u.mper panted with joy.

Then suddenly out of the dark shadows of the garden something large, fierce and frightfully noisy came bounding toward him. b.u.mper stood stock still until a deep baying sound told him that it was Carlo, the big dog, whose barking under the bedroom window had disturbed his sleep the night before.

With a bound b.u.mper leaped over a rose bush, and started for his pen in the corner, but Carlo took the bush in a powerful leap and made a grab for his neck with his jaws. b.u.mper squealed with fright, and turned to the left to find shelter under some p.r.i.c.kly gooseberry bushes. Carlo yelped with pain when the thorns of the bushes stuck in his nose, and from that moment b.u.mper began to like gooseberries.

But the chase was not over. Carlo drove him out of the bushes and chased him across the lawn into the garden. b.u.mper tried to hide behind a cabbage, but Carlo saw his white head, and pounced upon him. He missed by an inch, and b.u.mper, now terribly frightened, and panting for breath, made a dive for a big, dark hole that suddenly opened directly in his pathway.

He ran in this as fast as he could. Carlo followed a short distance, and then got stuck. The black hole grew smaller at the other end, and b.u.mper felt that he was safe for the present.

"My, what a narrow escape!" he said, panting for breath. "Now, how am I ever going to get out again! Carlo will pounce on me if I stick my nose out. I guess the best thing I can do is to sleep in here, and in the morning go out when Edith calls me. She'll keep Carlo away."

And with this remark, he rolled up in a ball, and went to sleep.

STORY VII

b.u.mPER MEETS THE SEWER RAT

b.u.mper was so young and inexperienced that he didn't know a drain-pipe from an ordinary hole in the ground, nor for that matter a tree trunk that was hollow inside from a rabbit's burrow. b.u.mper was a city-bred rabbit, born in the backyard of a tenement house, and how could you expect him to know much of the things that ordinary wild rabbits learn by heart before their whiskers begin to sprout?

When he opened his eyes the next morning, he stretched himself, and blinked hard at the circular roof over his head, wondering what sort of a house he was in now. It took some time for his brain to recall the events of the previous night. Then he sat up and smiled.

"Ho! Ho!" he laughed. "Carlo must have had a long, cold wait outside for me. I think I'll take a peek at him."

He was really anxious to see if the little girl was up yet, and if she had missed him. He had perfect confidence in her, and knew that she would call off the dog the instant she saw him.

b.u.mper could see that it was morning, for the bright light shining through the big end of the drain-pipe proved that. He crawled along cautiously, making as little noise as possible. If Carlo was waiting at the entrance to pounce upon him, he wasn't going to be caught napping.

Another thing which drew him toward the mouth of the pipe was the fragrant odor of good things from the garden. In spite of the big feast of the night before, b.u.mper was hungry again, and he longed to get back in the garden and devour a few more carrots and crisp lettuce leaves.

He was within a few feet of the mouth of the drain-pipe, quite confident that Carlo had grown tired of watching and left, when a shadow came between him and the light. b.u.mper caught sight of a head and forelegs thrust into the opening, and then, without stopping for further investigation, he turned tail and ran back. There was a wild scampering and sc.r.a.ping behind him, and he knew that Carlo was pursuing him in the hole.

But Carlo couldn't follow him very far. The pipe narrowed so that there was just room for b.u.mper to squeeze through, and no dog, certainly not a big dog like Carlo, could catch him in there. When he reached the place where he had spent the night, he stopped to look around him.

Horror of Horrors! Carlo or some other animal was close behind him, blocking the entire entrance to the hole. b.u.mper could hear him sc.r.a.ping along, and could almost feel his breath. A shiver of terror went clear through him. In some strange manner the hole had been enlarged over night, or Carlo had shrunk in size, or what seemed more probable, another dog much smaller had taken up the pursuit.

With a little yip of fear, b.u.mper scrambled onward again, making his way through the drain-pipe as fast as his feet would permit, which, after all, was not so very fast, for he slipped and lost his footing a dozen times, and once fell all in a heap where an elbow in the pipe brought him to an abrupt stop. There were two holes opening before him, one leading to the right and the other to the left.

b.u.mper chose the one to the right, and so did the animal pursuing him. The race continued until the rabbit came to another branch where there seemed to be three holes leading off into different directions. b.u.mper chose the middle One blindly, and ran through it for dear life.

It was very dark, and it was impossible for him to tell where he was going. His one great desire was to escape the pursuing dog or other animal close behind him. Consequently, he was unprepared for the sudden climax of his adventure.

The narrow tunnel came to an abrupt ending, and when b.u.mper shot out of it he landed in a big, circular s.p.a.ce that gave him plenty of opportunity to turn around and look at his enemy. He had no more idea what kind of a place he was in now than before. It was all so strange to him.

"h.e.l.lo!" a voice called to him out of the small hole.

b.u.mper looked up, and saw a big Sewer Rat grinning at him from the mouth of the drain-pipe.

"I never saw a rabbit run faster in all my days," laughed Mr. Sewer Rat.

"I couldn't keep up with you. What did you think was after you?"

b.u.mper was very angry and indignant now that he realized his flight was all unnecessary. He disliked Mr. Sewer Rat and all his tribe, for they had often made their way into the old woman's backyard to annoy the young bunnies. Besides his bad manners and uncouth ways, the Sewer Rat was disgustingly dirty in his habits. How could he be otherwise when he chose to live in sewers rather than in clean quarters above ground?

"Why were _you_ running so fast?" asked b.u.mper, not willing to admit the rat had frightened him.

"Just to frighten you," was the retort. "I wanted to give you the scare of your life, and I guess I did."

"Oh, no," replied b.u.mper, a.s.suming an air of dignity. "I wasn't really frightened so long as I knew you were behind me. Carlo couldn't catch me until he nabbed you."

"Carlo! Who's Carlo!" demanded the Sewer Rat, pretending ignorance.

"Oh! Ho!" laughed b.u.mper. "Don't pretend that Carlo, the dog, wasn't after you. Didn't I see him chase you in the hole? And how frightened you looked! Why, it nearly made me die with laughter."

Mr. Sewer Rat puffed up his cheeks and gnashed his long, white teeth angrily. b.u.mper's fling had hit the mark.