Part 58

"Three of them! Two rabbits and a squirrel. That's quite a haul, Charlie," said the man.

The little boy was examining the box.

"Do rabbits gnaw through wood, Father?" he asked.

"No, my son," was the reply.

"But there is a hole here. And see! There are the splinters upon the ground."

The man examined the box in turn, somewhat curiously.

"How strange!" he said. "These are marks of the squirrel's teeth. Now, I wonder if the squirrel was trying to liberate the rabbit."

"Looks like it, Daddy; doesn't it?" replied the boy.

"I never heard of such a thing in my life," declared the man. "These little creatures often display more wisdom than we give them credit for. But how can we explain this curious freak, Charlie?"

The boy sat down upon the box and looked thoughtfully at the three prisoners in the net. They had ceased to struggle, having given way to despair; but the boy could see their little hearts beating fast through their furry skins.

"This is the way it looks to me, Daddy," he finally said. "We caught the small rabbit in the box, and the big one must be its mother. When she found her baby was caught, she tried to save it, and she began to burrow under the box, for here is the mark of her paws. But she soon saw the flat stone, and gave up."

"Yes; that seems reasonable," said the man.

"But she loved her baby," continued the boy, gazing at the little creatures pitifully, "and thought of another way. The red squirrel was a friend of hers, so she ran and found him, and asked him to help her. He did, and tried to gnaw through the box; but we came too soon and captured them with the net because they were so busy they didn't notice us."

"Exactly!" cried the man, with a laugh. "That tells the story very plainly, my son, and I see you are fast learning the ways of animals. But how intelligent these little things are!"

"That's what my mother would do," returned the boy. "She'd try to save me; and that's just what the mother rabbit did."

"Well, we must be going," said the man; and as he started away he picked up the net and swung it over his shoulder. The prisoners struggled madly again, and the boy, who walked along the forest path a few steps behind his father, watched them.

"Daddy," he said softly, coming to the man's side, "I don't want to keep those rabbits."

"Oh, they'll make us a good dinner," was the reply.

"I--I couldn't eat 'em for dinner, Daddy. Not the mama rabbit and the little one she tried to save. Nor the dear little squirrel that wanted to help them. Let's--let's--let 'em go!"

The man stopped short and turned to look with a smile into the boy's upturned, eager face.

"What will Mama say when we go back without any dinner?" he asked.

"You know, Daddy. She'll say a good deed is better than a good dinner."

The man laid a caressing hand on the curly head and handed his son the net. Charlie's face beamed with joy. He opened wide the net and watched the prisoners gasp with surprise, bound out of the meshes, and scamper away into the bushes.

Then the boy put his small hand in his father's big one, and together they walked silently along the path.

* * *

"All the same," said Chatter Chuk to himself, as, snug at home, he trembled at the thought of his late peril, "I shall keep away from old Juggerjook after this. I am very sure of that!"

"Mama," said Fuzzy Wuz, nestling beside her mother in the burrow, "why do you suppose the fierce Men let us go?"

"I cannot tell, my dear," was the reply. "Men are curious creatures, and often act with more wisdom than we give them credit for."