g he bowed his head and said: "Ta-hoo! ta-hoo! ta-h-o-o!"
Splash! and he was gone! And the Bear and Fox were outwitted again.

[Illustration: BR'ER RABBIT'S FISHING]

BR'ER RABBIT'S FISHING[P]

One day, Br'er Rabbit, and Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear, and Br'er Coon,
and all the rest of them were clearing up a new piece of ground to plant
some corn.

The sun got sort of hot, and Br'er Rabbit he got tired; but he didn't
say so, 'cause he 'fraid the others'd call him lazy, so he kept on
clearing away the rubbish and piling it up, till by-and-by he holler out
that he got a thorn in his hand. Then he took and slipped off, and
hunted for a cool place to rest in.

After a while Br'er Rabbit he see a well, with a bucket hanging in it.

"That looks cool," says Br'er Rabbit, says he, "and cool I 'spects it
is. I'll just about get in there and take a nap," says he. And with that
in he jumped.

No sooner was Br'er Rabbit in, than the bucket began to go down, and
there was no wusser scared beast since the world began than this here
Br'er Rabbit was _then_. He fairly shook with fright. He know where he
come from, but he dunno where he going. Presently he feel the bucket hit
the water, and there it sat. Br'er Rabbit he keep mighty still, 'cause
he dunno what be going to happen next. He just lay there, and shook and
shivered.

Now, Br'er Fox he always kep' one eye on Br'er Rabbit and, when Br'er
Rabbit slipped off the new ground, Br'er Fox he sneaked after him. He
knew Br'er Rabbit was after something or other, and he took and crept
off to watch him. Br'er Fox see Br'er Rabbit come to the well and stop,
and then he see him jump into the bucket, and then, lo and behold, he
see him go down out of sight.

Br'er Fox was the most astonished fox that ever you set eyes on. He sat
off there in the bushes, and he think and think, but he make no heads or
tails of this kind of business. Then he says to himself, says he:

"Well, if this don't beat my times," says he, "then Joe's dead and Sal's
a widder," says he. "Right down there in that well Br'er Rabbit keeps
his money hid, and if it ain't that, then he's been and gone and
discovered a gold mine; and if it ain't that, then I'm a-going to see
what _is_ there," says he.

Br'er Fox crept up a little nigher, he did, and he listen, but he hear
nothing, and he kept on getting nigher, and yet he hear nothing.
By-and-by he get up close. He peep down; he see nothing, and he hear
noth