ear-by thicket. Chatty,
you see, was going to keep Brushtail's attention until Doctor Rabbit
played a good joke on old Brushtail.

BRUSHTAIL GETS A SCARE

Now, this was what Doctor Rabbit was doing in the near-by thicket. He
gathered some moss, and rolled it into a big ball. Then he took a
bottle of medicine from his medicine case. The bottle had ammonia in
it--spirits of ammonia, it was--and Doctor Rabbit poured the
medicine all over and through the big ball of moss.

My, but that ammonia smelled strong! I should say it _did_ smell
strong. It was so strong, in fact, that Doctor Rabbit had to turn his
head partly away from the moss while he poured the medicine on it. Now
Doctor Rabbit had to be very, very careful. He picked up the ball of
moss in his front paws and walked toward Brushtail the Fox, who lay on
the ground with his eyes shut tight.

Chatty Squirrel kept up a very loud scolding as Doctor Rabbit slipped
up to Brushtail. Then when he was very near, Doctor Rabbit threw that
moss with all the terribly strong ammonia right on Brushtail's head
and over his nose. Brushtail got such a big whiff of the medicine that
he almost strangled. My, how he did jump and yell! He was terribly
scared, because he did not know for a minute what had happened.

Then he heard Chatty up on the limb laughing and shouting for joy.
Doctor Rabbit ran back to the edge of the thicket, and he was laughing
too. It certainly did look funny to see Brushtail the Fox standing and
staring at that moss as if he thought it was something alive.

When Brushtail saw that a joke had been played on him he was terribly
angry. He knew, of course, he could not get Chatty, so he made a rush
for Doctor Rabbit.

But Doctor Rabbit skipped into the thicket, picked up his medicine
case and shouted, "Good day, Mr. Fox! I guess you won't have Chatty
for breakfast! You'd better eat the moss ball."

And away Doctor Rabbit ran. In a twinkling he was out of sight in the
leafy woods.

Brushtail the Fox ran after Doctor Rabbit as fast as he could go, but
it was no use. He could not find him. Now it happened that Doctor
Rabbit had not gone far at all. He was not far from home, so he just
hid behind a big log. And he was watching Brushtail the Fox all the
time.

My! How he did jump and yell!

After a time Brushtail sat down and kept still. His sharp eyes,
however, were looking in every direction. He thought he might see
Doctor Rabbit by keeping quiet