base of the tree. I'll find out
about old Brushy before he knows it. And the first thing they know
they will be going out of these woods in a hurry. But I must be very,
very careful. I should say I must! I must watch every second. My, how
those animals in that thicket do growl! It sounds almost as if they
were quarreling."

BRUSHTAIL THE FOX FINDS SOME PIECES OF CHEESE

Doctor Rabbit was just ready to run to the tree with the prickly vines
around it when he crouched low and sat very still again. He heard
somebody coming through the woods. Pretty soon he saw that it was
Farmer Roe.

The farmer stopped when he got close to the briar patch and muttered
to himself, "Every spring I have to rid these woods of a fox or two. I
guess I'll just put out a little bait for them and see how that will
work."

As soon as Doctor Rabbit heard Farmer Roe coming through the woods he
noticed that everything in the thicket grew very quiet. I should say
it did! There was not the least sound in there--not a single growl.
And there Farmer Roe stood within twenty feet of the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Brushtail without ever dreaming of it.

Farmer Roe had gloves on, and he held a number of pieces of cheese on
one hand. He put several of these pieces of cheese under the fallen
tree. Right near the thicket he placed some more cheese, partly under
some dead leaves. Then Farmer Roe went around placing the cheese here
and there where he thought the fox would be most likely to find it.
After a time he put the last piece of cheese under an old log.

Then he straightened up and said, "There, now! That ought to fix him,
or both of them, if there are two instead of one. I'm glad Yappy has
been trained not to eat anything he finds out in the woods," he added,
"for this bait would be the end of him, too! And that would never do."

And Farmer Roe walked back through the woods toward his house. After a
while the sound of his heavy footsteps died away.

Everything in the thicket was perfectly still. There was not a sound.
Doctor Rabbit waited and listened. Then he heard a movement inside the
thicket. Presently Mrs. Brushtail came out, sat down, and looked in
the direction Farmer Roe had taken. While she sat there Mr. Brushtail
came trotting up from somewhere out in the woods. Doctor Rabbit heard
the two talking very rapidly and excitedly, but they talked so low he
could not understand what they said. He wanted very much to know what
they said, but