ing. The first arrival came
in with a rush. There was a sudden scurry behind me, and over the log
he came with a flying leap that landed him on the smooth bit of ground
in the middle, where he whirled around and around with grotesque
jumps, like a kitten after its tail. Only Br'er Rabbit's tail was too
short for him ever to catch it; he seemed rather to be trying to get a
good look at it. Then he went off helter-skelter in a headlong rush
through the ferns. Before I knew what had become of him, over the log
he came again in a marvelous jump, and went tearing around the
clearing like a circus horse, varying his performance now by a high
leap, now by two or three awkward hops on his hind legs, like a
dancing bear. It was immensely entertaining.

The third time around he discovered me in the midst of one of his
antics. He was so surprised that he fell down. In a second he was up
again, sitting up very straight on his haunches just in front of me,
paws crossed, ears erect, eyes shining in fear and curiosity. "Who are
you?" he was saying, as plainly as ever rabbit said it. Without moving
a muscle I tried to tell him, and also that he need not be afraid.
Perhaps he began to understand, for he turned his head on one side,
just as a dog does when you talk to him. But he wasn't quite
satisfied. "I'll try my scare on him," he thought; and _thump! thump!
thump!_ sounded his padded hind foot on the soft ground. It almost
made me start again, it sounded so big in the dead stillness. This
last test quite convinced him that I was harmless, and, after a
moment's watching, away he went in some astonishing jumps into the
forest.

A few minutes passed by in quiet waiting before he was back again,
this time with two or three companions. I have no doubt that he had
been watching me all the time, for I heard his challenge in the brush
just behind my log. The fun now began to grow lively. Around and
around they went, here, there, everywhere,--the woods seemed full of
rabbits, they scurried around so. Every few minutes the number
increased, as some new arrival came flying in and gyrated around like
a brown fur pinwheel. They leaped over everything in the clearing;
they leaped over each other as if playing leap-frog; they vied with
each other in the high jump. Sometimes they gathered together in the
middle of the open space and crept about close to the ground, in and
out and roundabout, like a game of fox and geese. Then they rose on
their h