At this moment Mr. Bunny chanced to see a particularly tempting bunch
of clover, and he leaped toward it, without seeming to consider that
it would have been more polite first to bring his story to a close.

CHAPTER VI

MR. MAN'S BOY TOMMY

"I suppose you think I'd have shown better manners if I'd asked you to
excuse me before I lit out for that clover, eh?" Mr. Bunny Rabbit
asked, as he hopped up on the log with his mouth filled with clover
heads and leaves. "The trouble is that you don't know much of anything
about it," he added, chewing meditatively on the green delicacy, while
he gazed at a clump of ferns as if fancying it concealed an enemy.

"If you were better acquainted with us wood folk, you'd know that
Jimmy Hedgehog is hiding over there in the ferns. Watch and you can
see them waving directly against the wind, which tells that something
heavy is moving among them. When I caught sight of those delicious
clover heads I could see that young hedgehog was getting ready to go
for them. The only thing that held him back was the fear that you
might try to make trouble for him. I had to scoop them up lively, or
they'd gone into Jimmy's stomach while you were asking questions. I
may not be able to make such a terrible show of fighting; but when it
comes to getting the best of whatever is being passed around your Mr.
Bunny Rabbit doesn't often get left, more especially if Jimmy Hedgehog
is the only fellow he has to beat.

"Oh, yes, I was telling how the club meeting wound up when Professor
Hawk came around to make trouble. Well, as I was saying, Cheeko's
brother and I were snuggled together under the thorns, watching that
wicked bird out of both eyes and thanking our lucky stars that the old
'Squire wasn't alive to take a hand in the game. Then that foolish
squirrel got it into his head that he could run faster than the
Professor could fly, and declared that he wasn't going to get the life
scratched out of him simply because a hungry bird had made up his mind
to eat us.

"'I'm going right out, as a decent fellow should who doesn't want
others to call him a coward, and you'll see how I'll get the best of
the smartest hawk that ever lived," he said, shaking his tail as well
as he could amid the thorns.

"'Now, you're talking like Cheeko and showing yourself to be just as
foolish,' I said, trying hard not to let him see that I was angry
because he hadn't better sense. 'If your brother hadn't tried to prove