I was hopping across the path
that leads to Mr. Man's barn, when that wretched boy aimed straight
for me, and, what's a great deal worse, hit me with a small stone just
behind the ears. I really thought for the moment that I had got what
I'd never recover from! I did manage to hobble away, of course, else I
wouldn't be here to-day; but my head ached for two or three days as
though it would split open. I can't for the life of me imagine why
boys find so much sport in hurting animals.

[Illustration: WE HEARD A TERRIBLE NOISE AMONG THE BUSHES]

"Well, there was the boy Tommy, and in his hand was the sling, with a
little stone in it ready to be fired. Mr. Crow had crept around the
trunk of the tree, hoping to keep out of sight; but the boy, looking
for something to shoot at, espied the old bird, and in another second
the president of the club flew away crying 'Caw, caw, caw' with all
his strength. Mr. Man's boy Tommy shot at him, but Mr. Crow wasn't
there, so he didn't get hit.

"It seemed to me that the moment had come when I should take to my
heels, for I was hidden only by a few mullein leaves, and Tommy
wouldn't have to hunt very long before he stumbled right over me.
While he was putting another stone in the sling I jumped out from
under the leaves, and headed straight for home, but unluckily for me,
the boy got a glimpse of the tip of my tail, short though it is, as I
darted through a clump of alders.

"Now it so happened that lying on the ground where he could get at it
handily was a piece of half-decayed wood, which had most likely fallen
from the big oak a long while before, and, if you'll believe it, that
boy had time to pick it up and shy the thing at me before I got out
of sight. Not once in a hundred times could he have hit me; but it so
happened that this was the unfortunate once, and I was knocked head
over heels into the brook, so nearly stunned that I was almost drowned
before I came to myself.

"When I did get my senses that miserable boy was just reaching out his
hand to pick me up, and you never saw a rabbit struggle as I did then!
Being in the water, and not knowing how to swim, it was quite a task
to get out quickly. More than once he had his fingers on my ears; but
each time I contrived to wriggle away, and at the very moment when it
seemed as if I must give up and go into the stew or pie, as his mother
should decide, I gave him the slip.

"I was wet as a drowned rat; the mud stuck to my hair