land sloped and no water could settle into
it.

One day as little Luke was passing by the brush pile, his keen eye saw
Mother Wa-poose. "There," said he to himself, "is just the place for a
rabbit's nest. I'll take a look at Mother Wa-poose's babies."

So he got down on his hands and knees, pulled the bushes apart, and
crept into the thicket. He saw the nest, but could not get quite to it
because of the sharp thorns on the blackberry bushes.

"Good morning, Man-cub," said Mother Wa-poose.

"Good morning, Mother Wa-poose," said little Luke; "don't be afraid,
I only want to take a look at your babies."

"Oh, I'm not afraid," said Mother Wa-poose. "None of us are afraid of
you any more. Look all you want to. But don't come any nearer. I am
afraid you will open a path for Kee-wuk the Red Fox, or for Old Boze the
Hound. Both of them have been around here several times. They know that
I and my babies are here, but they can't get in. Old Boze tried it the
other day, but went back to the house with a pair of bloody ears for
his pains."

"Yes, I noticed his ears," said little Luke, "and wondered what he had
been up to."

The little boy sat down as comfortably as he could and looked at Mother
Wa-poose and her babies.

"Mother Wa-poose," said he after a while, "what makes you wriggle your
nose so?"

"Oh," said Mother Wa-poose, "I do that to keep my smeller clear. You see
we have so many enemies that we have to be on the watch all the time,
and I can smell a fox or a dog almost as far as I can see them. You
see I always sit with my nose to the wind, and my ears in the other
direction. My nose tells me who is coming in front; my ears tell me who
is coming from behind; and my eyes keep watch on both sides. I sleep
most of the day, but my eyes, my ears, and my nose are always awake.
Why, I knew you were coming almost half an hour ago. My nose told me.
It is only in such a place as this that my three sentinels ever get
any rest.

"When I haven't any babies to care for, I like to sit in a more open
place in the sun. So long as I have a chance to run each way, I am not
much afraid of anybody. And if it wasn't for the men with their dreadful
fire-sticks, we of the Wa-poose family would have a pretty safe and easy
time of it."

Just then the deep bay of a hound was heard. "There," said Mother
Wa-poose, "there's Old Boze now. Would you like to see how I can fool
him?"

"I would indeed," said little Luke, "if you are not afr