ight barrel, where it got bursted once."

"We don't want any guns. You hurry your cows in. There! the brindled
heifer's given Ben an awful dig."

"He won't care."

Old Ben did care, however, for he left the brindled heifer suddenly, and
came back toward the boys, with his wise-looking head cocked on one
side, as much as to say, "Didn't I hear you two saying something about
rabbits?"

It was less than half an hour before they were telling him a good deal
about that kind of game. They gathered the rest of their hunting party
on their way back to Squire Murray's, only they did not waste any time
going to the house. It was a shorter cut through the wheat stubble and
the wood lot to the big corn field in the hollow.

Corn, corn, corn. Squire Murray said he had never before raised so good
a crop in all his life. And then he had added that the rabbits and
squirrels and woodchucks were likely to be his best market, for they
were husking it for him, and not charging him a cent. Only they carried
off all they husked without paying for it, and he was compelled to
charge that part of his crop to "rabbit account."

The old squire loved a bit of fun as well as anybody, and it was a pity
he could not have been in his own corn field that morning.

Tad Murray had to catch hold of old Ben the moment they were over the
fence, for he half buried himself in the nearest shock of corn the first
thing.

"Oh dear! if there was only one of 'em in sight, so he'd have something
to run after!"

"Whip! Whip!" shouted Carr Hotchkiss. "Rabbits, Whip--rabbits!"

Whip had been dancing around the shock as if the ground under him were
red-hot, and he couldn't keep his feet on any one spot for two seconds;
but now he made a sudden dive into the gap from which Tad had pulled out
old Ben.

"Find 'em, Whip--find 'em!"

"There's a rabbit in there somewhere," said Dan Burrel, in a loud,
earnest whisper.

"Look out you don't scare him," whispered back Eph McCormick; and Frank
Perry picked up a long stiff corn stalk, and began to poke it in at
every crack he could find.

"Don't, Frank; you'll scare the rabbit."

"Scare him, Eph? Why, that's just what we're up to. If we don't scare
him, he won't come out."

There was a loud whine from Whip at that moment, and a sound of very
vigorous pawing and scratching away in out of sight.

"Do rabbits ever bite?" said Frank, excitedly.

"Rabbits? bite a dog?" said Carr, scornfully. "I'd back Whip all a