THE RABBIT AND THE HARE 39 



ily leaped over the fence near by and walked 

 along between the study and the house? How 

 clearly one could read that it was not a little dog 

 that had passed there ! There was something 

 furtive in the track ; it shied off away from the 

 house and around it, as if eyeing it suspiciously ; 

 and then it had the caution and deliberation of 

 the fox, bold, bold, but not too bold ; wariness 

 was in every footprint. If it had been a little 

 dog that had chanced to wander that way, when 

 he crossed my path he would have followed it up 

 to the barn and have gone smelling around for a 

 bone ; but this sharp, cautious track held straight 

 across all others, keeping five or six rods from 

 the house, up the hill, across the highway toward 

 a neighboring farmstead, with its nose in the air, 

 and its eye and ear alert, so to speak. 



One summer a wild rabbit came up within a 

 few feet of my neighbor's house, scooped out a 

 little place in the turf, and reared her family 

 there. I suppose she felt more secure from 

 prowling cats and dogs than in the garden or 

 vineyard. My neighbor took me out to let me 

 into her secret. He pointed down to the ground 

 a few feet in front of us and said, " There it is." 

 I looked and saw nothing but the newly mown 

 turf with one spot the size of my two hands 

 where the grass was apparently dead. " I see 



