86 RcLggy^^g 



and pull the bite from her mouth or taste her 

 lips to make sure he was getting the same kind 

 of fodder. Still copying her, he learned to 

 comb his ears with his claws and to dress his 

 coat and to bite the burrs out of his vest and 

 socks. He learned, too, that nothing but clear 

 dewdrops from the briers were fit for a rabbit 

 to drink, as water which has once touched the 

 earth must surely bear some taint. Thus he 

 began the study of woodcraft, the oldest of all 

 sciences. 



As soon as Rag was big enough to go out 

 alone, his mother taught him the signal code. 

 Rabbits telegraph each other by thumping on 

 the ground with their hind feet. Along the 

 ground sound carries far ; a thump that at six 

 feet from the earth is not heard at twenty yards 

 will, near the ground, be heard at least one 

 hundred yards. Rabbits have very keen hear^ 

 ing, and so might hear this same thump at 

 two hundred yards, and that would reach from 

 end to end of Olifant's Swamp. A single 

 timinp means * look out * or * freeze.' A slow 

 thump tJnimp means * come.* A fast thump thump 

 means * danger ; * and a very fast thump thump 

 ihttmp means * run for dear life.* 



At another time, when the weather was f:ne 

 and the biucinvs wt-re quarreling atnonu inein- 



