THE FATE OF "THE DEMON RABBIT" 



half the township the rabbit sat where he was. It 

 took the boy fully five minutes to come with the 

 rifle, and in the meantime the children and I were 

 all talking at once while the demon sat and Hstened. 

 Only when the boy was within a few rods of the 

 buggy did he show any signs of nervousness. He 

 slapped his hind feet on the snow a couple of times 

 and I thought he was going to run, but he quieted 

 down again. Then I drove on, for the horse is 

 inclined to be gun-shy, and the boy dropped on one 

 knee in the most approved Theodore Roosevelt 

 fashion and took aim. When he fired the rabbit 

 gave a jump that sent the snow flying and loped 

 away across the orchard. The boy complained bit- 

 terly because I had not held the horse and allowed 

 him to take a rest on the hind wheel of the buggy, 

 and, while I watched the rabbit disappearing, I made 

 a few restrained remarks appropriate to the oc- 

 casion. But just as he was passing out of sight 

 he suddenly jumped into the air, fell to the ground, 

 kicked wildly and then lay still. I sent the boy 

 running to where he was, and he picked up Mr. 

 Rabbit stone dead. Then we proceeded to examine 

 him. The first thing we noticed was a round bullet 

 hole through his right ear that was partly healedL 



^79 



