232 THE RABBIT. 



down the cows to be milked. One of them saw 

 the cony as he battled gamely with the current, 

 and his mate having been given the hint, the two 

 dogs took up their respective stations on opposite 

 sides of the burn. 



Many times the rabbit tried to land, but always 

 a dog was waiting to snap him up. Well, he had 

 fooled them before, and he would fool them again ! 

 This was the end, perhaps, but he would choose 

 his own closing chapter I 



We saw him fighting gamely down the centre 

 of the stream, now disappearing bodily under the 

 surface, then struggling up again and sweeping on 

 with the current. The cow-boy and half-a-dozen 

 other youths had joined the dogs, pointing and 

 encouraging, throwing stones, sticks, anything they 

 could lay hands on, at the little fugitive, as though 

 he had not already difficulties enough to contend 

 with. 



Did he try to land again ? Ah no ! not to be 

 crumpled and crushed without a fight here on his 

 own land, where a hundred times he had beaten 

 them singly or together by his own fleetness 

 and quickness of wit. Fifty yards away the burn 

 joined the river, now bank-full with dark, racing 

 waters that crashed and roared among the rocks. 



When last I saw my little friend he was drifting 

 rapidly no longer struggling with a current far 

 too strong for him, but borne this way and that 

 like a straw in the rapids. I saw him reach the 

 point where the burn joins the river, and there, 

 with a mighty swish, he was gone ! 



A group of boys and two dripping dogs stood 

 like statues and stared across the troubled waters, 

 tinted now with the crimson and gold of evening 

 as they swept on their course through the quiet 



