50 JVays of Wood Folk. 



watching, away he went in some astonishing jumps 

 into the forest. 



A few minutes passed by in quiet waiting before 

 he was back again, this time with two or three com- 

 panions. I have no doubt that he had been watching 

 me all the time, for I heard his challenge in the brush 

 just behind my log. The fun now began to grow 

 lively. Around and around they went, here, there, 

 everywhere, — the woods seemed full of rabbits, they 

 scurried around so. Every few minutes the number 

 increased, as some new arrival came flying in and 

 gyrated around like a brown fur pinwheel. They 

 leaped over everything in the clearing ; they leaped 

 over each other as if playing leap-frog; they vied 

 with each other in the high jump. Sometimes they 

 gathered together in the middle of the open space 

 and crept about close to the ground, in and out and 

 roundabout, like a game of fox and geese. Then 

 they rose on their hind legs and hopped slowly 

 about in all the dignity of a minuet. Right in the 

 midst of the solemn affair some mischievous fellow 

 gave a scjueak and a big jump; and away they all 

 went hurry-skurry, for all the world like a lot of boys 

 turned loose for recess. In a minute they were 

 back again, quiet and sedate, and solemn as bull- 

 frogs. Were they chasing and chastising the mis- 

 chief-maker, or was it only the overflow of abundant 



