THE PET-HOUSE. 253 



oped. The two rabbits which the doctor had 

 brought from New York afforded never-ending 

 amusement. They had little pens to themselves, 

 with stairs leading up to little rooms and a sec- 

 ond story — an arrangement that was very neces- 

 sary in the case of old Jack, a handsome lop- 

 eared black and white rabbit. He was so fero- 

 cious that he enjoyed being attacked, and, far 

 from running away, would chase the boys at 

 every opportunity. Sometimes he was taken up 

 into the fort and placed in the yard about the 

 little cottage where the boys lived. Playing 

 that Jack was a bull, they would imitate the 

 Spanish bull-fight, clashing into the yard and out 

 again very rapidly Avith Jack at their heels. 

 Occasionally they failed to make gcod their es- 

 cape, and his sharp teeth and claws would rend 

 their clothes wherever he could seize them. 



Bon, the goat, was most esteemed. She pro- 

 vided them with all the milk for their coffee, 

 and was harnessed up at times to drive around 

 the fort. When released, she had a trick of run- 

 ning at a perpendicular wall, planting her feet 

 against it, then leaping off, landing upon her 



