74 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
for just then Cur Dog gave tongue loudly and long, 
with the confidence of a hunter who knows that 
his quarry is weary. 
Fluff-Button turned down a ride. The moon 
had risen, and here where the trees grew sparsely 
it was comparatively light. Nevertheless the 
woods on either side were in deepest shadow, and 
Fluff-Button had eyes for nothing but the dog 
behind him. Hence he never saw a dark figure 
standing in the shadows, and he passed so swiftly 
that he scented nothing unusual. Neither did Cur 
Dog see or smell it as he tore down the ride, yelping 
on the trail with his nose to the ground. 
Suddenly there was a flash and a loud report 
split the silence of the woods. Cur Dog bounded 
his own height into the air, his howl died into a sob 
he rolled over twice and then lay still. 
' Not bad in the twilight/ said the keeper, 
jerking the cartridge from his gun. 
Fluff-Button heard the report as he scudded 
through the bushes, but he never noticed that the 
galloping feet behind him had ceased. Some fifty 
yards further on was an old rabbit burrow. He 
dived into it, and lay panting in its bottommost 
recess until long after moonset. But no Cur Dog 
came to nose at the burrow's mouth. 
Thus Fluff-Button might have cried quits with 
