A few minutes passed by in quiet waiting before he was back again,
this time with two or three companions. 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 squeak 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 mischief-maker, or
was it only the overflow of abundant spirits as the top of a kettle
blows off when the pressure below becomes resistless?
[Illustration]
Many of the rabbits saw me, I am sure, for they sometimes gave a high
jump over my foot; and one came close up beside it, and sat up
straight with his head on one side, to look me over.
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