AN UNWELCOME CALLER

Rap! rap! rap! It was past midnight and some one was knocking on Doctor Rabbit’s door. Doctor Rabbit growled¹ a little, for he did not like to be wakened that time of night even if he was a doctor. But he got up anyway and opened the upstairs window in his big tree.

The big round moon was shining very bright. It shone quite clear on the one who was knocking at the door. Now, who do you suppose it was? Well, it was some one Doctor Rabbit didn’t want[Pg 2] to see. I should say he didn’t! For it was Tom Wildcat knocking! And he was about the worst enemy Doctor Rabbit had in the Big Green Woods. So it was a mighty² good thing he didn’t go down and open his front door.

“What do you want at my house this time o’ night?” Doctor Rabbit called down sharply.

Tom Wildcat jumped back a little, he was so surprised to hear some one talking above him. “Oh!” he exclaimed, looking up. “How do you do, Doctor Rabbit? I just came over to have you put some salve on my hind³ foot. I hurt it pretty bad a while ago.”

Now Doctor Rabbit didn’t believe old Tom. So he said, “Well, that doesn’t interest me, but how did you hurt it?”

“Well,” said Tom Wildcat, “I stepped on something in the dark—a sticker or[Pg 3] something. Then all of a sudden I found my foot bleeding and mighty sore.”

Doctor Rabbit knew very well how very cunning Tom was, so he spoke⁴ right up and said, “If you don’t tell me the real truth I won’t look at your foot at all.”

That was pretty plain and Tom Wildcat saw there was no other way but to tell the truth. “Well,” he said, “the fact is I was borrowing a hen from Farmer Roe’s chicken house, and his big dog and I had a little trouble before I could get away.”

“Aha, I see,” said Doctor Rabbit, peering slyly down at Tom and looking very wise. “Well, I’ll just shut my window and you can come up. You’ll find a small hole under the window. Put your foot through it and I’ll look at it.” Then Doctor Rabbit shut the window, locked it, and sat down to wait.

[Pg 4]Tom grumbled⁵ more than a little about having to climb the tree with his sore foot, but as there was no other way he began pulling and clawing into the bark, and up he went. Every now and then he hurt his foot against the tree and would have to stop. This made him pretty mad. But by and by he got up to the window and there he stopped to rest a bit and get his breath.

Then he looked at the hole under the window and called out, “What are you going to do with my foot?”

“Why, how can I tell till I see it?” Doctor Rabbit called back. And all the while he was chuckling⁶ so much he was afraid Tom might hear.

After thinking it over Tom had decided⁷ that perhaps he could put his foot through the hole and at the same time look through the window and see what[Pg 5] Doctor Rabbit was doing. But there was no way he could do this. So he turned round with his head down and held on to the bark of the tree while he put his foot through the hole under the window.

Doctor Rabbit saw right away that Tom Wildcat’s foot really was sore, but it wasn’t very bad. So chuckling more than ever, he went to his medicine closet and got out a box of salve. It was what Doctor Rabbit called his hot medicine, and it certainly was hot. It would cure a sore foot all right, but Doctor Rabbit didn’t use it very often. He kept it only for some one like his present patient.

“Hurry up!” Tom called out most impatiently.

Doctor Rabbit was all ready, so he called back, “All right there, Tom; hold right still!” and slapped a lot of that[Pg 6] hot salve right on the sore foot, just where it hurt the most.

Old Tom gave a yell loud enough to be heard all over the Big Green Woods, and down the tree he went.

1 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

3 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 grumbled   

抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声

参考例句：

• He grumbled at the low pay offered to him. 他抱怨给他的工资低。
• The heat was sweltering, and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. 天热得让人发昏，水手们边干活边发着牢骚。

6 chuckling   

轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him chuckling to himself as he read his book. 他看书时，我能听见他的轻声发笑。
• He couldn't help chuckling aloud. 他忍不住的笑了出来。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。