KI-YI COYOTE WATCHES FOR DOCTOR RABBIT

It was just as Doctor Rabbit had expected. He had not told Jack¹ Rabbit about it, but that very night Ki-yi Coyote came prowling around, just as Doctor Rabbit thought he would.

Doctor Rabbit was in bed, but he had not gone to sleep, when he heard a noise out in his front yard. Very quietly he put his head out of an upstairs window.

Sure enough! There was slinky Ki-yi walking around out there and mumbling³ to himself. He was saying, “I know well enough he lives here. I can smell his tracks, and I can smell rabbit, too, as plain as anything. He’s gone to bed now, no doubt, so I’ll hide out here and pay him a call in the morning.”

[Pg 39]“He, he, he!” Ki-yi chuckled⁴ softly to himself. He was so tickled⁵ to think he had found where Doctor Rabbit lived. He thought now it would be easy to surprise Doctor Rabbit and make a breakfast of him.

Only a little distance away flowed the Murmuring Brook⁶, where Doctor Rabbit went every morning for a drink.

There was a path that led from Doctor Rabbit’s house to the brook, and Ki-yi Coyote thought he would hide right beside the path in the bushes. Then when Doctor Rabbit came along in the morning, he could pounce⁷ upon him and have him for breakfast.

So sly Ki-yi picked out a good place near the path and lay down to wait until morning.

“I suppose I’ll get pretty tired waiting,” he said, “but a big fat rabbit for[Pg 40] breakfast is worth waiting for.” And he smacked⁸ his lips at the very thought of it. Then he said, “My! I haven’t tasted rabbit for two whole months. Yes, indeed, I’ll wait right here until morning!” And again Ki-yi smacked his lips.

Now it so happened that Downy Screech⁹ Owl² was in the tree right above Ki-yi Coyote, and heard what he said.

“Get out of my woods!” Downy Screech Owl cried, in his strange voice.

Old Ki-yi jumped, he was so startled. Then he looked up and saw who it was. “Never mind, Screechy,” he said, in his smoothest voice, “I just came in for a cool drink at the Murmuring Brook and a little nap here.”

“You can’t fool me!” Downy Owl cried back in his very strange voice. “You’re after something, and I know it![Pg 41] I know whom you are after, too. You are after—”

Right here Downy Screech Owl stopped talking. He happened to think he might say something that would get Doctor Rabbit into trouble. So he made up his mind to keep still for the present, and slip over in a little while and tell Doctor Rabbit where Ki-yi Coyote was. You see, Downy Owl didn’t know that Doctor Rabbit was awake. He didn’t know that Ki-yi Coyote had even been seen by anybody else.

Downy Screech Owl waited until Ki-yi Coyote curled himself up, as if for a nap, and then flew around to Doctor Rabbit’s back door and knocked very gently.

Doctor Rabbit opened the door only a very little crack, but when he saw who it was, he let Downy Owl in. And Downy began right away, for he was[Pg 42] very much excited: “Ki-yi Coyote is right out there, hiding by the path, waiting for you!” he said.

But to his surprise, Doctor Rabbit answered, “I know it. I’ve been watching him all the time!”

“My, I’m certainly glad you have,” said Downy Screech Owl; “but what are you going to do?”

“Don’t talk so loud!” Doctor Rabbit warned. “I’m going to do this: I’m going to fool old Ki-yi worse than he ever was fooled before in his life. The first joke I play on him will be funny. But the second joke I play on him will take him clear away from the Big Green Woods and the Wide Prairie for good and all.”

“My goodness me!” was all Downy Screech Owl could say, he was so puzzled. “How are you going to play the jokes on[Pg 43] sly Ki-yi, and what are the jokes?” he wanted to know.

“Never mind now,” Doctor Rabbit whispered; “you just slip back and see if Ki-yi is still there. If he is, try to keep him there.”

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

3 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。

4 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

5 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

6 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

7 pounce   

n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意

参考例句：

• Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
• We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。

8 smacked   

拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He smacked his lips but did not utter a word. 他吧嗒两下嘴，一声也不言语。
• She smacked a child's bottom. 她打孩子的屁股。

9 screech   

n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。
• The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。