“Yes,” drawled the story-teller. “But can’t you see how worrisome it is? If Tommy Peele lets wolves go galloping3 through this barn we’ll have to go wild again. It’s in the compact. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain.”
“Noo-oo-oo,” the Red Cow moaned. “I don’t want to go wild. I won’t go wild again. I’ve been wild once, and I like being Tommy Peele’s tame cow ever so much better.”
“Nonsense!” interrupted Nibble4 Rabbit, sitting up very straight. “It hasn’t anything at all to do with you cows. Silvertip’s no more of a wolf than Watch is. Besides, I’m the only one he was chasing. He won’t come back again unless I do, and I won’t come until there isn’t any Silvertip to chase me.”
“Hoo-oo,” teased the White Cow. “What can you do to Silvertip?”
“Wait and see,” said Nibble. And off he set. But as he ran he said to himself, “Silvertip’s very big and clever—whatever can I do to him?”
For a while he was just about the most thoughtful bunny that ever flopped5 an ear. He’d made the White Cow a great big promise, one no grownup rabbit would ever have thought of.
And he had to have help about it. He was pretty glad, I can tell you, when he saw Watch scouting6 about the pasture with his nose to the ground.
“Have you found where Silvertip went to?” Nibble asked when the big dog stopped to speak with him.
“No,” said Watch in a discouraged tone. “There was a mist this morning and it’s washed away all the scent7. But what do you want of Silvertip?”
“I’ve got to help you catch him,” murmured Nibble.
“You!” exclaimed Watch. “You must be as crazy as a chickadee! Has any thing bitten you?” You know dogs are terribly afraid of being bitten by a crazy beast—it makes them go mad, too.
“No. But—but I promised the White Cow that I wouldn’t come back to the barn while Silvertip was alive to chase into it after me—and I won’t stay away from the Red Cow’s baby for ever and ever. Something’s got to happen to Silvertip.”
“I wouldn’t want him chasing me if I were you,” Watch agreed. This sounded more sensible. “But I don’t see what the White Cow has to do with it.”
“She says Silvertip is really a wolf,” Nibble explained, “and if Tommy Peele lets wolves come right into his barn, whether it’s calves8 or rabbits they’re hunting, the cows will have to go wild again. That’s in the compact between cows and man in the First-Off Beginning.”
“Wurr-r-r!” Watch growled9 thoughtfully. “So it is. But that’s my trouble, and the cow’s and Tommy’s. It hasn’t anything to do with you.”
Suddenly Nibble remembered something and quoted:
“By dusk and by dawn you shall travel alone.
And all troubles are yours excepting your own.
“I understand,” Watch nodded wisely. “Well, the trouble about all this is that I can’t explain it to Tommy. And we need him. What can you do to Silvertip—except give him a stomachache from eating too much rabbit, eh?”
“I can see where he is and what he does. I know how he gets into the chicken coop and where he hid the pullet he stole this morning and the feathers from all the rest he’s been stealing.”
“How—when—where!” barked Watch excitedly. “We don’t have to tell that to Tommy—we can show it to him. Quick, Nibble! How did Silvertip get into the chicken coop? Tommy’ll be home from school any minute.”
So Nibble took him around to the little back door. “That fox is certainly clever,” sniffed12 Watch. “He’s gnawed13 the hook right off. I’ve smelt14 him around here dozens of times, but I never thought of looking inside of the coop for him.” Then he lifted it with his nose, just as Silvertip had done, but he was too big to crawl in.
It was Nibble who squeezed through and took a hop15 on to the soft straw of the chicken coop floor. Then he sat up to sniff11 around. The hens were scratching busily, but the rooster was dozing16 off a full crop on his perch17. Nibble poked18 his nose into a box of feed and the bird next to him went, “Cut, cut!” That woke the rooster. He opened his eye and caught sight of Nibble’s whiskers.
“Er—er—err, I’m Chanticleer!” he crowed. “And you’re the rascal19 who stole my beautiful young wife, Specklefeather, this morning! You’re the one who took Stripedwing, the best setting hen ever a rooster owned, and dear little red-wattled Minorca—and all the rest who’ve been snatched from my perches20. Your time has come! I’ll show you——” and he flapped down and began to peck poor Nibble and kick him with those long spurs roosters wear on their legs.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Nibble cried. But the rooster wouldn’t listen. Then a voice behind Nibble called, “Here, here,” and he darted21 under the perches and squeezed into a dark nest beside a hen.
“There,” she clucked. “That old bully22 never comes here. It isn’t proper for a rooster to come into the nesting corner. Poor Stripedwing. She used to set in here most of the time because he was so cruel to her. And he killed our son because Minorca was in love with him. I wish the fox had taken him.”
Nibble peeked23 out again and saw the rooster strutting24 around as though he’d really done something grand, calling on the hens to admire him. And now he could hear Watch shouting, “Come along, Tommy—come quick!” In a minute more he was barking outside the front door, and Tommy opened it.
“What’s the matter?” asked Tommy. Out hopped25 Nibble Rabbit. “However did you get in here?” gasped26 the little boy. And with that Nibble slipped through the little back door as neat as you please. Maybe Tommy didn’t whistle! And maybe he wasn’t still more surprised when he saw the hook all gnawed! But maybe he wasn’t maddest of all when Nibble and Watch took him across the field to Silvertip’s fence corner, all full of feathers, with poor dead Specklefeather lying in the middle of it!
“The fox!” Tommy exclaimed. “Old chicken thief; he ought to be hunted with a gun!”
“That’s all right,” Watch wagged his tail. “Now Tommy’ll find the gun and a man to shoot it, but we’ll have to find Silvertip so they can shoot him. I’ll sleep in the haystack and watch the barn, and you see if he’s hidden in the woods.”
So Nibble cocked his own little puffy tail and laid back his ears and scuttled27 through the cornfield. Because the first one he meant to ask was Doctor Muskrat. And it didn’t take much thumping28 to wake the doctor.
“My whiskers, but I’m glad to see you,” said the nice old beast as soon as he got his nose out of the water. “I was afraid that fox had really caught you. He came down here for a drink early this morning. He was feeling pretty sick, but he said he wasn’t going to do another thing until he’d pulled your long ears out by the roots and made a meal of you.”
“Well, he doesn’t want to find me any more than I want to find him,” said Nibble. And he told how Silvertip had followed him into the barn and jumped smash through the window, and what trouble that made for the cows, and the way he’d killed Tommy’s chickens, and how angry Tommy was about it.
“Shoot him? I wish they would.” Doctor Muskrat agreed. “He’s the worst beast in all the woods and fields, and we’ve plenty more to look out for—Slyfoot the Mink29 and the Marsh30 Hawk31 are back, and Grandpop Snapping Turtle is out again—but you’ll have to be mighty32 careful. You dig yourself a root and stay hidden while I see what the birds know about him.”
So Doctor Muskrat asked every bird who came down to drink if he’d keep an eye out for Silvertip. That was a great many, too, for whole clouds of them were coming north on every south wind. But they were all so busy about courting and nesting it was three days before Doctor Muskrat had any news. Late in the evening a whippoorwill came dipping down like a great feathery moth33 and called softly: “Doctor Muskrat!” Then he perched on the doctor’s house and whispered: “Silvertip’s living in the hollow log that shadows my last year’s nest. He’s still too sick to hunt anything but frogs and tadpoles34 and the eggs of us poor ground birds, but the minute he can gallop2 he’s going to get that rabbit. He lies there growling35 and swearing about him.”
Nibble couldn’t hear what the whippoorwill said. And that was lucky, because he was lying very still in the Quail’s Thicket36 with those screech37 owls38 perched right above him.
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1
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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2
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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3
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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4
nibble
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| n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵 | |
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flopped
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| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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8
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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growled
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| 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 | |
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muskrat
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| n.麝香鼠 | |
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11
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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12
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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13
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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14
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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15
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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19
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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perches
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| 栖息处( perch的名词复数 )； 栖枝； 高处； 鲈鱼 | |
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21
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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23
peeked
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| v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出 | |
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24
strutting
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| 加固，支撑物 | |
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25
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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26
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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27
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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28
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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mink
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| n.貂，貂皮 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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32
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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33
moth
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| n.蛾，蛀虫 | |
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34
tadpoles
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| n.蝌蚪( tadpole的名词复数 ) | |
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35
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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36
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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37
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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38
owls
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| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
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