his left ear, but Grandpa Grumbles only said,

"I can't hear, my deafness grows;
Ask the umbrella, for it knows."

Then the Cotton-Tails asked the umbrella what had become of Bushy-Tail
and the umbrella said,

"Bushy-Tail went swimming away,
But he'll come back in a year and a day."

"Oh" and "Ah" and "Oh" and "Ah," cried all the little Cotton-Tails,
"Bushy-Tail is swimming away is he?"

They all went merrily to bed.



CHAPTER VIII


The next morning Grandpa Grumbles called out,

"The Cotton-Tails are all in bed,
Every one is a sleepy-head."

"My fur and whiskers, we have overslept," said Bunny Cotton-Tail. "It
is nine o'clock by my little silver watch."

"Bless my buttons," cried Susan, "I meant to get up and get breakfast."