and was familiar with every inch of it. He knew he would be safe from
Brushtail in the briar patch, and all Brushtail could do if he saw
Doctor Rabbit hiding there would be just to wait outside. But he would
have to give up in the end, because Doctor Rabbit never would come out
of a briar patch so long as an enemy was waiting for him.

Doctor Rabbit got all ready, and then he ran for that briar patch. He
ran as hard as he could and dived into the briar patch just as if
Brushtail were very close behind him, because, you see, it might be
that Brushtail _was_ very close. Then Doctor Rabbit crept to the
center of the briar patch and sat down. He decided that if necessary
he would stay in the briar patch all day and watch. He knew Brushtail
the Fox had some kind of a secret in that thicket--a den or
something--else he never would have been so careful about getting
into it.

Doctor Rabbit waited for about two hours, and he was already getting
tired when all of a sudden he sat as still as a stone. In fact, he sat
so perfectly still that I doubt if you could have seen him even if you
had been looking right at him.

The reason why Doctor Rabbit sat still so quickly was that he saw a
movement in the leafy thicket. Presently the bushes parted, and who do
you suppose came out? No, it was not Brushtail--it was Mrs.
Brushtail! And now Doctor Rabbit knew exactly why Brushtail had been
so careful about getting into that thicket. It was Mr. and Mrs.
Brushtail's home. And it was here, of course, that Farmer Roe's hens
were disappearing, and this was where Doctor Rabbit and Stubby
Woodchuck and all their friends would go if they didn't watch out!
Yes, sir! This was where a great many of the little creatures of the