THE BUNNIKINS-BUNNIES IN CAMP

By

EDITH B. DAVIDSON

Pictures by

CLARA E. ATWOOD

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

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Mr. Bobtail Fitz-Herbert Bunnikins-Bunny was a very great dandy, for not only had he his own beautiful white fur coat, but he wore the finest of other clothes besides. His feathered hats, his fine coats, his lovely neckties, and his gay silk socks were admired and copied by all the young members of the Cotton-Tail Club, in Rabbitsville, where Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny lived.

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15He fell in love with a charming little rabbit, Miss Primrose Featherball, and after a short courtship, and a very fine wedding, they settled down in a beautiful cosy nest in a hollow tree.

When Mr. and Mrs. Bunnikins-Bunny had been married about two 16years, they decided, for the sake of Mr. Bunnikins’ health, to spend the summer camping out in the mountains.

They had two nice little bunny children. The elder was named Bobtail, like his father, and the younger, a dear soft mite of a thing, was called Rosamund.

She was a good little bunny, and behaved like 17a small lady, while Bobtail was a bunch of mischief.

From morning till night, he was always getting into trouble of some kind, until his mother thought she should be obliged either to send him to boarding-school, or else to keep him chained to a tree.

18However, he had promised to be very, very good if his father would take him camping, and for a week he had been on his best behavior.

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Mr. and Mrs. Bunnikins-Bunny had invited their great friends Mr. and Mrs. Gray-Squirrel and their two children, Ruddy and Chippy, to spend the summer with them; and one beautiful morning they started off, bright and early, for the mountains.

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23They had a cart, drawn by Neddy, a nice fat donkey, which the Gray-Squirrels and the Bunnikins family had loaded with all sorts of things which they would need, and many others which they would never want, but which Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny had insisted on stuffing in. At the last moment, he brought out a large feather-bed, which he felt sure he would need if he had rheumatism, and a foot-bath for Rosamund, in 24case she had the croup or whooping-cough.

Mrs. Bunnikins, however, refused, quite sternly, to put another single thing in the cart, which was already top-heavy, and might tip over, or else break down.

Besides, Neddy was very particular, and might lie 25down on the way, if he thought the load too big.

Since his marriage Mr. Bunnikins had become, not only more particular than ever about his beautiful clothes, but also very fussy about himself, and was constantly imagining that he had some new complaint.

He had brought a fine silk hammock to sleep in, when the nights were warm, and a soft woolly sleeping-bag, if it were cold. As for socks, 26hats, and fancy waistcoats, he would have brought dozens, had not Mrs. Bunnikins limited him to half a dozen of each.

Having had a cold in one of his long ears, he had tied his gray felt hat, with its green feathers, tightly down under his chin.

On his feet he wore green-and-white striped 27socks, because he said they looked spring-like, and his coat was green-and-white striped linen, to match.

He carried a green parasol to protect his eyes from the sun, and on his back was strapped a cunning little knapsack.

In this he carried a bottle of Dr. Possum’s “Ready Relief,” a hair-brush, a small bottle of 28cayenne pepper, which by making you sneeze would cure a cold; an extra pair of socks; a smelling-bottle; some toothpicks; half a dozen acorns for luncheon; a pair of rubber shoes to keep his toe-toes dry if it rained; a piece of maple sugar for his little Rosamund; a couple of cabbage-leaves to put on his head if the sun was too hot; and, lastly, a tiny folding umbrella.

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After a good many delays, they finally started; but when they had gone about a mile, Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny suddenly stopped, and insisted that he had forgotten something most important. What it was, 30he refused to tell, but back to the house he must and would go.

“Very well,” said patient Mrs. Bunnikins-Bunny, “it is already so late that we might as well have our luncheon here. By the time you come back, we shall be ready.”

Then Mrs. Bunnikins and the Gray-Squirrels unloaded the baskets, 31and set the table for luncheon.

The table was a nice flat stone, and the table-cover was made of pretty ferns and flowers, which the little bunnies and squirrels picked. Mr. Neddy, the donkey, had his dinner under a shady tree, while the others waited patiently for Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny.

32Pretty soon they saw him in the distance, puffing and panting along, and dragging behind him some large object. When he came nearer, his wife saw that he was bringing a life-preserver.

“My dear,” she called, “what can you want that for?”

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35“For Bobtail,” Mr. Bunnikins shouted back. “If we should camp near a pond, he would surely fall in, and then, as he can’t swim, he would be drowned, unless we had a life-preserver.”

“But how can we carry it?” protested his wife. “The cart is already so full that Neddy can scarcely pull it.”

“Oh! I have thought all that out,” replied Mr. Bunnikins. “We 36will hang it around Neddy’s neck, where he can carry it easily, and it will look quite ornamental.”

They had soon finished their luncheon of carrot and lettuce salad and walnut pie, and after harnessing the donkey into the cart, and persuading him, much against his will, to let them hang the life-preserver around his neck, they started off once more.

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Towards evening they came to a pretty little grove, where they decided to spend the night.

The small bunnies and squirrels gathered sticks for a camp-fire; Mrs. Gray-Squirrel and Mrs. Bunny prepared supper; while Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny and Mr. Gray-Squirrel gave 40Neddy his supper and unpacked the cart; Mr. Gray-Squirrel doing most of the work, while Mr. Bunny talked and made suggestions.

There was a cunning little white tent for the children and their mothers, Mr. Gray-Squirrel preferring to sleep in a tree, while Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny decided to try his new hammock, swung between two strong bushes near the tent.

They were all so tired out, that 41soon after supper they went to bed. The little bunnies and squirrels were asleep in two minutes; and soon after, Mr. Gray-Squirrel, warmly covered up with his broad tail, could be heard snoring away, up in his tree.

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43Mr. Bunnikins climbed into his fine silk hammock, stretched himself out lazily, and was drowsily thinking how comfortable he was, when suddenly he felt a sharp sting in one of his soft paws.

“Mosquitoes!” he growled, as he drew his legs up under him, and made himself into as small a bunch as possible.

“Bzz,” “Bzz,”—and a sting on the end of his long silky ear.

“Bzz,” “Bzz,”—another sting 44on the tip of his small pink nose.

Poor Mr. Bunnikins twisted and turned, trying to forget the mosquitoes, and go to sleep; but it was of no use. When morning came, and the mosquitoes went, they left in the hammock a very tired and cross gentleman rabbit. He told Mrs. Bunnikins that he had had too much of camp-life and was 45going home as soon as he had eaten his breakfast.

“No, no, my dear,” said his gentle little wife, “you must not do that. I have plenty of mosquito-netting, and I can easily make you perfectly comfortable.”

At first Mr. Bunnikins utterly refused to stay, but finally his friend Gray-Squirrel persuaded him to try one more night, and if the mosquitoes still bothered him, they all promised 46to go home with him the following morning.

All day Mrs. Bunnikins-Bunny cut and sewed, and 47before bedtime she had made her husband a lovely pink mosquito-netting nightgown.

It covered him from the tips of his ears to the very ends of his toe-toes, and when he was in his hammock Mrs. Bunnikins tied it up like a bag below his paws, so that not a single 48mosquito ever again had even a taste of him.

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They traveled on for several days up into the mountains, and finally they came to a lovely glade surrounded by shady trees, with a pretty little brook close by.

“This is just the place to camp out for the rest of the summer,” said Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny.

52“See the nut-trees and clover-blossoms,” said Mr. Gray-Squirrel, who was fond of good things to eat.

Mrs. Bunnikins and Mrs. Gray-Squirrel were pleased to have the brook so near, where they could wash both the children and the clothes.

53Not far away they found an old deserted shed, which made an excellent stable for Neddy; and in the hollow of a tree, they made a cosy nest for cold or rainy weather.

The hollow was so near the ground, that, by making a little ladder, the Bunny family could easily climb in.

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55Bobtail tried very hard to jump from branch to branch like Ruddy Squirrel, but after several bad falls, he gave it up, and contented himself with scampering about on the ground.

The little Bunnies and Gray-Squirrels loved to play in the brook, and not far 56away they discovered a large pond. There, however, they were forbidden to go unless Neddy, the donkey, and the life-preserver went with them.

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One afternoon, Mr. Bunnikins was taking half a dozen winks in his hammock, when he was suddenly awakened by the loud squealing of Bobtail in the distance.

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He sprang up wide awake in a moment, remembering that the children had all gone to play at the pond. Calling to Mr. Gray-Squirrel to follow him, Mr. Bunnikins scampered through the woods as fast as his four fat and somewhat gouty paws could carry him. When he reached the 61pond, he saw Neddy and Bobtail trying vainly to throw the life-preserver to a brown furry object which was struggling in the water, some little distance from shore.

“Come here, Neddy,” called Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny, “and let me get on your back; then you can swim to whatever that is in the water, and I can throw it the life-preserver, when we get near enough.”

“Hee-haw!” said Neddy, which 62meant, “All right, sir”; and Mr. Bunnikins scrambled up on his back, with the life-preserver held tightly in his fore paws, and off they swam.

As soon as they came near the struggling object, with all his might and main, Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny threw the life-preserver.

It landed close to the Furry One, 63who at once pulled himself on top of it, and was safe, but alas for poor Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny! He had thrown the life-preserver so hard, that he lost his footing on Neddy’s back, which was wet and slippery, and splish! splash! splosh! into the water he fell.

64Neddy grabbed him quickly by his long ears, and swam toward shore with him, towing the life-preserver, with the furry object on it, by a rope.

Such a wet, unhappy Bunnikins as he was when Neddy put him gently down on dry land! He hated water anyhow, and never even wet the ends of his pink toes if he could help it. He kept his beautiful soft fur as white as snow, but paddling in the water he despised. His dignity, besides, had been very much hurt by his having been carried out of the pond by his ears.

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Meanwhile the brown furry object had crawled off the life-preserver, and waded ashore. Bobtail and Ruddy Squirrel, very much excited, rushed up to him, and asked who he was, and how he happened 68to be in the water so far from the land.

The Furry One tried to tell them how he had fallen off from a high rock into deep water, and how he had tried to swim to shore, but could not. He was, however, so frightened and confused that Ruddy and Bobtail could not understand much that he said.

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Just as they had told him that he had better play with them and get warm, a crackling of bushes and the sound of some heavy animal plunging through the underbrush was heard, and a moment later a huge brown bear lumbered out of the woods and came snarling towards them.

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73“Where is my Brownie Cub baby?” it growled to the terrified Bunnies and Squirrels.

Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny, his teeth chattering with cold and fright, assured the Bear politely that he did not know where his Brownie Cub baby was, but he would let him know if he met it anywhere on his travels.

Suddenly the Bear caught sight of 74the Furry One, and with a loud yap of joy he trotted heavily towards it.

The little thing began to whimper with evident delight, and the big bear, sitting up on his haunches, lifted the small brown object in his huge paws.

In a few moments the little 75Brownie Cub had told his father what dreadful things had happened to him, and how brave Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny had been.

The unhappy Bunnies and Squirrels meanwhile sat quaking with fright, not daring to move, and expecting every moment to be gobbled up by the terrible bear.

Very soon, however, their fears were relieved, for Mr. Brown Bruin, with large tears bobbling down his 76cheeks, and in a husky voice, began to thank Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny for his heroic action.

When he saw how dripping wet he was, he tried to lick him dry; but when he opened his great red mouth, he scared poor Bunnikins nearly out of his wits, and the first lap of his huge rough tongue knocked him down, and pulled out 77bits of his soft fur.

When he recovered his breath, Mr. Bunnikins thanked Mr. Bruin for his kindness, but he begged to be excused from any more drying, as, being subject to rheumatism, he thought the wisest thing for him to do was to go home very quickly, and drink some ginger-and-cayenne-pepper tea.

Mr. Bruin begged to be allowed to call and see him the next day, 78and Mr. Bunnikins hurried home, and was soon in bed, well wrapped up in warm blankets, and sneezing violently from the cayenne pepper.

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The next morning as Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny was rather stiff and chilly, Mrs. Bunnikins insisted that he should lie in his hammock in the sunshine, and be very lazy.

While she was talking to him, she suddenly gave a terrified squeak, 82and started as fast as she could run towards the hollow tree, fairly tumbling up the little ladder, into the safety of the nest.

How Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny and Mr. Gray-Squirrel laughed, when they saw what had frightened her—just Mr. and Mrs. Brown Bruin and their three children, come to make a pleasant morning call. They had brought a big jar of golden honey (the delight of bears) as a present to Mr. Bunnikins, and a lot of ripe nuts and wild celery for the children.

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They begged the Bunnies and the Squirrels to come and make them a visit very soon, Mr. Bruin offering to carry them to and fro on his broad back; he even persuaded Rosamund to take a little ride with her father then and there.

86That evening at supper-time Bobtail was missing, and for some time he could not be found. Finally Ruddy Squirrel spied him, hidden away in the play-house near the brook.

When his father pulled him out he was a sorry-looking bunny. He had been told not to touch the honey, 87but he was so anxious to have a little taste, that he had tried to get a pawful out of the bear’s big jar, and, leaning over too far, he had lost his balance and fallen in.

From the tip of his ears to the end of his short tail he was a mass of sweet sticky honey, and when Mr. Bunnikins took hold of him to shake him, his paw stuck fast to poor Benjamin’s long ear.

The only thing to do was to soak 88him in the brook until the honey melted out of his fur, which took such a long time that Bobtail caught a fearful cold, and did nothing but cough and sneeze for a week after.

He ate no more honey for a long, long time, and did not even like to see it.

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The rest of the summer passed very pleasantly. The Bunnies and Squirrels made several visits to their new friends the Brown Bears, who had found a hollow tree for them near their own cave-house. In this tree the bears built a beautiful nest, and made it 92so comfortable, that, when the time came for the Bunnies and Squirrels to go home for the winter, they promised surely to return the following summer.

One pleasant autumn day the tent was taken down, and with all the other things was packed in the cart. The life-preserver, however, was given as a parting gift to Mr. Brown Bruin, who was much pleased. Neddy, the donkey, was thankful 93to get rid of it, as he hated to wear it around his neck.

Neddy had grown so fat from doing nothing all summer that he 94could scarcely waddle, and Bobtail declared he looked like a hippopotamus.

The Bunnies and the Gray-Squirrels felt very sad to leave their kind friends the Brown Bears, and the pretty camp with its running brook, but winter was coming and soon the nights would be cold so far up in the mountains.

They reached home after several days of travel, without any accident, 95excepting that several times Neddy insisted on lying down in the road and taking naps.

The Gray-Squirrels said good-bye to the Bunnies, as they lived 96several miles away, and that night they all settled down comfortably in their warm winter nests.