<h2><SPAN name="SAFE" id="SAFE"></SPAN>SAFE!</h2>
<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">“Goodness</span> me!” cried Little Jack Rabbit, as a cold blast of air and a
whirl of snowflakes came through the doorway, “What can be the matter?”</p>
<p>“Oh, Little Jack Rabbit,” cried Timmy Meadowmouse, “I didn’t have time
to knock. I hardly had time to get in, for Danny Fox chased me right up
to the Old Bramble Patch.”</p>
<p>“Is that dreadful fox around?” asked the little bunny. “We’ll be cooped
up here now for maybe a week, for I guess he’s pretty hungry if he
hunts for meadowmice.”</p>
<p>“Oh, dear,” sighed the little meadowmouse,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</SPAN></span> “I wish I’d stayed home,”
and he told the little rabbit how he had tunneled through the snow
until he was so tired that he had climbed up a stalk to look about him,
and, seeing the Old Bramble Patch so near, had foolishly run over the
snow instead of finishing his subway.</p>
<p>“I never saw Danny Fox by the Old Rail Fence—not until he jumped out
when I was half way over. My! I thought I’d never reach the dear Old
Bramble Patch!” And Timmy Meadowmouse gave a sigh of relief. “Whew! I’m
all out of breath!”</p>
<p>“Well, you stay here and make yourself at home,” said Little Jack
Rabbit. You see, he and Timmy Meadowmouse had always been good friends.</p>
<p>“I suppose I can dig a tunnel back to where I left off,” said Timmy
Meadowmouse.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</SPAN></span> “I might strike it and then again I mightn’t. It’s all
right when you start out from your own house. You can always get back
by just turning around. But now, goodness me! I might keep on for ever
and never get home.”</p>
<p>“That’s right,” said Little Jack Rabbit. “You must have help. Wait
until tomorrow and I’ll find a way.”</p>
<p>Pretty soon he went to the door and looked out. Danny Fox was nowhere
to be seen. So Timmy Meadowmouse went out in the Old Bramble Patch and
picked a red berry from a wild rose bush. Then he hurried back, for it
was very cold and Billy Breeze was whirling a cloud of snow over the
Sunny Meadow.</p>
<hr class="divider" />
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</SPAN></span>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />