Bumper, The White Rabbit Part 6

"If Carlo ever touches me," he said, "I'll bite his nose so he'll remember it. Who's afraid of an old dog like Carlo?"

"You are, I should say," smiled the white rabbit.

The Sewer Rat started to deny this, and then thought better of it. "Well, I wasn't more frightened than you, Mr. White Rabbit. You're as pale as a ghost this very minute."

"That's a good one," laughed b.u.mper. "Pale as a ghost! Why, I'm whiter than snow all the time. How could I get paler?"

Mr. Sewer Rat gnashed his teeth again, and swished his long tail. He was plainly angry and discomfitted. So he retorted maliciously:

"You're not white at all. You're so dirty your own mother wouldn't know you. White! Oh! Ho! Ho! I wish you could see yourself."

b.u.mper did see himself, or, at least, a part of himself. Both front paws were muddy; his long ears were covered with iron rust; his fat cheeks were dusty and cobwebby, and to the ends of his whiskers clung specks of dirt.

In his progress through the drain-pipe he had acc.u.mulated sufficient dirt to change his color from pure white to a rusty gray.

"I can soon clean myself," he remarked, "and the little girl with the red hair will help me. Is that the hole that leads back to the garden?"

The Sewer Rat suddenly blinked his wicked little eyes. "Yes," he replied, "if you know the right turns to take. If you don't you'll get lost, and never find your way out."

"I think I know my way back," said b.u.mper, hesitatingly. He hated to ask favors of the Sewer Rat, but when the latter volunteered information he was grateful for it.

"You'll find a better way back to the garden by following the abandoned sewer you're standing in. Keep straight on to the end. It's much better than crawling back through this small drain-pipe."

"Thank you!" replied b.u.mper. "I believe I'll go back that way!"

"All right, then. I must be going to my family. I haven't had my breakfast yet. Good morning!"

b.u.mper thanked him again, and turned to follow the sewer back to the garden, not realizing that the Rat had purposely deceived him out of revenge.

STORY VIII

b.u.mPER RUNS INTO A NEST OF BATS

The way back to the garden seemed a long one, and b.u.mper soon began to entertain doubts about the kindness of Mr. Sewer Rat. It was an old abandoned sewer, with plenty of room in it for a whole colony of rabbits, but it was terribly dirty and damp. The musty odor was so different from the pleasant fragrance of the garden he had recently left.

"I must have traveled miles and miles," he thought after a while, stopping to clean off some of the dirt that clung to his white fur. "Either that Rat didn't know what he was talking about, or he told a whopping fib. They always were sneaky animals, the Sewer Rats, and I shouldn't have listened to him."

He stopped to consider whether he shouldn't turn around and retrace his steps; but he was disturbed by the fear that he could never recognize the mouth of the drain-pipe he had come through. He had pa.s.sed a number of these black holes on his way, all looking alike.

"I should have counted them, and then I'd know which one was mine," he reflected.

But there was no good crying over spilt milk. He was in the abandoned sewer, and he had to find his way out somehow. Meanwhile, he was getting desperately hungry. Oh, for a mouthful of the succulent gra.s.s that grew in the garden, or a cabbage leaf or a piece of celery--anything, in fact, that would satisfy that gnawing at the stomach!

"Ah, well!" he sighed. "I must keep going until I find something to eat.

There must be other gardens, and this sewer must lead somewhere."

In a little while he became so thirsty that a drink of water seemed even more desirable than a bite of food. He tried to lick some of the moisture from the sides of the sewer, but that was only aggravating. It seemed to increase rather than diminish his thirst.

One hopeful feature of his adventure was that the big sewer seemed to grow lighter as he proceeded, and he was sure he was coming near the end. But before this hope was realized he stumbled upon something that gave him a shock.

Just ahead of him something long and black hung from the roof of the sewer, reaching down almost to the bottom. b.u.mper stopped to gaze critically at it, his little heart beating with apprehension. Was this the shadow of some strange animal, or was it simply an innocent log of wood that had got wedged in the sewer?

As it didn't move, and was perfectly noiseless, b.u.mper concluded that it was harmless, and so he approached it and after sniffing at it began nibbling the lower part. Suddenly there was a loud squeak, and the big shadow seemed to part in the middle and fly in every direction. It took wings so strangely that b.u.mper was more astounded than frightened.

The sewer was filled with black shadows that flitted all around him. Then followed a babel of noisy squeaks. Some came so close to his ears that he dodged and ducked in fear. One pair of sharp beaks caught him on the tip of his nose and made him squeal, and another nipped the back of his head.

He was too surprised and frightened by this time to run, and he tried to defend himself with his two front paws.

"It's the Sewer Rat! Bite him! Tweak his nose! Snap his tail! Tear out his eyes!"

The air was filled with these faint cries before b.u.mper began to realize just what he was up against. He had run into a big bunch of bats sleeping in the abandoned sewer, and his nibbling at them had alarmed and angered them. It was apparent from their remarks that they mistook him for Mr.

Sewer Rat, who perhaps had annoyed them many times before, and had even threatened to devour some of them.

"I'm not the Sewer Rat!" cried b.u.mper. "Please don't snap out my eyes! I didn't mean to disturb you! Wait! Wait, until I can explain!"

"Who are you? And what are you, then?" cried the biggest and fiercest of the bats, coming so close that his eyes looked like pin-points of light.

"I'm b.u.mper, the white rabbit!"

There was a pause, and the flittering wings seemed to stop beating the air.

"b.u.mper, the white rabbit! Who ever heard of a white rabbit! All rabbits are brown or gray."

It was the big bat speaking for the others, but they all joined him in gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth and in whipping the air with their soft, almost noiseless, wings.

"But I a.s.sure you I am a white rabbit," replied b.u.mper. "Come and look at me."

This challenge seemed fair, and some of the smaller bats approached nearer, but the leader warned them back. "Keep away! It's the Sewer Rat in disguise. It's a trick of his to catch you."

"Is the Sewer Rat white?" interrupted b.u.mper.

"No, not unless he's been whitewashed or been sleeping in a barrel of flour."

b.u.mper had to smile at this, for he recalled once how a big rat had been caught in a bag of flour by the old woman who kept rabbits, and his hair was as white as that of the whitest rabbit.

"I can a.s.sure you, Mr. Bat, I haven't been whitewashed, and I haven't been sleeping in flour. Look at my ears. Does Mr. Sewer Rat have long ears like mine?"

"No, but he could disguise them by using pieces of white paper. I wouldn't trust him a minute."

In desperation, b.u.mper then added: "But look at my tail! Did a Sewer Rat or any other kind of a Rat have a tail like mine?"

"Where is it?" asked the big Bat. "I don't see any tail at all. All rabbits have white tails, and you haven't any at all."

b.u.mper wagged the stump of tail that he thought would convince the bats, but for a moment, he wasn't exactly sure that he saw it himself. Instead of a white, fluffy stub of a tail as soft as cotton, he saw the dirtiest, blackest wad of hair waving in the air that had ever disgraced a rabbit.

The truth flashed upon his mind in an instant. What he had supposed to be the blindness of the bats was nothing more than a most natural circ.u.mstance.

He was so black with the dust and mud of the drain-pipe that it was misleading to call himself a white rabbit. He was far from it. He was as dark as any wild rabbit of the woods--darker, in fact, for there was no white fur under his stomach or around his stubby tail.