“It is true you are smaller, but I am not so sure that you have more
enemies,” replied Jumper thoughtfully. “It sometimes seems to me that I
couldn't have more, especially in winter.”
“Name them,” commanded Whitefoot.
“Hooty the Great Horned Owl, Yowler the Bob Cat, Old Man Coyote, Reddy
Fox, Terror the Goshawk, Shadow the Weasel, Billy Mink.” Jumper paused.
“Is that all?” demanded Whitefoot.
“Isn't that enough?” retorted Jumper rather sharply.
“I have all of those and Blacky the Crow and Butcher the Shrike and
Sammy Jay in winter, and Buster Hear and Jimmy Skunk and several of the
Snake family in summer,” replied Whitefoot. “It seems to me sometimes as
if I need eyes and ears all over me. Night and day there is always some
one hunting for poor little me. And then some folks wonder why I am so
timid. If I were not as timid as I am, I wouldn't be alive now; I would
have been caught long ago. Folks may laugh at me for being so easily
frightened, but I don't care. That is what saves my life a dozen times a
day.”
Jumper looked interested. “I hadn't thought of that,” said he. “I'm a
very timid person myself, and sometimes I have been ashamed of being so
easily frightened. But come to think of it, I guess you are right; the
more timid I am, the longer I am likely to live.” Whitefoot suddenly
darted into his hole. Jumper didn't move, but his eyes widened with
fear. A great white bird had just alighted on a stump a short distance
away. It was Whitey the Snowy Owl, down from the Far North.
“There is another enemy we both forgot,” thought Jumper, and tried not
to shiver.
CHAPTER X: The White Watchers
Much may be gained by sitting still
If you but have the strength of will.
--Whitefoot.
Jumper the Hare crouched at the foot of a tree in the Green Forest, and
a little way from him on a stump sat Whitey the Snowy Owl. Had you been
there to see them, both would have appeared as white as the snow around
them unless you had looked very closely. Then you might have seen two
narrow black lines back of Jumper's head. They were the tips of his
ears, for these remain black. And near the upper part of the white mound
which was Whitey you might have seen two round yellow spots, his eyes.
There they were for all the world like two little heaps of snow. Jumper
didn't move so much as a hair. Whitey didn't move so much as a feather.
Both were waiting and watching. Jumper didn't move because he knew that
Whitey was there. Whitey didn't move because he didn't want any one to
know he was there, and didn't know that Jumper was there. Jumper was
sitting still because he was afraid. Whitey was sitting still because he
was hungry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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