cunning he can make people believe anything he chooses, and he has succeeded in making fools of us all-every one.

"There is not one of all the animals in the hedge, nor one of the birds in the trees, that he has not cheated. He is so very, very, cunning, and his talk is so soft and smooth. Do you please take care, Sir Bevis, or perhaps he may deceive you, as he deceived the Fox. Why, do you know, he has made the people believe that his crimes are committed by the Fox, who consequently bears all the disgrace; and not only that, but he has spread it abroad that the Fox is the most cunning of all, in

order that he may not be suspected of being so clever as he is. I daresay the Weasel will have me some day, and I do not care if he does, now my leveret is dead; and very soon his poor bones will be picked clean by the ants, and after the corn is carried the plough will bury them."

Bevis was terribly distressed at the Hare's story, and showed such indignation against the Weasel, and stamped his little foot so hard, knitting his brow, that the Hare was somewhat appeased, and began to explain all about it.

"Of course you did not know, dear," she said, "when you stepped on the spring of the gin, what trouble we had had to get him into the trap. For we had all suffered so long from his cruelty, that we had all agreed at last to try and put an end to it. The trees could not bear to stand still and see it go on under them, yet they could not move. The earth could not bear to feel him running about on his bloodthirsty business, through the holes the rabbits had made. The grass hated to feel him pushing through, for it had so often been stained with the blood that he had shed. So we all took counsel together, and I carried the messages, dear, from the oak, where you slept, to the ash and the elm, and to the earth in the corner where the rabbits live; and the birds came up into the oak and gave their adherence, every one; and the Fox, too, though he did not come himself, for he is too cunning to commit himself till he knows which way the wind is going to blow, sent word of his high approval.

"Thus we were all prepared to act against that midnight assassin, the Weasel, but we could not begin. The trees could not move, the earth could not wag a step, the grass could do nothing, and so it went

on

for some months, during all which time the Weasel was busy with his wickedness, till at last the Bailiff set the gin for the Rat by the cart-house. Then the Fox came out by day-contrary to his custom, for he likes a nap-and went to a spot where he knew a rabbit sat in the grass; and he hunted the poor rabbit (it was very good sport to see-I do not like rabbits), till he had driven him across the ditch, where the Weasel was. Then the Fox stopped, and hid himself in the furze; and the Weasel, first looking round to see that no one was near, stole after the rabbit. Now the rabbit knew that the Fox was about, and therefore he was afraid to run across the open field; all he could do was to go down the hedge towards the garden.

"Everything was going on well, and we sent word to the Rat, to warn him against the gin-we did not like the Rat, but we did not want the gin thrown— don't you see, dear? But when the rabbit had gone half-way down the hedge, and was close to the garden, he became afraid to venture any nearer your house, Bevis. Still the Weasel crept after him, and presently drove him almost up to your sycamore-tree. Then the rabbit did not know what to do; for if he went

forward the people in the house might see him and bring out the gun, and if he turned back the Weasel would have him, and if he ran out into the field the Fox would be there, and he could not climb up a tree. He stopped still, trying to think, till the Weasel came so near he could smell the rabbit's blood, and then, in his terror, the rabbit darted out from the hedge, and into the ditch of your haha wall, under where the bee-hives are. There he saw a dry drain, and hopped into it, forgetting in his fright that he might not be able to get out at the

other end.

"The Weasel thought he had now got him safe, and was just going to rush across and follow, when an ant spoke to him from the trunk of a tree it was climbing. The ant said the Fox had asked him yesterday to watch, and if the Weasel came that way, to warn him that there was a plot laid for his life, and not to be too venturesome. This was a piece of the same double-faced ways the Fox has been notorious for these many years past. No one hates the Weasel so much as the Fox, but he said to himself, The Weasel is so cunning, that even if he

is caught, he is sure to find some way to get free,

and then he will perhaps discover that I had a hand in it, and will turn round on me and spoil some of my schemes out of spite. Besides which, I don't see why I should take much interest in the Hare or the Mouse.' So, though he hunted the rabbit for us, yet he sent the Weasel this message, to take care and mind and not be too bold.

"When the Weasel heard this he stopped, and thought to himself that it was rather dangerous to go so near a house, almost under it; and yet he could not help licking his mouth, as he remembered the sweet scent of the rabbit's blood. But he was so very, very cunning, that he thought to himself the rabbit would be obliged to come out again presently, and would be sure to come up the hedge if he did not see the Weasel. So the Weasel turned round to go up the hedge, and we were all in anxiety lest the scheme should miscarry. But as the Weasel was going under the elm, the elm dropped a large dead branch, and as it came crashing down, it fell so near the Weasel as to pinch his foot, and, hearing another branch go crack, he lost his presence of mind, turned back again, and darted across the corner into the drain. There the scent of the rabbit