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“But why does it twist and turn so, like a corkscrew?” the Monkey asked the Rabbit.

“We always build our burrow caves like this, to keep out dogs and other enemies,” was the reply. “My real home is still a little farther on. We’ll be there in a moment.”

The Monkey followed on, and soon came to a place where, seated about a table made from a piece of a flat stump, were several little Rabbit children and a lady Rabbit.

“This is my family,” said the Live Rabbit. “Mrs. Hare, allow me to present Mr. Monkey on a Stick, who has come to pay us a visit.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Mrs. Rabbit, bowing low.

“Hi, Daddy!” called one of the little Rabbits, “where’s his stick?”

And then everybody laughed.

CHAPTER VII

OUT IN THE RAIN

“Please excuse little Johnnie Hare,” said Mrs. Hare to the Monkey. “He didn’t mean to be impolite, asking for your stick.”

“Oh, I know,” said the Monkey. “He’s just like all children–they just ask what they want to know about. And I suppose it does seem funny to be a Monkey on a Stick and then not have your stick with you. But I can tell you where my stick is, Johnnie,” said the Monkey to the little Rabbit chap, and then he related his adventure on Carlo’s back.

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” said all the other little Rabbits, opening wide their eyes when they heard this story. “Tell us another, please!”

“We are just going to have dinner,” said Mrs. Hare. “Won’t you sit down, Mr. Monkey on a Stick, and take something? We have some nice carrots and turnips.”

“Thank you, I’ll take a little,” said the Monkey.

A little chair, made from a piece of wood gnawed out by Mr. Jack Hare, was brought up for the Monkey to sit on, and then the Rabbit family and the visitor gathered around the table and began eating. I can not say that the little Rabbit children ate much, for they turned around so often to look at Mr. Monkey, that, half the time, they missed putting things in their mouths and dropped them on the table.

But no one minded this, and every one laughed, so there was a most jolly good time. The lightning bugs kept on glowing, so it was not at all dark in the cave, though it would have been only for these fireflies. Mr. and Mrs. Hare had many questions to ask Mr. Monkey on a Stick about his adventures, and he told them of the Calico Clown, the Sawdust Doll and others from the toy store, including the Candy Rabbit.

“Just fancy!” exclaimed Mrs. Hare. “A Rabbit made of candy! I’m glad you’re not that kind, Jack.”

“So am I,” said her husband. “I’d be afraid, every time I jumped, that I’d break a leg or an ear, if I were made of candy.”

“Now I must show you our cave house,” said Mrs. Hare, when the meal was finished. “We think it is very nice.”

“I’m sure it is,” returned the Monkey.

So he was taken about, and he looked at the different burrows, or rooms, in the cave house of Mr. Jack Hare. There were rooms for the children Rabbits and rooms for Mr. and Mrs. Hare. In each room were lightning bugs to give light, though as Mr. Hare said, they were needed only when company came that could not see well in the dark.

“We put out every light when Mr. Mole comes,” said Mrs. Hare.

“Why is that?” asked the Monkey.

“Because he has no eyes, and doesn’t need to see,” was the answer. “He just feels and noses his way around. All darkness is the same to him.”

“Dear me! Well, I like a little light,” said the Monkey. “But I think now, since I have been here quite a while, that I had better go back. Herbert and Dick might be walking over the meadow, looking for me, for they know which way Carlo ran, with me on his back, and they often find things that are lost–those boys do.”