Page:The Way of the Wild (1923).pdf/133

 them with his paw, but the more he rubbed the worse they got. Finally it began swelling around his eyes and the lids began slowly closing.

This frightened Bunnyboy terribly, and he started running harder than ever. If he could only find his mother and get home before his eyes closed entirely. But he could not find his mother, though he ran until he was ready to drop. Finally his eyes were so nearly closed that he could not see to run.

He scratched his face in the brambles and at last he sat down, entirely lost. His eyelids were now completely closed, and it was all dark around.

Then an awful thought came to him. Now he could not see, all his enemies could get him. The fox could creep up on him. The owl could swoop down upon him. Every sound that he heard filled him with terror. Every time the wind blew in his face he thought it was the wings of the great horned owl. Finally he crawled into a clump of bushes and hid the best he could and lay there trembling and throb-