while jack rabbit, with ki-yi coyote close after him, was running toward the tree, doctor rabbit shouted out, “come right past this tree, jack rabbit! come right past this tree! i’ve got a plan! come right along, i’ll help you. come on! come on!”
that encouraged friend jack rabbit wonderfully. he took a few extra long jumps and managed to get a little farther ahead of ki-yi coyote. of course he didn’t know what doctor rabbit was going to do, but jack rabbit always had great faith in doctor rabbit. so he ran right past the hole under the tree.
then, just as crafty ki-yi was going by with his mouth wide open and his tongue[pg 33] hanging out, doctor rabbit sprang up and threw a whole bottle of his very nastiest medicine right into ki-yi’s face!
well, you should have seen old ki-yi then. he was more surprised than he ever had been before in his life. and mad! he was about the maddest coyote you ever heard of. his mouth had been wide open, so of course he got most of the medicine there. it tasted so nasty he stopped just a moment to try to get it out of his mouth, but when he found he couldn’t, he started out after doctor rabbit. he was angrier than ever, and ran as hard as he could run.
just as soon as doctor rabbit had thrown the bad-tasting medicine in ki-yi coyote’s face, he started out for the big green woods as fast as his legs could carry him. jack rabbit had dodged over a little hill and was out of sight.
[pg 34]when angry ki-yi started after him again doctor rabbit was already near the big green woods, so he looked back and just laughed and shouted. “ha, ha, ha!” he laughed. “i guess you’re pretty mad, aren’t you, mr. ki-yi? ha, ha, ha! how do you like the medicine? is it as good as—as good as jack rabbit? ha, ha, ha!” and with that, doctor rabbit bounded into the big green woods, and whisked out of sight.
as doctor rabbit ran along, he met jack rabbit, who also had managed to get into the woods. they both kept running until they reached doctor rabbit’s home in the big tree.
here tired jack rabbit threw himself down on the grass and panted for a long while. he said it was about the hardest race he ever had had in his life, and that he guessed he must be getting old, for[pg 35] he couldn’t run as fast as he used to. but after doctor rabbit had brought out some liniment and rubbed him well, jack rabbit said he felt better. then after he had eaten a good dinner with doctor rabbit, he said he felt so fine he believed he could run away from ki-yi coyote and not half try.
“what i need,” said jack rabbit, “is a little of that liniment around the house, so my wife could rub me with it now and then. i believe it would cure my rheumatism.”
“i am quite certain of it,” doctor rabbit told him, and he wrapped up a bottle of it right away and gave it to jack rabbit to take home with him. after that they sat down and talked.
“i wish,” said jack rabbit then, “that there were some way to run ki-yi coyote clear out of the wide prairie, or[pg 36] some way to get rid of him altogether.”
doctor rabbit was leaning against a tree curling his mustache and frowning a little. when he was thinking hard, he usually did frown. “i’ve been thinking about that, friend jack rabbit,” he said, “and i believe i know a way to get rid of crafty ki-yi, so he’ll never bother us again.”
“you do?” exclaimed jack rabbit eagerly, pricking up his long ears. “what is your plan?”
doctor rabbit dropped his voice to a whisper and said, “i haven’t thought it all out yet, but i will right soon, and i’ll let you know.” then he looked through the trees toward the edge of the woods, and pointing one front foot, said:
“look! look! ki-yi’s sneaking along out there now!” jack rabbit looked quickly, and sure enough, ki-yi coyote[pg 37] was slipping along and peering into the woods.
“he doesn’t see us at all,” whispered jack rabbit, “and i think i’ll skip out and go while i know where he is. now, when you decide how you’re going to run him out of the wide prairie and get rid of him, let me know, will you?”
“i surely will,” doctor rabbit said, “and i’ll have it all thought out by morning.”
then jack rabbit slipped away to tell all his friends and relatives that in some way, he didn’t just yet know how, doctor rabbit was going to get rid of ki-yi coyote.
