“Goodness me!” cried Little Jack Rabbit, as a cold blast of air and a whirl of snowflakes came through the doorway, “What can be the matter?”

“Oh, Little Jack Rabbit,” cried Timmy Meadowmouse, “I didn’t have time to knock. I hardly had time to get in, for Danny Fox chased me right up to the Old Bramble Patch.”

“Is that dreadful fox around?” asked the little bunny. “We’ll be cooped up here now for maybe a week, for I guess he’s pretty hungry if he hunts for meadowmice.”

“Oh, dear,” sighed the little meadowmouse, “I wish I’d stayed home,” and he told the little rabbit how he had tunneled through the snow until he was so tired that he had climbed up a stalk to look about him, and, seeing the Old Bramble Patch so near, had foolishly run over the snow instead of finishing his subway.

“I never saw Danny Fox by the Old Rail Fence—not until he jumped out when I was half way over. My! I thought I’d never reach the dear Old Bramble Patch!” And Timmy Meadowmouse gave a sigh of relief. “Whew! I’m all out of breath!”

“Well, you stay here and make yourself at home,” said Little Jack Rabbit. You see, he and Timmy Meadowmouse had always been good friends.

“I suppose I can dig a tunnel back to where I left off,” said Timmy Meadowmouse. “I might strike it and then again I mightn’t. It’s all right when you start out from your own house. You can always get back by just turning around. But now, goodness me! I might keep on for ever and never get home.”

“That’s right,” said Little Jack Rabbit. “You must have help. Wait until tomorrow and I’ll find a way.”

Pretty soon he went to the door and looked out. Danny Fox was nowhere to be seen. So Timmy Meadowmouse went out in the Old Bramble Patch and picked a red berry from a wild rose bush. Then he hurried back, for it was very cold and Billy Breeze was whirling a cloud of snow over the Sunny Meadow.