of course, spotted tail was glad that he had been relieved of making the terrible test of courage in crossing swinging bridge, but, at the same time, he was chagrined that bumper had come out of the contest with greater honors than ever. it seemed as if in some way the white rabbit managed to make good by successfully crawling out of every corner in which spotted tail put him.

“it’s just luck—blind luck,” growled spotted tail to himself. and so it seemed to him, for he was unwilling to face the truth, and accept it. it is always easier to blame luck for our failures, and spotted rabbit was like a good many boys and girls in this respect.

instead of feeling any gratitude to bumper for saving him the humiliation of his life by forbidding any rabbit to undertake the crossing, spotted tail allowed his rancor to increase day by day until he was in a fine frame of mind. he wanted more than ever to “get even” with bumper, as he expressed it.

52then one day when the opportunity seemed to come to him, he was prepared to take advantage of it. it was to be a test of wits, this time. without his knowing it, this was the one ground on which bumper was eager to be challenged. it is to be feared that bumper had an inordinate conceit about his ability to get out of difficult places by using his wits.

so when spotted tail started in the usual way to work up to a challenge, bumper readily encouraged him. “a good king is always a wise king, isn’t he, bumper?” he asked.

“he couldn’t be a good king if he wasn’t wise,” was the smiling retort.

“just so. i agree with you. but what is wisdom? can you describe it?”

“can you describe the sunlight, spotted tail? you see it every day, and you know it when you see it. but can you describe it?”

“i can describe it by saying that it is just the opposite of darkness,” spotted tail replied, a little at a loss for a good answer to this unexpected question.

“then i can describe wisdom in the same way. it’s the opposite of ignorance.”

spotted tail frowned when the others laughed and clapped their paws at this retort.

“but what i meant,” continued the discomfitted 53rabbit, recovering his composure, “is the application of wisdom. how do we know a thing is wise until we’ve tried it?”

“how do we know a thing is hot or cold until we’ve burnt or frozen our paw? by experience, spotted tail, we know that it isn’t necessary to run into a fire and scorch ourselves every time we see one to find out whether it is hot.”

“exactly, bumper, but some things we don’t know by experience. suppose you had never been in the water and didn’t know how to swim, but you’d seen other animals swim. now, if you fell in the water, what would you do? would the knowledge that you’d seen others swim save you?”

“perhaps,” replied bumper, hesitatingly. then, smiling, he added: “but the first thing i’d do would be to look around for a raft. that would be safer than trying to learn to swim. don’t you think that would be the wise thing to do?”

“yes, if there was a raft handy. but suppose there was none in sight. what would you do then?”

bumper stretched himself, and answered lazily: “i can’t say, spotted tail, until i was put to the test. but i think i’d use my wits or try to.”

54they had been sunning themselves on a board some hunter had stretched across a bend in the river. spotted tail had lured bumper to the far end of the board for his wicked purpose. the middle of the board rested on a stone, and sometimes the young rabbits used it as a see-saw. by running out to the ends two rabbits could make it jump up and down so that it splashed in the water and made a great commotion.

spotted tail was sitting next to bumper on the far end which stretched over very deep water. he turned now to him, and asked:

“can you swim, bumper? were you ever in the water over your head?”

“no,” bumper answered truthfully, “but some day i must learn. i think i’ll begin to take lessons.”

“well, to-day is as good as any day to begin,” replied spotted tail.

before bumper realized what he meant by this remark, he leaped high in the air, and landed on the other end of the spring-board with a thud. the result was that bumper was shot straight up into the air nearly two feet right over the deepest part of the river. he turned a complete somersault in the air, and made a frantic struggle to reach the end of the board as he came down. 55but he missed it by a foot, and fell plump in the river.

he went down, down, down out of sight. it seemed an age before he came up again, wet, bedraggled and puffing. the fright caused by his sudden ducking threatened to make him panicky, and his first thought was to squeal for help and splash around like a child in a bathtub.

but spotted tail’s words aroused him. “now, bumper,” he called, “you’ve got a chance to use your wits. let me see what you can do to get ashore.”

it was a cruel, cold-blooded thing to do, and the other rabbits who had seen the whole thing from the shore came scurrying to the rescue, shouting: “shame! shame on you, spotted tail!”

but, of course, this didn’t help bumper any. the water was very deep where he had fallen in, and there wasn’t the sign of anything that could be used as a raft. could he swim? not much! by frantic efforts he could keep his head above water. nearly every wild animal can do this even when a tiny baby. but that wouldn’t get him to the shore until he was exhausted.

but just when he was beginning to feel that he would drown his hind feet touched something. it was a big rock in the middle of the stream 56which could not be seen from the spring-board or the shore. bumper found that by standing on his two hind feet on the rock, he could just keep his head and neck above the surface. this gave him sudden courage, and a thought. he stood stock still on the rock, and turned to the one who had thrown him in.

“it is much more dignified for a king to float upright, spotted tail,” he said, “than to swim. can you stand in the water like this?”

spotted tail and the others were amazed by the sight of bumper standing perfectly still in the deep water, with his head and neck just above the surface.

“come now, spotted tail, you have challenged me to everything you could think of,” continued bumper. “now it is your turn to accept my challenge. either show me that you can stand in the deep water, or desist from further attempts to humiliate me. you must do one or the other, or i shall hold your challenges in contempt hereafter.”

of course, spotted tail knew he could never perform this miracle, and he was at a loss to understand how bumper could do it. “then,” continued bumper when he showed no intention of coming in, “you are disgraced before all of your people.”

57all the while bumper had been watching for a way to get ashore. he had been feeling with his hind legs for other rocks in the deep river. to his joy he found one, and quickly stepped to it. there was a series of stepping-stones, which hunters used to cross the river when it was shallow. they were hidden from view now by the flood. bumper made his way cautiously from one to the other until he reached shallow water, and then he hopped gracefully ashore, much to spotted tail’s chagrin.