The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill

Hardly knowing what she did, she picked up a little bit of stick, and held it out to the puppy;

whereupon the puppy jumped into the air off all its feet at once, with a yelp of delight, and rushed at the stick, and made believe to worry it;

then Alice dodged behind a great thistle, to keep herself from being run over;

and the moment she appeared on the other side, the puppy made another rush at the stick, and tumbled head over heels in its hurry to get hold of it;

then Alice, thinking it was very like having a game of play with a cart-horse, and expecting every moment to be trampled under its feet, ran round the thistle again;

then the puppy began a series of short charges at the stick, running a very little way forwards each time and a long way back, and barking hoarsely all the while,

till at last it sat down a good way off, panting, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, and its great eyes half shut.

This seemed to Alice a good opportunity for making her escape; so she set off at once, and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath,

and till the puppy’s bark sounded quite faint in the distance.