'
`Now, father,' said Jack, interrupting him, `do listen to me and hear
my story, or else Fritz will begin upon my adventures and tire you out
with his rigmarole descriptions.'
`Certainly, Jack,' I said, `I am quite ready to listen to you. First
and foremostly, how did you bring down those beautiful little animals
you have there?'
`Oh, we galloped them down. The dogs sniffed about in the grass while
Fritz was away after the rabbits, out popped these little fawns and
away they went bounding and skipping, at the rate of thirty miles an
hour, with Storm, Grumble and the dogs at their heels. In about a
quarter of an hour we had left the dogs behind and were close upon our
prey. Down went the little creatures in the grass, and, overcome with
terror and fatigue, were at our mercy. So we shouted to Fritz, and--'
`My dear boy,' said I, `according to your statement, Fritz must have
been seven miles and a half off.'
`Oh, well, father, perhaps we did not ride for quite a quarter of an
hour, and, of course, I can't say exactly how fast we were going; and
then, you see, the fawns did not run in a straight line; at any rate
Fritz heard us, and he and Franz and I leashed the legs of the pretty
creatures, and then we mounted again, and presently saw a wretch of a
cuckoo, who led us ever so far out of our course by cuckooing and
making faces at us and then hopping away.
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