This frightened her so that she fell down, and before she could get up to run away, if out from behind a tree didn’t leap a bad boy.

So it wasn’t an Indian shooting the arrows, after all, which, perhaps, was a good thing, as Indians can shoot very straight and might have hurt Brighteyes.  No, it was a bad boy.

I call him bad because he shot at Brighteyes, and I guess before I’m through with this story that you’ll call him bad also.

Well, that boy ran right at Brighteyes, and before she knew what was happening he had grabbed her.

“Wow!” cried the boy.  “I’ve got it!  I shot it!  I’ve got a rabbit!”

“Ha!  That ain’t a rabbit!” exclaimed another boy, coming out of the bushes, “that’s a guinea pig.  Where did you hit it?”

“I don’t know.  It doesn’t seem to be hurt anywhere.  But I was sure I hit it.  But, maybe, the arrow only stunned it.  Anyhow, I’ve got it.  Now we’ll take it home, and put it in a cage, and charge five cents for all the other boys to see it.”

“Sure,” said the second boy.  “You’re a good shot with your bow and arrow.  Come on, let me carry the guinea pig.”

“No,” replied the first boy, “I’m going to carry it myself.  I wonder if you carry ’em by their ears, like you do rabbits?” Then he tried to get hold of Brighteyes’ ears, and he could hardly find them, as they were so small, and, of course, he couldn’t take hold of them.

But, oh, dear! how roughly he handled that poor little guinea pig girl!  When he couldn’t get hold of her ears he grabbed her by the hind legs and actually turned her upside down, and then what should happen but that the yeast cake fell out of her apron pocket.

“Ha!  That’s funny!” cried the boy who held Brighteyes.  “I never knew that guinea pigs ate yeast cakes.  This must be a smart one.  We’ll teach it to do tricks, and then we can charge ten cents to see it.  Oh, I’m glad I caught it.”

And he held on more tightly to Brighteyes, for she was wiggling and squirming, trying to get away.

Oh, how frightened she was, when she heard the boys say that they were going to shut her up in a cage!  She thought she would never see her mamma, and papa, and Buddy again.  Big tears came into her eyes, and she trembled all over.

But do you s’pose that bad boy and the other one cared?  Not the least bit!  First one held Brighteyes, and then the other, to see how heavy she was, and then they took her up, first by one leg and then by the other, and, if she had had a tail, they would have held her up by that, and probably pulled it, too, for all I know.

You see those two boys had been playing they were Indians in the woods with their bows and arrows, and perhaps that made them act so cruelly.

“Let’s hurry home now and put it in a cage,” said the bad boy, and he and the other boy started off, carrying Brighteyes.  But wait, don’t be frightened, or worried, for something is going to happen immediately, which is very soon.