“Please do not bark!” Raggedy Andy cried as he put his rag arm around Fido’s nose.  “You will awaken everybody in the house.  We can open a door or a window for you and let you out, if you must go!”

“I wish you would.  Listen!  There it is again:  ‘Scratch!  Scratch!’ What can it be?”

“You may soon see!” said Raggedy Andy.  “We’ll let you out, but please don’t sit at the door and bark and bark to get back in again, as you usually do, for we are going to play a good game and we may not hear you!”

“You can sleep out in the shed after you have found out what it is,” said Raggedy Andy.

As soon as the dolls opened the door for Fido, he went running across the lawn, barking in a loud shrill voice.  He ran down behind the shed and through the garden, and then back towards the house again.

Raggedy Andy and Uncle Clem stood looking out of the door, the rest of the dolls peeping over their shoulders, so when something came jumping through the door, it hit Uncle Clem and Raggedy Andy and sent them flying against the other dolls behind them.

All the dolls went down in a wiggling heap on the floor.

It was surprising that the noise and confusion did not waken Daddy and the rest of the folks, for just as the dolls were untangling themselves from each other and getting upon their feet, Fido came jumping through the door and sent the dolls tumbling again.

Fido quit barking when he came through the door.

“Which way did he go?” he asked, when he could get his breath.

“What was it?” Raggedy Andy asked in return.

“It was a rabbit!” Fido cried.  “He ran right in here, for I could smell his tracks!”

“We could feel him!” Raggedy Andy laughed.

“I could not tell you which way he went!” Uncle Clem said, “Except I feel sure he came through the door and into the house!”

None of the dolls knew into which room the rabbit had run.

Finally, after much sniffing, Fido traced the rabbit to the nursery, where, when the dolls followed, they saw the rabbit crouching behind the rocking horse.

[Illustration:  Looking out of the door]

[Illustration:  Raggedy Andy and the rabbit]

Fido whined and cried because he could not get to the rabbit and bite him.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Fido!” cried Raggedy Ann.  “Just see how the poor bunny is trembling!”

“He should not come scratching around our house if he doesn’t care to be chased!” said Fido.

“Why don’t you stay out in the woods and fields where you really belong?” Raggedy Andy asked the rabbit.

“I came to leave some Easter eggs!” the bunny answered in a queer little quavery voice.

“An Easter bunny!” all the dolls cried, jumping about and clapping their hands.  “An Easter bunny!”

“Well!” was all Fido could say, as he sat down and began wagging his tail.