Jimmy came ambling along in his usual lazy manner. He had quite recovered his good nature. He felt that he was more than even with Reddy Fox, and as he was none the worse for his wild ride in the barrel, he had quite forgotten that he had lost his temper.
"h.e.l.lo, Jimmy. Have you seen Peter Rabbit this morning?" cried Sammy Jay.
Jimmy looked up and grinned. "Yes," said he. "I saw him up here early this morning. Why?"
"Did he see you go into that old barrel?" persisted Sammy.
"I don"t know," confessed Jimmy. "He may have. What have you got on your mind, Sammy Jay?"
"Nothing much, only Reddy Fox was chasing him when he ran against that barrel and sent you rolling down the hill," replied Sammy.
Jimmy p.r.i.c.ked up his ears. "Then Reddy didn"t do it purposely!" he exclaimed.
"No," replied Sammy. "He didn"t do it purposely. I am quite sure that he didn"t know you were in it. But how about Peter Rabbit? I am wondering.
And I"m doing a little guessing, too."
VIII
JIMMY SKUNK LOOKS FOR PETER
Jimmy Skunk looked very hard at Sammy Jay. Sammy Jay looked very hard at Jimmy Skunk. Then Sammy slowly shut one eye and as slowly opened it again. It was a wink.
"You mean," said Jimmy Skunk, "that you guess that Peter Rabbit knew that I was in that barrel, and that he jumped over it so as to make Reddy Fox run against it. Is that it?"
Sammy Jay said nothing, but winked again. Jimmy grinned. Then he looked thoughtful. "I wonder," said he slowly, "if Peter did it so as to gain time to get away from Reddy Fox."
"I wonder," said Sammy Jay.
"And I wonder if he did it just to get Reddy into trouble," continued Jimmy.
"I wonder," repeated Sammy Jay.
"And I wonder if he did it for a joke, a double joke on Reddy and myself," Jimmy went on, scratching his head thoughtfully.
"I wonder," said Sammy Jay once more, and burst out laughing.
Now Jimmy Skunk has a very shrewd little head on his shoulders. "So that is your guess, is it? Well, I wouldn"t be a bit surprised if you are right," said he, nodding his head. "I think I will go look for Peter. I think he needs a lesson. Jokes that put other people in danger or make them uncomfortable can have no excuse. My neck might have been broken in that wild ride down the hill, and certainly I was made most uncomfortable. I felt as if everything inside me was shaken out of place and all mixed up. Even now my stomach feels a bit queer, as if it might not be just where it ought to be. By the way, what became of Peter after he jumped over the barrel?"
Sammy shook his head. "I don"t know," he confessed. "You see, it was very exciting when that barrel started rolling, and we knew by the sounds that there was some one inside it. I guess Reddy Fox forgot all about Peter. I know I did. And when the barrel broke to pieces against that stone down there, and you and Reddy faced each other, it was still more exciting. After it was over, I looked for Peter, but he was nowhere in sight. He hadn"t had time to reach the Old Briar-patch. I really would like to know myself what became of him."
Jimmy Skunk turned and looked down the hill. Then in his usual slow way he started back towards the broken barrel.
"Where are you going?" asked Sammy.
"To look for Peter Rabbit," replied Jimmy. "I want to ask him a few questions."
Jimmy Skunk ambled along down the hill. At first he was very angry as he thought of what Peter had done, and he made up his mind that Peter should be taught a lesson he would never forget. But as he ambled along, the funny side of the whole affair struck him, for Jimmy Skunk has a great sense of humor, and before he reached the bottom of the hill his anger had all gone and he was chuckling.
"I"m sorry if I did Reddy Fox an injustice," thought he, "but he makes so much trouble for other people that I guess no one else will be sorry.
He isn"t likely to bother any one for some time. Peter really ought to be punished, but somehow I don"t feel so much like punishing him as I did. I"ll just give him a little scare and let the scamp off with that.
Now, I wonder where he can be. I have an idea he isn"t very far away.
Let me see. Seems to me I remember an old house of Johnny Chuck"s not very far from here. I"ll have a look in that."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
IX
JIMMY VISITS JOHNNY CHUCK"S OLD HOUSE
Jimmy Skunk was smiling as he ambled towards the old house of Johnny Chuck near the foot of the hill. There was no one near to see him, and this made him smile still more. You see, the odor of that perfume which he had thrown at Reddy Fox just a little while before was very, very strong there, and Jimmy knew that until that had disappeared no one would come near the place because it was so unpleasant for every one. To Jimmy himself it wasn"t unpleasant at all, and he couldn"t understand why other people disliked it so. He had puzzled over that a great deal.
He was glad that it was so, because on account of it every one treated him with respect and took special pains not to quarrel with him.
"I guess it"s a good thing that Old Mother Nature didn"t make us all alike," said he to himself. "I think there must be something the matter with their noses, and I suppose they think there is something the matter with mine. But there isn"t. Not a thing. h.e.l.lo! There is Johnny Chuck"s old house just ahead of me. Now we will see what we shall see."
He walked softly as he drew near to the old house. If Peter was way down inside, it wouldn"t matter how he approached. But if Peter should happen to be only just inside the doorway, he might take it into his head to run if he should hear footsteps, particularly if those footsteps were not heavy enough to be those of Reddy or Granny Fox or Old Man Coyote.
Jimmy didn"t intend to give Peter a chance to do any such thing. If Peter once got outside that old house, his long legs would soon put him beyond Jimmy"s reach, and Jimmy knew it. If he was to give Peter the fright that he had made up his mind to give him, he would first have to get him where he couldn"t run away. So Jimmy walked as softly as he knew how and approached the old house in such a way as to keep out of sight of Peter, should he happen to be lying so as to look out of the doorway.
At last he reached a position where with one jump he could land right on the doorstep. He waited a few minutes and c.o.c.ked his head on one side to listen. There wasn"t a sound to tell him whether Peter was there or not.
Then lightly he jumped over to the doorstep and looked in at the doorway. There was no Peter to be seen.
"If he is here, he is way down inside," thought Jimmy. "I wonder if he really is here. I think I"ll look about a bit before I go in."
Now the doorstep was of sand, as Johnny Chuck"s doorsteps always are.
Almost at once Jimmy chuckled. There were Peter"s tracks, and they pointed straight towards the inside of Johnny Chuck"s old house. Jimmy looked carefully, but not a single track pointing the other way could he find. Then he chuckled again. "The scamp is here all right," he muttered. "He hid here and watched all that happened and then decided to lie low and wait until he was sure that the way was clear and no one would see him." In this Jimmy was partly right and partly wrong, as you and I know.
He stared down the long dark doorway a minute. Then he made up his mind.
"I"ll go down and make Peter a call, and I won"t bother to knock," he chuckled, and poked his head inside the doorway. But that was as far as Jimmy Skunk went. Yes, Sir, that was just as far as Jimmy Skunk went.
You see, no sooner did he start to enter that old house of Johnny Chuck"s than he was met by a lot of those Yellow Jackets, and they were in a very bad temper.
Jimmy Skunk knows all about Yellow Jackets and the sharp little lances they carry in their tails; he has the greatest respect for them. He backed out in a hurry and actually hurried away to a safe distance. Then he sat down to think. After a little he began to chuckle again. "I know what happened," said he, talking to himself. "Peter Rabbit popped into that doorway. Those Yellow Jackets just naturally got after him. He didn"t dare come out for fear of Reddy Fox and me, and so he went on down to Jimmy Chuck"s old bedroom, and he"s down there now, wondering how ever he is to get out without getting stung. I reckon I don"t need to scare Peter to pay him for that joke. I reckon he"s been punished already."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
X
PETER RABBIT IS MOST UNCOMFORTABLE