JIMMY SKUNK TAKES WORD TO MRS. PETER
When old Granny Fox found p.r.i.c.kly Porky, with his thousand little spears all pointing at her, standing between her and Peter Rabbit, she was the angriest old Fox ever seen. She didn"t dare touch p.r.i.c.kly Porky, for she knew well enough what it would mean to get one of those sharp, barbed little spears in her skin. To think that she actually had caught Peter Rabbit and then lost him was too provoking! It was more than her temper, never of the best, could stand. In her anger she dug up the leaves and earth with her hind feet, and all the time her tongue fairly flew as she called p.r.i.c.kly Porky, Jimmy Skunk, and Unc"
Billy Possum everything bad she could think of. Her yellow eyes snapped so that it seemed almost as if sparks of fire flew from them.
It made Peter shiver just to look at her.
Unc" Billy Possum, who, by slipping up behind her and biting one of her heels, had made her let go of Peter, grinned down at her from a safe place in a tree. Jimmy Skunk stood grinning at her in the most provoking manner, and she couldn"t do a thing about it, because she had no desire to have Jimmy use his little bag of perfume. So she talked herself out and then with many parting threats of what she would do, she started for home. Unc" Billy noticed that she limped a little with the foot he had nipped so hard, and he couldn"t help feeling just a little bit sorry for her.
When she had gone, the others turned to Peter Rabbit to see how badly he had been hurt. They looked him all over and found that he wasn"t much the worse for his rough experience. He was rather stiff and lame, and the back of his neck was very sore where Granny Fox had seized him, but he would be quite himself in a day or two.
"I must get home now," said he in a rather faint voice. "Mrs. Peter will be sure that something has happened to me and will be worried almost to death."
"No, you don"t!" declared Jimmy Skunk. "You are going to stay right here where we can take care of you. It wouldn"t be safe for you to try to go to the Old Briar-patch now, because if you should meet Old Man Coyote or Reddy Fox or Whitetail the Marshhawk, you would not be able to run fast enough to get away. I will go down and tell Mrs. Peter, and you will make yourself comfortable in the old house behind that stump where I was hiding."
Peter tried to insist on going home, but the others wouldn"t hear of it, and Jimmy Skunk settled the matter by starting for the dear Old Briar-patch. He found little Mrs. Peter anxiously looking towards the Green Forest for some sign of Peter.
"Oh!" she cried, "you have come to bring me bad news. Do tell me quickly what has happened to Peter!"
"Nothing much has happened to Peter," replied Jimmy promptly. Then in the drollest way he told all about the fright of Granny Fox when she first saw the terrible creature rolling down the hill and all that happened after, but he took great care to make light of Peter"s escape, and explained that he was just going to rest up there on p.r.i.c.kly Porky"s hill for that day and would be home the next night.
But little Mrs. Peter wasn"t wholly satisfied.
"I"ve begged him and begged him to keep away from the Green Forest,"
said she, "but now if he is hurt so that he can"t come home, he needs me, and I"m going straight up there myself!"
Nothing that Jimmy could say had the least effect, and so at last he agreed to take her to Peter. And so, hopping behind Jimmy Skunk, timid little Mrs. Peter Rabbit actually went into the Green Forest of which she was so much afraid, which shows how brave love can be sometimes.
XX
A PLOT TO FRIGHTEN OLD MAN COYOTE
Mischief leads to mischief, for it is almost sure To never, never be content without a little more.
Now you would think that after Peter Rabbit"s very, very, narrow escape from the clutches of Old Granny Fox that Jimmy Skunk, Unc"
Billy Possum, Peter Rabbit, and p.r.i.c.kly Porky would have been satisfied with the pranks they already had played. No, Sir, they were not! You see, when danger is over, it is quickly forgotten. No sooner had Peter been made comfortable in the old house behind the big stump on the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives than the four scamps began to wonder who else they could scare with the terrible creature without head, legs, or tail which had so frightened Reddy and Old Granny Fox.
"There is Old Man Coyote; he is forever frightening those smaller and weaker than himself. I"d just love to see him run," said Peter Rabbit.
"The very one!" cried Jimmy Skunk. "I wonder if he would be afraid.
You know he is even smarter than Granny Fox, and though she was frightened at first, she soon got over it. How do you suppose we can get him over here?"
"We-uns will take Brer Jay into our secret. Brer Jay will tell Brer Coyote that Brer Rabbit is up here on Brer Porky"s hill, hurt so that he can"t get home," said Unc" Billy Possum. "That"s all Brer Jay need to say. Brer Coyote is gwine to come up here hot foot with his tongue hanging out fo" that dinner he"s sho" is waiting fo" him here."
"You won"t do anything of the kind!" spoke up little Mrs. Peter, who, you know, had bravely left the dear Old Briar-patch and come up here in the Green Forest to take care of Peter. "Peter has had trouble enough already, and I"m not going to let him have any more, so there!"
"Peter isn"t going to get into any trouble," spoke up Jimmy Skunk.
"Peter and you are going to be just as safe as if you were over in the Old Briar-patch, for you will be in that old house where nothing can harm you. Now, please, Mrs. Peter, don"t be foolish. You don"t like Old Man Coyote, do you? You"d like to see him get a great scare to make up for the scares he has given Peter and you, wouldn"t you?"
Little Mrs. Peter was forced to admit that she would, and after a little more teasing she finally agreed to let them try their plan for giving Old Man Coyote a scare. Sammy Jay happened along just as Jimmy Skunk was starting out to look for him, and when he was told what was wanted of him, he agreed to do his part. You know Sammy is always ready for any mischief. Just as he started to look for Old Man Coyote, Unc" Billy Possum made another suggestion.
"We-uns have had a lot of fun with Reddy and Granny Fox," said he, "and now it seems to me that it is no more than fair to invite them over to see Old Man Coyote and what he will do when he first sees the terrible creature that has frightened them so. Granny knows now that there is nothing to be afraid of, and perhaps she will forget her anger if she has a chance to see Old Man Coyote run away. Yo" know she isn"t wasting any love on him. What do yo" alls say?"
Peter and Mrs. Peter said "No!" right away, but Jimmy Skunk and p.r.i.c.kly Porky thought it a good idea, and of course Sammy Jay was willing. After a little, when it was once more pointed out to them how they would be perfectly safe in the old house behind the big stump, Peter and Mrs. Peter agreed, and Sammy started off on his errand.
XXI
SAMMY JAY DELIVERS HIS MESSAGE
Sammy Jay has been the bearer of so many messages that no one knows better than he how to deliver one. He knows when to be polite, and no one can be more polite than he. First he went over to the home of Reddy and Granny Fox and invited them to come over to the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives and see the terrible creature which had frightened them so give Old Man Coyote a scare. Both Reddy and Granny promptly said they would do nothing of the kind, that probably Sammy was engaged in some kind of mischief, and that anyway they knew that there was no such creature without head, legs, or tail, and though they had been fooled once, they didn"t propose to be fooled again.
"All right," replied Sammy, quite as if it made no difference to him.
"You admit that smart as you are you were fooled, and we thought you might like to see the same thing happen to Old Man Coyote."
With this he flew on his way to the Green Meadows to look for Old Man Coyote, and as he flew he chuckled to himself. "They"ll be there," he muttered. "I know them well enough to know that nothing would keep them away when there is a chance to see some one else frightened, especially Old Man Coyote. They"ll try to keep out of sight, but they"ll be there."
Sammy found Old Man Coyote taking a sun-bath. "Good morning, Mr.
Coyote. I hope you are feeling well," said Sammy in his politest manner.
"Fairly, fairly, thank you," replied Old Man Coyote, all the time watching Sammy sharply out of the corners of his shrewd eyes. "What"s the news in the Green Forest?"
"There isn"t any, that is, none to amount to anything," declared Sammy. "I never did see such a dull summer. Is there any news down here on the Green Meadows? I hear Danny Meadow Mouse has found his lost baby."
"So I hear," replied Old Man Coyote. "I tried to find it for him. You know I believe in being neighborly."
Sammy grinned, for as he said this, Old Man Coyote had winked one eye ever so little, and Sammy knew very well that if he had found that lost baby, Danny Meadow Mouse would never have seen him again. "By the way," said Sammy in the most matter-of-fact tone, "as I was coming through the Green Forest, I saw Peter Rabbit over on the hill where p.r.i.c.kly Porky lives, and Peter seems to have been in some kind of trouble. He was so lame that he said he didn"t dare try to go home to the Old Briar-patch for fear that he might meet some one looking for a Rabbit dinner, and he knew that, feeling as he did, he wouldn"t be able to save himself. Peter is going to come to a bad end some day if he doesn"t watch out."
"That depends on what you call a bad end," replied Old Man Coyote with a sly grin. "It might be bad for Peter and at the same time be very good for some one else."
Sammy laughed right out. "That"s one way of looking at it," said he.
"Well, I should hate to have anything happen to Peter, because I have lots of fun quarreling with him and should miss him dreadfully. I think I"ll go up to the Old Orchard and see what is going on there."
Off flew Sammy in the direction of the Old Orchard, and once more he chuckled as he flew. He had seen Old Man Coyote"s ears p.r.i.c.k up ever so little when he had mentioned that Peter was over in the Green Forest so lame that he didn"t dare go home. "Old Man Coyote will start for the Green Forest as soon as I am out of sight," thought Sammy. And that is just what Old Man Coyote did.
XXII
OLD MAN COYOTE LOSES HIS APPEt.i.tE
Hardly was Sammy Jay out of sight, flying towards the Old Orchard, before Old Man Coyote started for the Green Forest. He is very sharp, is Old Man Coyote, so sharp that it is not very often that he is fooled. If Sammy Jay had gone to him and told him what a splendid chance he would have to catch Peter Rabbit if he hurried up to the Green Forest right away, Old Man Coyote would have suspected a trick of some kind. Sammy had been clever enough to know this. So he had just mentioned in the most matter-of-fact way that he had seen Peter over on p.r.i.c.kly Porky"s hill and that Peter appeared to have been in trouble, so that he was too lame to go to his home in the dear Old Briar-patch. There wasn"t even a hint that Old Man Coyote should go over there. This was what made him sure that the news about Peter was probably true.