"Ah done tell Peter that when he tried to go to sleep he mustn't get to thinking about what would happen if Brer Fox should jes' happen along and find him asleep. Ah reckons that that is the very first thing Peter did think of, as soon as he curled himself up and that he's thinking of it more'n ever right this blessed minute. Yo'alls wait while Ah listen at the door."
Unc' Billy stole very softly to the door of the old house. Then he began to grin and beckoned to Bobby Coon and Jimmy Skunk to come listen. They could hear long sighs from way down in the bedchamber at the end of the long hall. They heard Peter twist and turn, as he tried to make himself comfortable. But when they heard him saying a verse over and over to try to make himself go to sleep, they had to clap their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing out loud.
When they grew tired of listening, Unc' Billy whispered to Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy Skunk grinned, and then he crept a little way down the long hall and began to scratch with his stout claws, as if he were digging. When he stopped, Unc' Billy put his mouth down close to the doorway and barked as nearly like Reddy Fox as he could. Then Jimmy began to dig again, and pretty soon Unc' Billy barked again. Then all three stole softly away and hid behind some bushes.
"Ah reckon Brer Rabbit is right smart wide-awake instead of going to sleep fo' the winter!" chuckled Unc' Billy.
XXVI. Peter Rabbit Learns His Lesson
Peter Rabbit, curled up in the little bedchamber at the end of the long hall in the old house made a long time ago by Grandfather Skunk, twisted and turned and tried to make himself feel sleepy. But the harder he tried, the more wide-awake he seemed to feel. Then he began to think of Reddy and Granny Fox and what would happen if by any chance they should find him there fast asleep, and right while he was thinking about it, he heard a noise that made him jump so that he bumped his head.
Peter didn't think anything about the bump on his head! No, Sir, Peter didn't even notice it. He was too frightened. He held his breath and listened, while his heart went pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat. There it was again, that noise he had heard before! Some one was in the long, dark hall! There was no doubt about it. He could hear claws scratching. Whoever it was, was digging. Digging! The very thought made every hair on Peter Rabbit stand on end. He knew that Johnny Chuck had gone to sleep for the winter. He knew that Jimmy Skunk could walk right in without any trouble, and that Jimmy never takes any trouble that he can avoid. He knew that Bobby Coon and Unc' Billy Possum don't go into houses underground unless they have to, to get away from danger, and very seldom then.
If some one was digging in the long, dark hall, it could mean but one thing—that it must be some one too big to get in without making the hall larger; and the only ones he could think of were Bowser the Hound and Reddy and Granny Fox! Peter shivered and shook, for unlike Johnny Chuck's house, this one had no back door.
"If it's Bowser the Hound, he may get tired and go away. Anyway, I can soon tell, for he will sniff and snuff and blow the sand out of his nose," thought Peter, and strained his ears to hear the first sniff.
But there were no sniffs or snuffs. Instead, Peter heard a sound that made his heart almost stop beating again. It was a bark, a bark that sounded very much like the bark of Reddy Fox, and it came from just outside the door! That could mean but one thing—that old Granny Fox was digging her way in to the little bedchamber, while Reddy kept watch outside.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Why wasn't I content to live as I always have lived? Whatever did I try to do something I never was intended to do for?" cried Peter to himself, and shook with fright harder than ever.
There was nothing to do but to sit still and wait. Peter sat as still as ever he could. After a little while, the noise in the long, dark hall stopped. Peter waited and waited, but all was still, and he began to feel better. Perhaps old Granny Fox didn't know that he was there at all and had grown tired of digging and had gone away. Peter waited a long time and then peeped out into the long hall. Way up at the end he could see light where the doorway was, and by this he knew that no one was in the hall.
Little by little, his heart going pit-a-pat, Peter crept up until he could peep outside. No one was to be seen. With his heart almost in his mouth, Peter sprang out and started for the dear Old Briar-patch as fast as his long legs could take him. And then he heard a sound that made him stop suddenly and sit up.
"Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, hoi Hee, hee, hee!"
There, behind some bushes, Unc' Billy Possum, Bobby Coon, and Jimmy Skunk were laughing fit to kill themselves.
Then Peter knew that they had played a joke on him, and he shook his fist at them. But down in his heart he was glad, for he knew that he had learned his lesson—that he had no business to try to do what Old Mother Nature had never intended that he should do.
Of course these are not all of Peter Rabbit's adventures. Oh my, no! But there are so many other little people who live on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest who have adventures, too, and get into funny scrapes, that I am sure you will be willing to say good night to Peter for a little while and hear about the things that have happened to some of the others. And so, in the next book, I am going to tell you about the worries and troubles and exciting escapes of one of Peter's friends—Unc' Billy Possum.
Mother West Wind Series
(Thornton Burgess)
Chapter I. Mrs. Redwing's Speckled Egg
Chapter II. Why Grandfather Frog Has No Tail
Chapter III. How Reddy Fox Was Surprised
Chapter IV. Why Jimmy Skunk Wears Stripes
Chapter V. The Wilful Little Breeze
Chapter VI. Reddy Fox Goes Fishing
Chapter VII. Jimmy Skunk Looks For Beetles
Chapter VIII. Billy Mink's Swimming Party
Chapter IX. Peter Rabbit Plays A Joke
Chapter X. How Sammy Jay Was Found Out
Chapter XI. Jerry Muskrat's Party
Chapter XII. Bobby Coon And Reddy Fox Play Tricks
Chapter XIII. Johnny Chuck Finds The Best Thing In The World
Chapter XIV. Little Joe Otter's Slippery Slide