HELPING JIMMY RABBIT
Peter Minkwas feeling even more peevish than usual. And this was the reason: Jimmy Rabbit had a new sled.
Now, Peter had never owned a sled; and it made him envious to see what a good time Jimmy was having, coasting down the side of Blue Mountain.
There was only one thing that Jimmy Rabbit did not like about his sled. It went so fast that he always fell off long before he reached the end of the slide.
"I can fix that," Peter Mink told him. "You go home and borrow your father's hammer and a few nails, and I'll show youp. 54how you can coast 'way down into Pleasant Valley without once tumbling off."
Jimmy thanked him. And he hurried home at once. He dragged his new sled after him, too; for he was afraid that if he left it behind he might not be able to find Peter Mink—or the sled, either—when he came back again.
But Peter did not seem to care. Perhaps he had something on his mind. Anyhow, when Jimmy Rabbit returned with the hammer and nails, Peter Mink was waiting patiently for him.
"Now, then," said Peter, as he took the nails and the hammer, "you sit on the sled, Jimmy, and I'll fix you up in no time."
So Jimmy Rabbit sat down on his new sled. And in a few minutes Peter Mink had nailed Jimmy's trousers fast to the sled.
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"Now you simplycan'tfall off," Peter said. "I'll give you a push; and the first thing you know, you'll be down in the valley."
Jimmy Rabbit said to himself that Peter Mink was very bright, to think of such a splendid plan as nailing his trousers to the sled. He thanked Peter; and he gripped the sled tightly—though he didn't need to—while Peter gave him a push that sent him flying down the mountainside.
Though he went like the wind, he never fell off once. And soon he was down in Pleasant Valley, skimming over the crust which covered the drifts in Farmer Green's meadow.
At last the sled stopped. And then Jimmy Rabbit decided that Peter Mink had forgotten something. How was he to get off the sled with his trousers nailedp. 56fast to it? And what would his mother say, when she saw the nail-holes in his trousers? And what would his father do, whenhesaw the nails in Jimmy's new sled?
It was not very pleasant for Jimmy Rabbit, sitting all alone in the meadow, with such thoughts running through his head.
After he had sat there a while Jimmy heard something that worried him even more. He heard old dog Spot barking. And he saw that he would be in a good deal of a fix if Spot should happen to come along and find him. For he couldn't stir from his sled.
Jimmy began to hate that sled. He wished he had never seen it.... And then he heard somebody scampering over the crust. He was almost too frightened to look around to see who it was. But hep. 57turned his head. And he was glad to find that it was Peter Mink, who had run all the way down from Blue Mountain.
"You had a fine ride, didn't you?" said Peter Mink.
"Yes," Jimmy answered. "But I liked the beginning of it better than the end."
"Why, what's the matter?" Peter inquired.
"I can't get off the sled," Jimmy said.
Peter Mink pretended to be surprised. And he said that he hadn't thought of that.
"But I'll help you," he promised.
Jimmy Rabbit thanked him.
"But," said Peter Mink, "I can't do all these things for you for nothing, of course. I have too much else to do, to be wasting my time like this, without pay."
"What do you want?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him.
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"Give me the sled," said Peter Mink, "and I'll help you to get off it."
"All right," Jimmy agreed. He would even have given Peter his wheelbarrow, too, he was so anxious to be freed from his seat. "I think, though, that you might pull me up the mountain," Jimmy added. "I don't feel like walking." And that was quite true, because he had been so frightened, when he heard old Spot barking, that his legs were still shaking.
"Well," said Peter Mink, "I'm pretty particular who rides on my sled. But I'll pull you up the mountain, because I'm going that way myself, to slide."
And he started off, dragging Jimmy Rabbit behind him.
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WHAT COULD PETER DO?
Peter Minkwas pulling Jimmy Rabbit up the mountainside. You remember that Jimmy had a new sled, and that Peter had nailed Jimmy's trousers to the sled, so he wouldn't fall off when he slid down Blue Mountain. But when Jimmy had coasted down into the meadow he found he could not get off the sled. So Peter Mink had offered to help him, if Jimmy would give him the sled in return for his kindness.
"How do you like my new sled?" Peter Mink asked Jimmy Rabbit, as he stopped to rest, after climbing a steep slope.
But before Jimmy Rabbit could answer,p. 60an alarming sound rang through the clear air and startled them both. It was old dog Spot, baying as if he had found some very interesting tracks.
"Hurry!" Jimmy Rabbit cried. "We don't want Spot to catch us!"
"Get off my sled!" Peter Mink ordered. "How can I run fast, pulling a great, fat fellow like you?"
"How can I get off," Jimmy answered, "when I'm nailed fast to the sled?"
"I'll get you off," said Peter. And he took hold of Jimmy Rabbit's ears and began to pull as hard as he could. But the sled only slipped along on the snow.
"Grab this sapling!" Peter Mink cried, drawing Jimmy close to a small tree. "And I'll pull the sled from under you." But all his pulling did no more than to make Jimmy's arms ache. For Jimmy was nailed so fast to the sled that he stuckp. 61to it—oritstuck tohim—as if they were just one, instead of two, things.
"I wish my mother hadn't made me wear such stout trousers," Jimmy Rabbit said. For once, he wished he wore old, ragged clothes, like Peter's. If he had, he thought he might have torn himself away from the sled. But now there seemed no hope for him, because old Spot's voice sounded nearer every minute.
At last Peter Mink became so angry because Jimmy didn't get off the sled that he flew at him and began to pommel him.
When Peter threw himself upon Jimmy the sled began to move. But Peter was so enraged he never noticed that, until they were coasting down the mountain so fast that he didn't dare jump off.
Once they struck something. They couldn't see what it was, because they were traveling like the wind. But Jimmyp. 62Rabbit thought he heard a frightened sort of yelp. Then they tore on again.
Before they reached the foot of Blue Mountain they struck something else. This time there was no yelp, for they ran right into a big maple tree. And Jimmy Rabbit felt himself sailing through the air, until at last he landed on top of a big drift, broke through the crust, and sank into the soft snow beneath.
He crawled quickly out of the drift. And when he saw that he and the sled had parted company he was so delighted that he never minded his torn trousers.
He looked around. And there was the sled, as good as ever, except for the nails Peter Mink had driven into it. And there was Peter Mink, lying very still beneath the maple tree. Though Jimmy listened, he could no longer hear old Spot baying.
JIMMY WENT SAILING THROUGH THE AIR
That was because old Spot was runningp. 63home as fast as his legs would carry him. He didn't know what it was that had struck him; and he was frightened.
When Jimmy Rabbit saw Peter Mink slowly open one eye he knew that it wouldn't be long before Peter was himself again. So Jimmy hurried back up the mountain, pulling the sled after him.
The next day, who should come to Jimmy's house but Peter Mink.
"I've come for my sled," he said.
"What sled?" asked Jimmy Rabbit.
"Why, the one you gave me for getting you off it," Peter answered.
"Butyoudidn't get me off the sled," Jimmy told him. "You don't even know how I got off. So I certainly am not going to give you my sled."
And Peter Mink had to go away empty-handed. He didn't like it at all. But what could he do?
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THE CIRCUS PARADE
Ifit hadn't been for the circus posters on Farmer Green's barn, the idea of having a circus parade would never have occurred to Jimmy Rabbit.
You see, all those wonderful pictures set him thinking. And he lost no time in inviting everybody to help. He even invited Peter Mink, though he was sorry, afterwards, that he had.
For a day or two everybody in the neighborhood of Blue Mountain was as busy as he could be, getting ready for the parade. Cuffy Bear had promised to be the elephant, because he was so big.p. 65Frisky Squirrel was to be a wolf, on account of his being so gray. And Jimmy had invited Peter Mink to march as a giraffe, for the reason that he had such a long neck. And as for Jimmy Rabbit himself, he said that he expected to be a little pitcher, because he had heard that they had big ears.
"I've heard that, too," remarked Billy Woodchuck. "But I never knew that a pitcher was an animal."
"Well, you see you have a good deal to learn," Jimmy Rabbit said.
Then Tommy Fox murmured something about having heard that little pitchers had big mouths, too, and that they always talked a good deal. But Jimmy Rabbit made believe he didn't hear him.
Everything would have been pleasant, on the day of the parade, if it hadn't been for Peter Mink. He insisted that he mustp. 66lead the procession; and that made trouble at once, because Jimmy Rabbit had expected to do that.
Peter finally settled the dispute.
"A parade," he said, "has two ends. Of course, one person can't march at both ends at the same time. So while I march at the front end, Jimmy Rabbit can march at the other. And that's perfectly fair."
At first Jimmy Rabbit looked quite glum. But pretty soon he seemed to feel more cheerful; and he said, "All right!"
Then there was a great bustle, and much talking, as the parade prepared to start.
"Remember!" Peter Mink warned everybody, "you must follow everywhere I go, because I'm the leader."
At that, Cuffy Bear seemed somewhat worried. He knew that Peter Mink was fond of squeezing through narrow places; and he didn't see how he could follow him.
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But after a while Cuffy began to smile again—right after Jimmy Rabbit had come and whispered something in his ear. You see, Jimmy went to everybody in the parade and whispered. And last of all he went to Peter Mink and whispered in his ear, too.
"Everybody must look straight ahead," Jimmy told Peter, "because that's the way they always do in a circus parade."
"Don't you suppose I know that, just as well as you do?" snapped Peter Mink. "You'd better hurry back to the other end of the parade, because I'm going to start in exactly two or three minutes—I'm not sure which."
So Jimmy Rabbit hurried back as fast as he could. He might have run faster, if he hadn't stopped to wink at every person in the line. But he just managed to reach his place when the parade started.
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Then a queer thing happened. When everybody had taken ten steps, the whole parade turned about in its tracks and started marching in the opposite direction. And now Jimmy Rabbit led the procession, instead of Peter Mink.
I said thewholeparade turned around; but what I meant to say waseverybody but Peter Mink. You see, Jimmy Rabbit had told Peter not to look back, but to march straight ahead, with his eyes to the front. And naturally, Peter Mink supposed that that was what Jimmy had whispered to everyone else.
So away Peter Mink marched, trying to look as much like a giraffe as he could, and feeling very proud, too—because he thought the parade was following him.
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PETER LEARNS A NEW WORD
WhilePeter Mink marched on, believing that the circus parade was following him (when Jimmy Rabbit had actually led it away in the opposite direction), Peter kept trying to think of some trick he could play on the parade.
He decided, at last, that he would hunt around until he found the smallest hole he could possibly squeeze through, and he would squirm through it, and then have fun watching the others try to follow him.
Finally he found a log which lay upon a rocky ledge. Between the log and the rock there was a narrow opening. Andp. 70when he saw that, Peter knew it was the very place he had been looking for. Without once glancing around, he thrust his head through the crack.
Then something happened. Peter Mink always claimed, afterwards, that the log settled a bit lower, or the rock rose a bit higher. Anyhow, to his astonishment, he found himself stuck fast under the log. Such a thing had never happened to him before.
"Well!" he said to himself, "there are plenty of people here to help me, anyhow." You see, he hadn't discovered that the whole parade—except him—had turned about and followed Jimmy Rabbit.
Peter Mink thought it was strange that nobody came and offered to help him. And soon he began to shout.
Still no one came. And Peter began to wish that he hadn't tried to play a trickp. 71on the paraders. For he saw that he was in something very like a trap. In fact, itwasa trap, which Johnnie Green had set. But Peter didn't know that. If he had, he would have been even more worried than he was. It was bad enough, just to imagine what would happen if old dog Spot should come along and find him.
Jimmy Rabbit had a fine time leading the parade. You may be surehelooked around at the procession following him. And he shouted a good many orders, too, telling different ones just what they should or shouldn't do.
The parade had marched through the woods for a long time; and Jimmy was about to stop and tell everybody that the fun was over, when he saw all at once that it was really just going to begin. For right in front of him he saw his friend.p. 72Peter Mink, pinned fast beneath the log.
"You've been long enough coming to help me!" Peter Mink growled. "Get this log off me—you people—and be quick about it!"
Brownie Beaver left his place in the parade and hurried forward, because he knew more about handling logs than anybody else there. But before he could get his coat off, Jimmy Rabbit called him one side and whispered to him. And then Jimmy whispered to everybody else. And the parade disbanded. Then everybody crowded around Peter Mink.
"What is it you want?" Jimmy Rabbit asked Peter.
"Want?" Peter Mink screamed. "Are you blind? Can't you see this great log on top of me? Can't you get it off? What are you waiting for?"
"Ah!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "We arep. 73waiting for just one thing. And we haven't heard it yet."
"Heard it?" Peter Mink snarled. "Aren't your ears big enough to hear everything?"
"We're going to teach you something," said Jimmy. "And until you've learned the lesson, we're going to leave you right where you are."
You should have heard Peter Mink then—or rather, you're lucky youdidn'thear him. For the way he went on was something dreadful. But until Jimmy Rabbit heard what he was waiting for, he wouldn't let anyone roll the log off Peter.
Finally it grew so late that some of the paraders said they would have to be going home pretty soon. And then Billy Woodchuck remarked that he didn't believe Peter Mink had the least idea what they were waiting for.
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"I think we ought to tell him," Billy said.
So Jimmy Rabbit told Peter what it was.
"I don't know what it means," said Peter.
"Well—say it, anyhow!" Jimmy Rabbit ordered. "And after this, whenever you want anybody to do anything for you, don't forget to say it! It wouldn't do you a bit of harm to practice saying it every day, for a while, until you get used to it."
Peter Mink looked as if he would have liked to do something to Jimmy Rabbit. And for a long time he refused to obey. But when Brownie Beaver said that he simplymustgo home, because it was so late, Peter Mink said what Jimmy had been waiting for.
It was "Please!"
And no doubt you guessed it long ago.
p. 75
GOOD NEWS ABOUT PETER
"Yes! They say he has at last decided to go to work," Mrs. Rabbit was saying to Billy Woodchuck's mother.
"It's the best news I've heard in a long while," Mrs. Woodchuck remarked. "And I hope he'll be so busy that he won't have time to come around here and get our sons into any more mischief."
"Have you learned what his work is going to be?" Mrs. Rabbit inquired.
But Mrs. Woodchuck said she didn't know that. She only knew that Peter Mink was going to turn over a new leaf and do some sort of honest work.
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Now, Peter Mink had a plan. And he hadn't told any one exactly what it was.
The Grouse boys and the Woodchuck brothers gave a concert that very night. You see, Mr. Fox had taught them to make music like a fife-and-drum corps—the Grouse boys drummed and the Woodchuck brothers whistled. And whenever they gave a concert, almost everybody went to it.
Well, when the forest-people reached the hollow where the concert was to be given, there was Peter Mink, all smiles. He stepped up to each newcomer and said:
"Check your hat and coat?"
Some of the forest-people didn't know what he meant, until Peter explained to them that he would take care of hats, coats, umbrellas, walking-sticks, or anything else that anybody might like to leave with him during the concert.
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"How are you going to find my hat, if I leave it with you?" Mr. Rabbit asked.
Peter Mink showed him a heap of oak leaves.
"I'll tear one of these in two," he said, "give you half of it, and stick the other half inside your hatband. When the concert is over and you come away, all you have to do is to hand me your half of the oak leaf and I'll see which piece matches it among those that I have kept. And the hat in which the other half happens to be stuck must be your hat. Do you understand? It's quite simple," Peter said.
Mr. Rabbit said that he understood, and that it was a good idea, too. But he thought he'd keep his hat with him.
Then his wife said to him in a low voice that he ought to do whatever he could to help Peter Mink.
"Now that Peter has gone to work," shep. 78told her husband, "everyone ought to encourage him. And I want you to leave your hat with him. I'll have him check my spectacles, as he calls it," Mrs. Rabbit added, "for I shall not need them. I can hear exactly as well without them."
Mr. Rabbit always tried to please his wife. So he let Peter Mink check his hat. But he felt uncomfortable during the whole concert. It was a new hat. And he didn't like the thought of losing it.
That same thing happened in a good many families. Most of the gentlemen said that Peter's idea was a good one, but they thought they would wait till another time. And their wives generally persuaded them to let Peter Mink check something, just to help him along.
But Uncle Jerry Chuck refused to leave a single thing with Peter. He said he had had his hat for a great many years.
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The music was not so good as usual that night. And when the fife-and-drum corps played "Pop! Goes the Weasel!"—which was their favorite tune, and the first they had ever learned—they had to stop in the middle of it three times, and begin again, because there were so many interruptions. People kept standing up in their seats and looking around to see if Peter Mink was still there. And almost everybody except Uncle Jerry Chuck seemed worried.
But Uncle Jerry had a fine time. You see, whenever the fifers and drummers had to stop, and begin again, Uncle Jerry felt he was getting more music. And he enjoyed it especially because he had found his ticket in the woods and didn't have to pay for it. And on account of what happened when the concert was over, Uncle Jerry was even happier the next day.
p. 80
UNCLE JERRY HELPS
Theconcert given by the Grouse boys and the Woodchuck brothers came to an end early. Billy Woodchuck, who was one of the fifers—because he was such a good whistler—made a short speech.
"We shall have to stop now," he said, "because so many people keep bobbing up and looking around that they make us nervous. Maybe the piece we just played didn't sound quite right. So I want to explain that each of us was playing a different tune, we were so upset. And, of course, we can't keep on." Then he made a low bow.
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All at once there was a great rush toward the place where Peter Mink was waiting, with the hats and sticks, umbrellas and spectacles, coats and rubbers, and other things that he had checked for the people who came to the concert.
When Peter Mink saw everybody hurrying up all at the same time the smile faded from his face.
"Don't crowd!" he begged them. "There's something here for everybody." He took the half oak leaf that Mr. Rabbit handed to him and hunted around until he found another half that seemed to match it. And since that other half was stuck in an old umbrella, he gave the umbrella to Mr. Rabbit.
"But I didn't leave an umbrella with you. I left a hat!" Mr. Rabbit cried.
Peter Mink shook his head.
"You must be mistaken," he replied.p. 82"You said yourself my idea was a good one, you remember."
Now, Mr. Rabbit didn't intend to lose his new hat. So he began to hunt for it, though Peter Mink told him to stand back.
That was only the first of a number of disputes. There was Mr. Woodchuck—he had left his favorite walking-stick with Peter; and all he received in its place was one worn-out rubber and one mitten with a hole in it.
Old Mr. Crow made a terrible noise when Peter Mink tried to make him take an overcoat that was at least four times too big for him. And Peter insisted on attempting to squeeze Fatty Coon into a coat that was twenty-three sizes too small for him, and which really belonged to Sandy Chipmunk.
There was such an uproar, with all the people complaining, and trying to findp. 83their own things, that Peter Mink began to think he had better leave before he found himself in worse trouble. So he slipped away. And nobody noticed that he was gone, because there was such confusion.
It was a long time before everybody went home. And even then there were many who weren't satisfied. For instance, there was Mrs. Rabbit. To be sure, she found a pair of spectacles. But they weren't the ones she had given Peter. And she couldn't see through them very well.
Uncle Jerry Chuck did everything he could to help. He pushed right in where the crowd was thickest and pawed over everything he could find. There were some unkind people who objected, and said that he had no business there, because Peter Mink had checked nothing for him.
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But that made no difference to Uncle Jerry. He wouldn't leave until he was ready to go. And the next day he appeared in a brand new hat. He said that his old one had really become shabby. But whenever any one asked him where he got his new hat he pretended not to hear, and hurried away. And after that people liked him even less than they had before.
As for Peter Mink, he never tried to work again. Some of the forest-people said that he had never meant to work, anyhow. They claimed that he had mixed up everything on purpose, to play a trick on people. And for a long time no one saw Peter Mink in that neighborhood.
Mr. Rabbit said that that was the only pleasant part of the whole affair.
p. 85
PETERS NEW COAT
Perhapsyou never heard how Mr. Mink lost his tail in the woods, and how Jimmy Rabbit found it and wore it until Mr. Mink came along and took the tail away from him.
Peter Mink knew all about it, anyhow, for Mr. Mink was his uncle. And Peter knew that Jimmy Rabbit was still on the lookout for a fine, bushy tail.
So one day when Peter met Jimmy Rabbit he told Jimmy that if he would go to a certain place, near Broad Brook, he might find something that would interest him.
"You'll find a small place where thep. 86earth has been stirred up," Peter said, "if you look exactly where I tell you to. There's something hidden there. And I won't say just what it is. It might be a tail; and then again, it might not," Peter told him. "Anyhow, if you go and dig in that spot, I know you won't hurry away, when you find what's there."
Now, Jimmy Rabbit ought to have known Peter Mink well enough to suspect that there was something wrong. But the moment he heard the word "tail" he couldn't start for Broad Brook fast enough.
It took him some time to find the place Peter Mink had described, for a light snow had covered the ground. But at last Jimmy discovered the loose earth, exactly as Peter had said.
Jimmy Rabbit was just going to begin to dig when some one called his name. Andp. 87he jumped back quickly and looked all around. At first he could see no one. But after a moment he saw some one beckoning to him. It was Paddy Muskrat. He had crawled out of the brook just in time to stop Jimmy Rabbit before it was too late.
"What are you going to do?" Paddy Muskrat asked.
"I'm going to dig in this dirt," Jimmy explained. "I believe there's a tail hidden there. I need one, you know. And Peter Mink told me——"
"Peter Mink!" Paddy interrupted. "I'd advise you to have nothing to do with Peter Mink. Because sooner or later he'll get you into trouble.... Do you know what's hidden beneath that dirt? I'll tell you: it's a trap! Johnnie Green set it there, thinking he could catchmein it. But I saw him when he buried it. And I wouldn't go near it for anything."
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As soon as Jimmy heard the word "trap" he couldn't get away from that place fast enough. He turned and ran off in great bounds; and he never even stopped to thank Paddy Muskrat for warning him. Now, that was not like Jimmy at all. But you see, he was frightened.
Paddy Muskrat was a wise little chap. And though he had said he wouldn't go near the trap for anything, he thought it was about time somebody fixed the trap so it couldn't do any harm. And very carefully he scraped the dirt away from it.
"There!" he said to himself. "Now everybody can see it. And no one will get caught." Then he jumped into Broad Brook again and swam away.
Not long afterwards a slim figure came stealing through the woods. It was Peter Mink; and he had a bag in his hand. He expected to use the bag, too. For he wasp. 89very sure that he would find Jimmy Rabbit fast in the trap and he intended to put him in the bag and drag him away.
Peter was disappointed when he saw that the trap was empty. And he wondered what had happened.
"Well, here's the bag, anyhow," he said to himself. "I've got that!" And he sat down and made a hole in the bag for his head, and two more for his arms, and drew the bag on. It fitted him very well.
"Why, here I've a new coat!" he said. "I see now that the bag would have been much too small to hold Jimmy Rabbit. So it's just as well he didn't get caught in the trap."
And Peter Mink walked away. He liked his new coat But probably it wasn't the kind you would care for at all.
p. 90
THE DUCK POND
SometimesPeter Mink grew tired of not knowing where he was going to sleep. And now and then, when he happened to be in some neighborhood that he liked, he would try to find a place where he might stay until he felt like roaming on again.
There was one neighborhood that Peter liked very much. He often said that of all the places in Pleasant Valley that he knew anything about, there was no other as charming as Farmer Green's duck pond.
The reason for his thinking that was that he was specially fond of duck meat. And, of course, it was convenient to bep. 91able to swim under water, and steal upon a fat duck, and seize her before she knew that Peter was anywhere near.
PETER PULLED JIMMY OUT OF THE MUD
Now, Peter Mink learned that there was a muskrat who had built him a house in the bank of the duck pond. And as soon as Peter found out where the muskrat's home was, he drove away the owner and began to live in the house himself.
He found it very comfortable. And he caught a duck every day, until at last Farmer Green noticed that his ducks were disappearing.
"I believe it's a mink that's taking them," Farmer Green said to his son Johnnie. "If it was a coon, he'd steal more than just one a day.... Now, you take the old gun and go down to the pond and hide. And when I let the ducks go out for their swim, I want you to watch for a mink."
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Naturally, Peter Mink didn't hear what Farmer Green said. If he had, no doubt he would have left the muskrat's house at once and moved on to some other neighborhood.
Early the next morning Johnnie Green put the old gun on his shoulder and stole down to the edge of the duck pond, where he hid among some cat-tails. He kept his sharp eyes on the bank of the pond, for the ducks were just waddling down from the barnyard, to enjoy their morning swim.
As sharp as Johnnie's eyes were, they did not see Peter Mink as he crept out of his house and stretched himself in the sun. Peter had fallen into the habit of sleeping late and awaking each morning just as the ducks reached the pond.
He saw them as they picked their way down the bank. And for once he didn'tp. 93seem to care anything about them. To tell the truth, he had breakfasted on duck so often that he had at last grown a bit tired of duck meat. And now he thought that for a change an eel would taste good. For the first time since Peter had driven the muskrat from his home the ducks were safe.
Peter paid no attention to them. And unnoticed by Johnnie Green, he slipped into the water and swam quickly to a place in the pond where there was a warm spring. He knew that the warm water rose to the top of the pond. And he knew, as well, that if an eel should happen to swim over the spring, the rising water would bear him to the surface of the duck pond.
Peter Mink must have been a lucky fellow. For he had hardly reached the spring when he saw an eel right in front ofp. 94him. He seized the eel and swam toward the bank. And there was such a commotion in the water that Johnnie Green couldn't help noticing it.
You see, the eel did not want to leave the duck pond. He had always lived there, and he liked it, too. So he twisted and squirmed, trying his hardest to break away from Peter Mink.
But Peter swam steadily on, though to be sure he couldn't swim very fast, dragging such a slippery fellow along with him.
But finally he reached the shore. And then he pulled the eel out of the water.
Still the eel tried to get away from him. He wound himself about Peter Mink. And several times he managed to throw Peter head over heels. But Peter Mink always rushed upon the eel again before he could wriggle into the pond.
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All this time Johnnie Green had entirely forgotten about his gun. He had never seen such a sight before. And he looked on with staring eyes, until at last Peter dragged the eel away from the pond and into some bushes.
Then Johnnie Green remembered why his father had sent him down to the duck pond. And he ran forward, all ready to shoot.
But Peter Mink had vanished. He had heard Johnnie running; and that was enough to send him skipping away.
Peter was disappointed, because he lost his breakfast. And Johnnie Green was disappointed, because he lost Peter.
In fact, of all those present, the ducks seemed to be the only ones that were really contented. They had a fine swim. And when night came, not one of them was missing.
p. 96
HOW TO BE LUCKY
Therewas one thing that Peter Mink couldn't understand. No matter how hard he tried to get Jimmy Rabbit into trouble, Jimmy always managed to escape. Peter wondered what the reason might be. And one day he said to Jimmy:
"Why is it that you're always able to get out of a scrape?"
"Don't you know?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him. "I thought everybody knew that....It's because I'm lucky."
"Oh, I know that!" said Peter Mink. "What I'd like to know is what makes you so lucky?"
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"I supposed everybody knew that, too," Jimmy Rabbit answered. "It's because I have the left hind-foot of a rabbit."
Peter Mink answered that he didn't see what that had to do with being lucky.
"You ask anybody about it," Jimmy told him. "There's Mr. Crow, over on the fence. Go and ask him why I'm lucky."
So Peter Mink went over to the fence where Mr. Crow was resting, and put the question to him.
"Oh, ask me something hard!" Mr. Crow cried. "That's too easy. Everybody knows that one."
For once Peter Mink remembered the word Jimmy Rabbit had taught him when he was caught beneath the big log.
"Please!" he said. "I'd really like to know, Mr. Crow!"
"Left hind-foot!" Mr. Crow replied briefly. "It's a rabbit's, you know; andp. 98there's nothing like 'em to bring luck."
That set Peter Mink to thinking. He couldn't help wishing that he might have Jimmy's left hind-foot for himself. It ought to bring luck to him, he thought, just as it did to Jimmy Rabbit.
After Peter Mink had thought the matter over for some time, he said to Jimmy:
"I wish you'd come over to the creek with me. There's something there that I want to show you. Of course, it's a long way off; and maybe your mother wouldn't like to have you go so far from home."
"I'll come!" Jimmy Rabbit said quickly.
"Maybe you'd better ask your mother first," Peter suggested.
But Jimmy Rabbit shook his head.
"That wouldn't do any good," he replied. "Let's be on our way!"
So Peter Mink started off toward the creek, with Jimmy close behind him.
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At last they reached the bank of the creek. The water was low. And before them was a stretch of mud, which looked dry and firm. There were a few weeds growing in it. And it certainly looked harmless enough.
"What is it you're going to show me?" Jimmy asked.
"Follow me!" said Peter Mink. "You'll see pretty soon what it is." And he jumped off the bank and landed lightly on his feet on the mud-flat, and started on again.
It never once entered Jimmy Rabbit's head that there could be any danger. So he jumped off the bank, too. And to his great surprise his legs sank entirely out of sight in the mud.
You see, he was at least four times heavier than Peter Mink. And when he landed on the thin, sun-baked crust that coveredp. 100the mud-flat he had broken through it.
Jimmy Rabbit had a terrible feeling that he was going right down until the mud closed over his head.
"Help!" he shrieked. "Help! Help!"
But Peter Mink walked straight on. He never once looked around.
And though Jimmy Rabbit called and called, he couldn't seem to make Peter Mink hear him.
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A BARGAIN
Stuckfast in the mud as he was, Jimmy Rabbit couldn't do a thing except shout. Or you might spy there were only two things he could do—shouting being one of them, and keeping still being the other.
At first, Jimmy couldn't help calling out at the top of his lungs. But Peter Mink, you remember, didn't appear to hear him. And there seemed to be no one else near. After a time Jimmy Rabbit grew so hoarse that he stopped shouting for help and tried to think of some way in which he might escape.
It occurred to him that if he could onlyp. 102manage to get his left hind-foot free of the mud (that was his lucky foot, you know) perhaps he would be able to crawl out, somehow. With his lucky foot buried deep in the mud, and quite out of sight, Jimmy thought it was not at all strange that he had not been able to free himself.
So he tried to raise his left hind-foot. At first the mud actually seemed to suck it deeper, as he tried. But after a long time Jimmy succeeded in lifting that foot the least bit. And he was pleased—until he discovered that his other hind-foot had only sunk further into the mire.
At last he happened to look up. And there on the bank, gazing down at him, stood Peter Mink.
"What are you doing down there?" Peter Mink called. "Why didn't you follow me, as I told you to?"
"I fell into this mud," Jimmy Rabbitp. 103told him. "And I called and called to you. Couldn't you hear me?"
"The wind was blowing," said Peter—and anyone can see thatthatwas no answer at all.
"Well, if you'd looked around, you could have seen what happened to me," Jimmy Rabbit complained.
"The sun was shining in my eyes," Peter Mink told him—and I shouldn't say that this answer of Peter's was any better than the first.
"Well—you can help me out of this bog, anyhow," Jimmy Rabbit said. "So please give me your hand. I'm pretty tired of being stuck here."
But Peter Mink never stirred. "Where's your lucky left hind-foot?" he asked. "I should thinkthatcould help you out, if anything could."
"The trouble is," said Jimmy Rabbit,p. 104"my left hind-foot is so deep in this mire that I can't pull it up where it can do me any good at all. It's the first time I've ever known it to fail me. And you can't really blame the foot, either, for it hasn't a chance. I don't suppose it even knows what a fix I'm in."
Still Peter Mink made no move.
"What are you waiting for?" Jimmy inquired. "I've been here long enough."
"Maybe you have—for you," said Peter Mink. "But you haven't been there long enough to suit me." And he pretended to start to go away.
Jimmy Rabbit called to him.
"I'll give you something, if you'll help me," he said.
Peter turned around.
"There's just one thing you can give me," he said, "that will make me willing to pull you out of the mud."
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"What's that?" Jimmy asked him.
"Your left hind-foot!" Peter Mink told him. "I need a lucky foot. I'm always getting into trouble of some sort and a rabbit's left hind-foot would be a great help to me—unless I happened to get stuck in the mud," he added with a sly smile. Jimmy Rabbit knew then that Peter Mink had meant all the time to lead him into that mud. He knew that Peter had meant all the time to get his left hind-foot away from him. But he didn't let Peter Mink know that he knew.
"You can have my left hind-foot," Jimmy Rabbit said, "on two conditions. You must always carry it in your pocket, and you have to agree to take—along with the foot—all the luck and everything else that goes with it."
Peter Mink quickly agreed to that.
And Jimmy Rabbit said it was a bargain,p. 106and that something awful always happened to people that didn't stand by their bargains.
Well, after that Peter jumped down and pulled Jimmy Rabbit out of the mud.
"Now," said Peter Mink, as soon as they had climbed up the bank again, "the next thing to do is to cut off your left hind-foot." And he was much surprised when Jimmy Rabbit began to laugh. "I don't see anything funny about it," Peter Mink growled.
"Of course you don't," said Jimmy. "I didn't expect you to. And I don't expect you're going to cut my foot off, becauseyou agreed not to."
"I never did anything of the kind!" Peter Mink shouted.
"Well, we'll go and ask Mr. Crow what he thinks about it," Jimmy Rabbit said. "We'll leave it to him."
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