The Adventures of Jenny Skunk

I Peter Rabbit Plans a Joke

The Imp of Mischief, woe is me,
Is always busy as a bee.

That is why so many people are forever getting into trouble. He won’t keep still. No, Sir, he won’t keep still unless he is made to. Once let him get started there is no knowing where he will stop. Peter Rabbit had just seen Jenny Skunk disappear inside an old barrel, lying on its side at the top of the hill, and at once the Imp of Mischief began to whisper to Peter. Of course Peter shouldn’t have listened. Certainly not. But he did. You know Peter dearly loves a joke when it is on some one else. He sat right where he was and watched to see if Jenny would come out of the barrel. Jenny didn’t come out, and after a little Peter stole over to the barrel and peeped inside. There was Jenny Skunk curled up for a nap.

Peter tiptoed away very softly. All the time the Imp of Mischief was whispering to him that this was a splendid chance to play a joke on Jenny. You know it is very easy to play a joke on anyone who is asleep. Peter doesn’t often have a chance to play a joke on Jenny Skunk. It isn’t a very safe thing to do, not if Jenny is awake. No one knows that better than Peter. He sat down some distance from the barrel but where he could keep an eye on it. Then he went into a brown study, which is one way of saying that he thought very hard. He wanted to play a joke on Jenny, but like most jokers he didn’t want the joke to come back on himself. In fact, he felt that it would be a great deal better for him if Jenny shouldn’t know that he had anything to do with the joke.

As he sat there in a brown study, he happened to glance over on the Green Meadows and there he saw something red. He looked very hard, and in a minute he saw that it was Reddy Fox. Right away, Peter’s nimble wits began to plan how he could use Reddy Fox to play a joke on Jenny. All in a flash an idea came to him, an idea that made him laugh right out. You see, the Imp of Mischief was very, very busy whispering to Peter.

“If Reddy were only up here, I believe I could do it, and it would be a joke on Reddy as well as on Jenny,” thought Peter, and laughed right out again.

“What are you laughing at?” asked a voice. It was the voice of Sammy Jay.

Right away a plan for getting Reddy up there flashed into Peter’s head. He would get Sammy angry, and that would make Sammy scream. Reddy would be sure to come up there to see what Sammy Jay was making such a fuss about. Sammy, you know, is very quick-tempered. No one knows this better than Peter. So instead of replying politely to Sammy, as he should have done, Peter spoke crossly:

“Fly away, Sammy, fly away! It is no business of yours what I am laughing at,” said he.

Right away Sammy’s quick temper flared up. He began to call Peter names, and Peter answered back. This angered Sammy still more, and as he always screams when he is angry, he was soon making such a racket that Reddy Fox down on the Green Meadows couldn’t help but hear it. Peter saw him lift his head to listen. In a few minutes he began to trot that way. He was coming to find out what that fuss was about. Peter knew that Reddy wouldn’t come straight up there. That isn’t Reddy’s way. He would steal around back of the old stone wall on the edge of the Old Orchard, which was back of Peter, and would try to see what was going on without being seen himself.

“As soon as he sees me he will think that at last he has a chance to catch me,” thought Peter. “I shall have to run my very fastest, but if everything goes right, he will soon forget all about me. I do hope that the noise Sammy Jay is making will not waken Jenny Skunk and bring him out to see what is going on.”

So with one eye on the barrel where Jenny Skunk was taking a nap, and the other eye on the old stone wall behind which he expected Reddy Fox to come stealing up, Peter waited and didn’t mind in the least the names that Sammy Jay was calling him.

II Peter Makes a Flying Jump

To risk your life unless there’s need
Is downright foolishness indeed.

Never forget that. Never do such a crazy thing as Peter Rabbit was doing. What was he doing? Why, he was running the risk of being caught by Reddy Fox all for the sake of a joke. Did you ever hear of anything more foolish? Yet Peter was no different from a lot of people who every day risk their lives in the most careless and heedless ways just to save a few minutes of time or for some other equally foolish reason. The fact is, Peter didn’t stop to think what dreadful thing might happen if his plans didn’t work out as he intended. He didn’t once think of little Mrs. Peter over in the dear Old Briar-patch and how she would feel if he never came home again. That’s the trouble with thoughtlessness; it never remembers other people.

All the time that Reddy Fox was creeping along behind the old stone wall on the edge of the Old Orchard, Peter knew just where he was, though Reddy didn’t know that. If he had known it, he would have suspected one of Peter’s tricks.

“He’ll peep over that wall, and just as soon as he sees me, he will feel sure that this time he will catch me,” thought Peter. “He will steal along to that place where the wall is lowest and will jump over it right there. I must be ready to jump the very second he does.”

It all happened just as Peter had expected. While seeming to be paying no attention to anything but to Sammy Jay, he kept his eyes on that low place in the old wall, and presently he saw Reddy’s sharp nose, as Reddy peeped over to make sure that he was still there. The instant that sharp nose dropped out of sight, Peter made ready to run for his life. A second later, Reddy leaped over the wall, and Peter was off as hard as he could go, with Reddy almost at his heels. Sammy Jay, who had been so busy calling Peter names that he hadn’t seen Reddy at all, forgot all about his quarrel with Peter.

“Go it, Peter! Go it!” he screamed excitedly. That was just like Sammy.

Peter did go it. He had to. He ran with all his might. Reddy grinned as he saw Peter start towards the Green Meadows. It was a long way to the dear Old Briar-patch, and Reddy didn’t have any doubt at all that he would catch Peter before he got there. He watched sharply for Peter to dodge and try to get back to the old stone wall. He didn’t mean to let Peter do that. But Peter didn’t even try. He ran straight for the edge of the hill above the Green Meadows. Then, for the first time, Reddy noticed an old barrel there lying on its side.

“I wonder if he thinks he can hide in that,” thought Reddy, and grinned again, for he remembered that he had passed that old barrel a few days before, and that one end was open while the other end was closed. “If he tries that, I will get him without the trouble of much of a chase,” thought Reddy, and chuckled.

Lipperty-lipperty-lip ran Peter, lipperty-lipperty-lip, Reddy right at his heels! To Sammy Jay it looked as if in a few more jumps Reddy certainly would catch Peter. “Go it, Peter! Oh, go it! Go it!” screamed Sammy, for in spite of his quarrels with Peter, he didn’t want to see him come to any real harm.

Just as he reached the old barrel, Reddy was so close to him that Peter was almost sure that he could feel Reddy’s breath. Then Peter made a splendid flying jump right over the old barrel and kept on down the hill, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as ever he could, straight for an old house of Johnny Chuck’s of which he knew. When he reached it, he turned to see what was happening behind him, for he knew by the screaming of Sammy Jay and by other sounds that a great deal was happening. In fact, he suspected that the joke which he had planned was working out just as he had hoped it would.

III What Happened at the Old Barrel

Peter Rabbit’s jump over the old barrel on the edge of the hill was unexpected to Reddy Fox. In fact, Reddy was so close on Peter’s heels that he had no thought of anything but catching Peter. He was running so fast that when Peter made his flying jump over the barrel, Reddy did not have time to jump too, and he ran right smack bang against that old barrel. Now you remember that that barrel was right on the edge of the hill. When Reddy ran against it, he hit it so hard that he rolled it over, and of course that started it down the hill. You know a barrel is a very rolly sort of thing, and once it has started down a hill, nothing can stop it.

It was just so this time. Reddy Fox had no more than picked himself up when the barrel was half way down the hill and going faster and faster. It bounced along over the ground, and every time it hit a little hummock it seemed to jump right up in the air. And all the time it was making the strangest noises. Reddy quite forgot the smarting sore places where he had bumped into the barrel. He simply stood and stared at the runaway.

“As I live,” he exclaimed, “I believe there was some one in that old barrel!” There was. You remember that Jenny Skunk had curled up in there for a nap. Now Jenny was awake, very much awake. You see, for once in her life she was moving fast, very much faster than ever she had moved before since she was born. And it wasn’t at all comfortable. No, Sir, it wasn’t at all a comfortable way in which to travel. She went over and over so fast that it made him dizzy. First he was right side up and then wrong side up, so fast that he couldn’t tell which side up he was. And every time that old barrel jumped when it went over a hummock, Jenny was tossed up so that she hit whatever part of the barrel happened to be above him. Of course, he couldn’t get out, because he was rolled over and over so fast that he didn’t have a chance to try.

Now Reddy didn’t know who was in the barrel. He just knew by the sounds that some one was. So he started down the hill after the barrel to see what would happen when it stopped. All the time Peter Rabbit was dancing about in the greatest excitement, but taking the greatest care to keep close to that old house of Johnny Chuck’s so as to pop into it in case of danger. He saw that Reddy Fox had quite forgotten all about him in his curiosity as to who was in the barrel, and he chuckled as he thought of what might happen when the barrel stopped rolling and Reddy found out. Sammy Jay was flying overhead, screaming enough to split his throat. Altogether, it was quite the most exciting thing Peter had ever seen.

Now it just happened that Old Man Coyote had started to cross the Green Meadows right at the foot of the hill just as the barrel started down. Of course, he heard the noise and looked up to see what it meant. When he saw that barrel rushing right down at him, it frightened him so that he just gave one yelp and started for the Old Pasture like a gray streak. He gave Peter a chance to see just how fast he can run, and Peter made up his mind right then that he never would run a race with Old Man Coyote.

Down at the bottom of the hill was a big stone, and when the barrel hit this, the hoops broke, and the barrel fell all apart. Peter decided that it was high time for him to get out of sight. So he dodged into the old house of Johnny Chuck and lay low in the doorway, where he could watch. He saw Jenny Skunk lay perfectly still, and a great fear crept into his heart. Had Jenny been killed? He hadn’t once thought of what might happen to Jenny when he planned that joke. But presently Jenny began to wave first one leg and then another, as if to make sure that she had some legs left. Then slowly she rolled over and got on to her feet. Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

IV Jenny Skunk Is Very Mad Indeed

Jenny SKUNK IS VERY MAD INDEED

When Jenny Skunk is angry
Then every one watch out!
It’s better far at such a time
To be nowhere about.

Jenny Skunk was angry this time and no mistake. She was just plain mad, and when Jenny Skunk feels that way, no one wants to be very near him. You know he is one of the very best-natured little fellows in the world ordinarily. She minds her own business, and if no one interferes with him, she interferes with no one. But once she is aroused and feels that he hasn’t been treated fairly, look out for him!

And this time Jenny was mad clear through, as she got to her feet and shook herself to see that he was all there. I don’t know that anyone could blame him. To be wakened from a comfortable nap by being rolled over and over and shaken nearly to death as Jenny had been by that wild ride down the hill in the old barrel was enough to make anyone mad. So she really is not to be blamed for feeling as she did.

Now Jenny can never be accused of being stupid. She knew that an old barrel which has been lying in one place for a long time doesn’t move of its own accord. She knew that that barrel couldn’t possibly have started off down the hill unless some one had made it start, and he didn’t have a doubt in the world that whoever had done it, had known that he was inside and had done it to make him uncomfortable. So just as soon as he had made sure that he was really alive and quite whole, she looked about to see who could have played such a trick on him.

The first person she saw was Reddy Fox. In fact, Reddy was right close at hand. You see, he had raced down the hill after the barrel to see who was in it when he heard the strange noises coming from it as it rolled and bounded down. If Reddy had known that it was Jenny Skunk, he would have been quite content to remain at the top of the hill. But he didn’t know, and if the truth be known, he had hopes that it might prove to be some one who would furnish him with a good breakfast. So, quite out of breath with running, Reddy arrived at the place where the old barrel had broken to pieces just as Jenny got to his feet.

Now when Jenny Skunk is angry, he doesn’t bite and he doesn’t scratch. You know Old Mother Nature has provided him with a little bag of perfume which Jenny doesn’t object to in the least, but which makes most people want to hold their noses and run. He never uses it, excepting when he is angry or in danger, but when he does use it, his enemies always turn tail and run. That is why she is afraid of no one, and why everyone respects Jenny and his rights.

She used it now, and he didn’t waste any time about it. She threw some of that perfume right in the face of Reddy Fox before Reddy had a chance to turn or to say a word.

“Take that!” snapped Jenny Skunk. “Perhaps it will teach you not to play tricks on your honest neighbors!”

Poor Reddy! Some of that perfume got in his eyes and made them smart dreadfully. In fact, for a little while he couldn’t see at all. And then the smell of it was so strong that it made him quite sick. He rolled over and over on the ground, choking and gasping and rubbing his eyes. Jenny Skunk just stood and looked on, and there wasn’t a bit of pity in his eyes.

“How do you like that?” said he. “You thought yourself very smart, rolling me down hill in a barrel, didn’t you? You might have broken my neck.”

“I didn’t know you were in that barrel, and I didn’t mean to roll it down the hill anyway,” whined Reddy, when he could get his voice.

“Huh!” snorted Jenny Skunk, who didn’t believe a word of it.

“I didn’t. Honestly I didn’t,” protested Reddy. “I ran against the barrel by accident, chasing Peter Rabbit. I didn’t have any idea that anyone was in it.”

“Huh!” said Jenny Skunk again. “If you were chasing Peter Rabbit, where is he now?”

Reddy had to confess he didn’t know. He was nowhere in sight, and he certainly hadn’t had time to reach the dear Old Briar-patch. Jenny looked this way and that way, but there was no sign of Peter Rabbit.

“Huh!” said he again, turning his back on Reddy Fox and walking away with a great deal of dignity.

V Reddy Fox Sneaks Away

To sneak away is to steal away trying to keep out of sight of everybody, and is usually done only by those who for some reason or other are ashamed to be seen. Just as soon as Reddy Fox could see after Jenny Skunk had thrown that terrible perfume in Reddy’s face he started for the Green Forest. He wanted to get away by himself. But he didn’t trot with his head up and his big plumey tail carried proudly as is usual with him. No indeed. Instead he hung his head, and his handsome tail was dropped between his legs; he was the very picture of shame. You see that terrible perfume which Jenny Skunk had thrown at him clung to his red coat and he knew that he couldn’t get rid of it, not for a long time anyway. And he knew, too, that wherever he went his neighbors would hold their noses and make fun of him, and that no one would have anything to do with him. So he sneaked away across the Green Meadows towards the Green Forest and he felt too sick and mean and unhappy to even be angry with Sammy Jay, who was making fun of him and saying that he had got no more than he deserved.

Poor Reddy! He didn’t know what to do or where to go. He couldn’t go home, for old Granny Fox would drive him out of the house. She had warned him time and again never to provoke Jenny Skunk, and he knew that she never would forgive him if he should bring that terrible perfume near their home. He knew, too, that it would not be long before all the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows would know what had happened to him. Sammy Jay would see to that. He knew just how they would point at him and make fun of him. He would never hear the last of it. He felt as if he never, never would be able to hold his head and his tail up again. Every few minutes he stopped to roll over and over on the ground trying to get rid of that dreadful perfume.

When he reached the Green Forest he hurried over to the Laughing Brook to wash out his eyes. It was just his luck to have Billy Mink come along while he was doing this. Billy didn’t need to be told what had happened. “Phew!” he exclaimed, holding on to his nose. Then he turned and hurried beyond the reach of that perfume. There he stopped and made fun of Reddy Fox and said all the provoking things he could think of. Reddy took no notice at all. He felt too miserable to quarrel.

After he had washed his face he felt better. Water wouldn’t take away the awful smell, but it did take away the smart from his eyes. Then he tried to plan what to do next.

“The only thing I can do is to get as far away from everybody as I can,” thought he. “I guess I’ll have to go up to the Old Pasture to live for a while.”

So he started for the Old Pasture, keeping as much out of sight as possible. On the way he remembered that Old Man Coyote lived there. Of course it would never do to go near Old Man Coyote’s home for if he smelled that awful perfume and discovered that he, Reddy, was the cause of it he would certainly drive him out of the Old Pasture and then where could he go? So Reddy went to the loneliest part of the Old Pasture and crept into an old house that he and Granny had dug there long ago when they had been forced to live in the Old Pasture in the days when Farmer Brown’s girl and Bella the Hound had hunted them for stealing chickens. There he stretched himself out and was perfectly miserable.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if I had really been to blame, but I wasn’t. I didn’t know Jenny Skunk was in that barrel and I didn’t mean to start it rolling down the hill anyway,” he muttered. “It was all an accident and—” He stopped and into his yellow eyes crept a look of suspicion. “I wonder,” said he slowly, “if Peter Rabbit knew that Jenny Skunk was there and planned to get me into all this trouble. I wonder.”

VI Peter Rabbit Doesn’t Enjoy His Joke

All the time that Jenny Skunk was punishing Reddy Fox for rolling him down hill in a barrel, and while Reddy was sneaking away to the Green Forest to get out of sight, Peter Rabbit was lying low in the old house of Johnny Chuck, right near the place where Jenny Skunk’s wild ride had come to an end. It had been a great relief to Peter when he had seen Jenny Skunk get to her feet, and he knew that Jenny hadn’t been hurt in that wild ride. Lying flat in the doorway of Johnny Chuck’s old house, Peter could see all that went on without being seen himself, and he could hear all that was said.

He chuckled as he saw Reddy Fox come up and his eyes were popping right out with excitement as he waited for what would happen next. He felt sure that Reddy Fox was in for something unpleasant, and he was glad. Of course, that wasn’t a bit nice of Peter. Right down in his heart Peter knew it, but he had been chased so often by Reddy and given so many dreadful frights, that he felt now that he was getting even. So he chuckled as he waited for what was to happen. Suddenly that chuckle broke right off in the middle, and Peter cried “Ouch!” He had felt a pain as if a hot needle had been thrust into him. It made him almost jump out of the doorway. But he remembered in time that it would never, never do for him to show himself outside, for right away Reddy Fox and Jenny Skunk would suspect that he had had something to do with that wild ride of Jenny’s in the barrel. So it would not do to show himself now. No, indeed!

All he could do was to kick and squirm and twist his head around to see what was happening. It didn’t take long to find out. Even as he looked, he felt another sharp pain which brought another “Ouch!” from him and made him kick harder than ever. Two very angry little insects were just getting ready to sting him again, and more were coming. They were Yellow Jackets, which you know belong to the wasp family and carry very sharp little lances in their tails. The fact is, this old house of Johnny Chuck’s had been deserted so long the Yellow Jackets had decided that as no one else was using it, they would, and they had begun to build their home just inside the hall.

Poor Peter! What could he do? He didn’t dare go out, and he simply couldn’t stay where he was. Whatever he did must be done quickly, for it looked to him as if a regular army of Yellow Jackets was coming, and those little lances they carried were about the most painful things he knew of. By this time he had lost all interest in what was going on outside. There was quite enough going on inside; too much, in fact. He remembered that Johnny Chuck digs his house deep down in the ground. He looked down the long hall. It was dark down there. Perhaps if he went down there, these angry little warriors wouldn’t follow him. It was worth trying, anyway.

So Peter scrambled to his feet and scurried down the long hall, and as he ran, he cried “Ouch! Ouch! Oh! Ohoo!” Those sharp little lances were very busy, and there was no way of fighting back. At the end of the long hall was a snug little room, very dark but cool and comfortable. It was just as he had hoped; the Yellow Jackets did not follow him down there. They had driven him away from their home, which was right near the entrance, and they were satisfied.

But what a fix he was in! What a dreadful fix! He ached and smarted all over. My goodness, how he did smart! And to get out he would have to go right past the Yellow Jacket home again.

“Oh, dear, I wish I had never thought of such a joke,” moaned Peter, trying in vain to find a comfortable position. “I guess I am served just right.”

I rather think he was, don’t you?

VII Sammy Jay Does Some Guessing

Sammy Jay is a strange fellow. Although he is a scamp and dearly loves to make trouble for his neighbors, he is always ready to take their part when others make trouble for them. Many are the times he has given them warning of danger. This is one reason they are quite willing to overlook his own shortcomings. So, though in many ways he is no better than Reddy Fox, he dearly loves to upset Reddy’s plans and is very apt to rejoice when Reddy gets into trouble. Of course, being right there, he saw all that happened when Reddy ran against the old barrel at the top of the hill and sent it rolling. He had been quite as much surprised as Reddy to find that there was some one inside, and he had followed Reddy to see who it was. So, of course, he had seen what happened to Reddy.

Now, instead of being sorry for Reddy, he had openly rejoiced. It seems to be just that way with a great many people. They like to see others who are considered very smart get into trouble. So Sammy had laughed and made fun of poor Reddy. In the first place it was very exciting, and Sammy dearly loves excitement. And then it would make such a splendid story to tell, and no one likes to carry tales more than does Sammy Jay. He watched Reddy sneak away to the Green Forest, and Jenny Skunk slowly walk away in a very dignified manner. Then Sammy flew back to the Old Orchard to spread the news among the little people there. It wasn’t until he reached the Old Orchard that he remembered Peter Rabbit. Instead of flying about telling every one what had happened to Jenny Skunk and Reddy Fox, he found a comfortable perch in an old apple-tree and was strangely silent. The fact is, Sammy Jay was doing some hard thinking. He had suddenly begun to wonder. It had popped into that shrewd little head of his that it was very strange how suddenly Peter Rabbit had disappeared.

“Of course,” thought Sammy, “Jenny Skunk is sure that Reddy rolled that barrel down hill purposely, and I don’t wonder that he does think so. But I saw it all, and I know that it was all an accident so far as Reddy was concerned. I didn’t know that Jenny was in that barrel, and Reddy couldn’t have known it, because he didn’t come up here until after I did. But Peter Rabbit may have known. Why did Peter run so that he would have to jump over that barrel when he could have run right past it?

“Of course, he may have thought that if he could make Reddy run right slam bang against that barrel it would stop Reddy long enough to give him a chance to get away. That would have been pretty smart of Peter and quite like him. But somehow I have a feeling that he knew all the time that Jenny Skunk was taking a nap inside and that something was bound to happen if he was disturbed. The more I think of it, the more I believe that Peter did know and that he planned the whole thing. If he did, it was one of the smartest tricks I ever heard of. I didn’t think Peter had it in him. It was rather hard on Jenny Skunk, but it got rid of Reddy Fox for a while. He won’t dare show his face around here for a long time. That means that Peter will have one less worry on his mind. Hello! Here comes Jenny Skunk. I’ll ask him a few questions.”

Jenny 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.

“Hello, Jenny. Have you seen Peter Rabbit this morning?” cried Sammy Jay.

Jenny 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 Jenny. “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.

Jenny pricked 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 Jenny Skunk Looks for Peter

Jenny SKUNK LOOKS FOR PETER

Jenny Skunk looked very hard at Sammy Jay. Sammy Jay looked very hard at Jenny Skunk. Then Sammy slowly shut one eye and as slowly opened it again. It was a wink.

“You mean,” said Jenny 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. Jenny 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 Jenny.

“I wonder,” repeated Sammy Jay.

“And I wonder if he did it for a joke, a double joke on Reddy and myself,” Jenny went on, scratching his head thoughtfully.

“I wonder,” said Sammy Jay once more, and burst out laughing.

Now Jenny 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 strange, 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.”

Jenny 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 Jenny. “I want to ask him a few questions.”

Jenny 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 Jenny 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.”

[Illustration]

IX Jenny Visits Johnny Chuck’s Old House

Jenny VISITS JOHNNY CHUCK’S OLD HOUSE

Jenny 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 Jenny knew that until that had disappeared no one would come near the place because it was so unpleasant for every one. To Jenny 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. Hello! 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. Jenny 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 Jenny’s reach, and Jenny 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 Jenny 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 cocked 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 Jenny. “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 Jenny chuckled. There were Peter’s tracks, and they pointed straight towards the inside of Johnny Chuck’s old house. Jenny 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 Jenny 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 Jenny Skunk went. Yes, Sir, that was just as far as Jenny 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.

Jenny 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 Jenny 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.”

[Illustration]

X Peter Rabbit Is Most Uncomfortable

If ever any one was sorry for having played pranks on other folks, that one was Peter Rabbit. I am afraid it wasn’t quite the right kind of sorrow. You see, he wasn’t sorry because of what had happened to Jenny Skunk and Reddy Fox, but because of what had happened to himself. There he was, down in the bedroom of Johnny Chuck’s old house, smarting and aching all over from the sharp little lances of the Yellow Jackets who had driven him down there before he had had a chance to see what happened to Reddy Fox. That was bad enough, but what troubled Peter more was the thought that he couldn’t get out without once again facing those hot-tempered Yellow Jackets. Peter wished with all his might that he had known about their home in Johnny Chuck’s old house before ever he thought of hiding there.

But wishes of that kind are about the most useless things in the world. They wouldn’t help him now. He had so many aches and smarts that he didn’t see how he could stand a single one more, and yet he couldn’t see how he was going to get out without receiving several more. All at once he had a comforting thought. He remembered that Johnny Chuck usually has a back door. If that were the case here, he would be all right. He would find out. Cautiously he poked his head out of the snug bedroom. There was the long hall down which he had come. And there—yes, Sir, there was another hall! It must be the way to the back door. Carefully Peter crept up it.

“Funny,” thought he, “that I don’t see any light ahead of me.”

And then he bumped his nose. Yes, Sir, Peter bumped his nose against the end of that hall. You see, it was an old house, and like most old houses it was rather a tumble-down affair. Anyway, the back door had been blocked with a great stone, and the walls of the back hall had fallen in. There was no way out there. Sadly Peter backed out to the little bedroom. He would wait until night, and perhaps then the Yellow Jackets would be asleep, and he could steal out the front way without getting any more stings. Meanwhile he would try to get a nap and forget his aches and pains.

Hardly had Peter curled up for that nap when he heard a voice. It sounded as if it came from a long way off, but he knew just where it came from. It came from the doorway of that old house. He knew, too, whose voice it was. It was Jenny Skunk’s voice.

“I know where you are, Peter Rabbit,” said the voice. “And I know why you are hiding down there. I know, too, how it happened that I was rolled down hill in that barrel. I’m just giving you a little warning, Peter. There are a lot of very angry Yellow Jackets up here, as you will find out if you try to come out before dark. I’m going away now, but I’m going to come back about dark to wait for you. I may want to play a little joke on you to pay you back for the one you played on me.”

That put an end to Peter’s hope of a nap. He shivered as he thought of what might happen to him if Jenny Skunk should catch him. What with his aches and pains from the stings of the Yellow Jackets, and fear of being caught by Jenny Skunk, it was quite impossible to sleep. He was almost ready to face those Yellow Jackets rather than wait and meet Jenny Skunk. Twice he started up the long hall, but turned back. He just couldn’t stand any more stings. He was miserable. Yes, Sir, he was miserable and most uncomfortable in both body and mind.

“I wish I’d never thought of that joke,” he half sobbed. “I thought it was a great joke, but it wasn’t. It was a horrid, mean joke. Why, oh, why did I ever think of it?”

Meanwhile Jenny Skunk had gone off, chuckling.

XI Jenny Skunk Keeps Her Word

Jenny SKUNK KEEPS HIS WORD

Keep your word, whate’er you do,
And to your inmost self be true.

When Jenny Skunk shouted down the hall of Johnny Chuck’s old house to Peter Rabbit that he would come back at dark, he was half joking. He did it to make Peter uneasy and to worry him. The truth is, Jenny was no longer angry at all. He had quite recovered his good nature and was very much inclined to laugh himself over Peter’s trick. But he felt that it wouldn’t do to let Peter off without some kind of punishment, and so he decided to frighten Peter a little. He knew that Peter wouldn’t dare come out during the daytime because of the Yellow Jackets whose home was just inside the doorway of that old house; and he knew that Peter wouldn’t dare face him, for he would be afraid of being treated as Reddy Fox had been. So that is why he told Peter that he was coming back at dark. He felt that if Peter was kept a prisoner in there for a while, all the time worrying about how he was to get out, he would be very slow to try such a trick again.

As Jenny ambled away to look for some beetles, he chuckled and chuckled and chuckled. “I guess that by this time Peter wishes he hadn’t thought of that joke on Reddy Fox and myself,” said he. “Perhaps I’ll go back there tonight and perhaps I won’t. He won’t know whether I do or not, and he won’t dare come out.”

Then he stopped and scratched his head thoughtfully. Then he sighed. Then he scratched his head again and once more sighed. “I really don’t want to go back there tonight,” he muttered, “but I guess I’ll have to. I said I would, and so I’ll have to do it. I believe in keeping my word. If I shouldn’t and some day he should find it out, he wouldn’t believe me the next time I happened to say I would do a thing. Yes, Sir, I’ll have to go back. There is nothing like making people believe that when you say a thing you mean it. There is nothing like keeping your word to make people respect you.”

Being naturally rather lazy, Jenny decided not to go any farther than the edge of the Old Orchard, which was only a little way above Johnny Chuck’s old house, where Peter was a prisoner. There Jenny found a warm, sunny spot and curled up for a nap. In fact, he spent all the day there. When jolly, round, red Mr. Sun went to bed behind the Purple Hills, and the Black Shadows came trooping across the Green Meadows, Jenny got up, yawned, chuckled, and then slowly ambled down to Johnny Chuck’s old house. A look at the footprints in the sand on the doorstep told him that Peter had not come out. Jenny sat down and waited until it was quite dark. Then he poked his head in at the doorway. The Yellow Jackets had gone to bed for the night.

“Come out, Peter. I’m waiting for you!” he called down the hall, and made his voice sound as angry as he could. But inside he was chuckling. Then Jenny Skunk calmly turned and went about his business. He had kept his word.

As for Peter Rabbit, that had been one of the very worst days he could recall. He had ached and smarted from the stings of the Yellow Jackets; he had worried all day about what would happen to him if he did meet Jenny Skunk, and he was hungry. He had had just a little bit of hope, and this was that Jenny Skunk wouldn’t come back when it grew dark. He had crept part way up the hall at the first hint of night and stretched himself out to wait until he could be sure that those dreadful Yellow Jackets had gone to sleep. He had just about made up his mind that it was safe for him to scamper out when Jenny Skunk’s voice came down the hall to him. Poor Peter! The sound of that voice almost broke his heart.

“He has come back. He’s kept his word,” he half sobbed as he once more went back to Johnny Chuck’s old bedroom.

There he stayed nearly all the rest of the night, though his stomach was so empty it ached. Just before it was time for Mr. Sun to rise, Peter ventured to dash out of Johnny Chuck’s old house. He got past the home of the Yellow Jackets safely, for they were not yet awake. With his heart in his mouth, he sprang out of the doorway. Jenny Skunk wasn’t there. With a sigh of relief, Peter started for the dear, safe Old Briar-patch, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as he could go.

“I’ll never, never play another joke,” he said, over and over again as he ran.

XII Jenny Skunk and Uncle Billy Possum Meet

Jenny SKUNK AND UNC’ BILLY POSSUM MEET

Jenny Skunk ambled along down the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest. She didn’t hurry. Jenny never does hurry. Hurrying and worrying are two things she leaves for her neighbors. Now and then Jenny stopped to turn over a bit of bark or a stick, hoping to find some fat beetles. But it was plain to see that she had something besides fat beetles on her mind.

Up the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest shuffled Uncle Billy Possum. He didn’t hurry. It was too warm to hurry. Unlike Jenny Skunk, he does hurry sometimes, does Uncle Billy, especially when he suspects that Bella the Hound is about. And sometimes Uncle Billy does worry. You see, there are people who think that Uncle Billy would make a very good dinner. Uncle Billy doesn’t think he would. Anyway, he has no desire to have the experiment tried. So occasionally, when he discovers one of these people who think he would make a good dinner, he worries a little.

But just now Uncle Billy was neither hurrying nor worrying. There was no need of doing either, and Uncle Billy never does anything that there is no need of doing. So Uncle Billy shuffled up the Lone Little Path, and Jenny Skunk ambled down the Lone Little Path, and right at a bend in the Lone Little Path they met.

[Illustration]

Jenny Skunk grinned. “Hello, Uncle Billy!” said she. “Have you seen any fat beetles this morning?”

Uncle Billy grinned. “Good morning, Sister Skunk,” he replied. “I can’t rightly say I have. I had it on my mind to ask you the same thing.”

Jenny sat down and looked at Uncle Billy with twinkling eyes. Her grin grew broader and became a chuckle. “Uncle Billy,” said she, “have you ever in your life combed your hair or brushed your coat?” You know Uncle Billy usually looks as if every hair was trying to point in a different direction from every other hair, while Jenny Skunk always appears as neat as if she spent half her time brushing and smoothing her handsome black and white coat.

Uncle Billy’s eyes twinkled. “I reckon I did such a thing once or twice when I was very small, Sister Skunk,” said he, without a trace of a smile. “But it seems to me a powerful waste of time. I have more important things to worry about. By the way, Sister Skunk, did you ever run away from anybody in all your life?”

Jenny looked surprised at the question. She scratched her head thoughtfully. “Not that I remember of,” said she after a little. “Most folks run away from me,” she added with a little throaty chuckle. “Those who don’t run away always are polite and step aside. It may be that when I was a very little fellow and didn’t know much about the Great World and the people who live in it, I might have run away from some one, but if I did, I can’t remember it. Why do you ask, Uncle Billy?”

“Oh, no reason in particular, Sister Skunk. No reason in particular. Only I wonder sometimes if you ever realize how lucky you are. If I never had to worry about my hungry neighbors, I reckon perhaps I might brush my coat oftener.” Uncle Billy’s eyes twinkled more than ever.

“Worry,” replied Jenny Skunk sagely, “is the result of being unprepared. Anybody who is prepared has no occasion to worry. Just think it over, Uncle Billy.”

It was Uncle Billy’s turn to scratch his head thoughtfully. “I fear I don’t quite get your meaning, Sister Skunk,” said he.

“Sit down, Uncle Billy, and I’ll explain,” replied Jenny.

XIII Jenny Skunk Explains

Jenny SKUNK EXPLAINS

You’ll find this true where’er you go
That those prepared few troubles know.

“To begin with, I am not such a very big fellow, am I?” said Jenny.

“I reckon I know a right smart lot of folks bigger than you, Brother Skunk,” replied Uncle Billy, with a grin. You know Jenny Skunk really is a little fellow compared with some of her neighbors.

“And I haven’t very long claws or very big teeth, have I?” continued Jenny.

“I reckon mine are about as long and about as big,” returned Uncle Billy, looking more puzzled than ever.

“But you never see anybody bothering me, do you?” went on Jenny.

“No,” replied Uncle Billy.

“And it’s the same way with Prickly Porky the Porcupine. You never see anybody bothering him or offering to do him any harm, do you?” persisted Jenny.

“No,” replied Uncle Billy once more.

“Why?” demanded Jenny.

Uncle Billy grinned broadly. “I reckon, Sister Skunk,” said he, “that there isn’t anybody wants to go and meddle with you and Brother Porky. I reckon most folks know what would happen if they did, and that you and Brother Porky are folks it’s a sight more comfortable to leave alone. Leastways, I do. I ain’t aiming for trouble with either of you. That little bag of scent you carry is certainly most powerful, Sister Skunk, and I’m not hankering to brush against those little spears Brother Porky is so free with. I know when I’m well off, and I reckon most folks feel the same way.”

Jenny Skunk chuckled. “One more question, Uncle Billy,” said she. “Did you ever know me to pick a quarrel and use that bag of scent without being attacked?”

Uncle Billy considered for a few minutes. “I can’t say I ever did,” he replied.

“And you never knew Prickly Porky to go hunting trouble either,” declared Jenny. “We don’t either of us go hunting trouble, and trouble never comes hunting us, and the reason is that we both are always prepared for trouble and everybody knows it. Becky Bear could squash me by just stepping on me, but he doesn’t try it. You notice he always is very polite when we meet. Prickly Porky and I are armed for defence, but we never use our weapons for offence. Nobody bothers us, and we bother nobody. That’s the beauty of being prepared.”

Uncle Billy thought it over for a few minutes. Then he sighed and sighed again.

“I reckon you and Brother Porky are about the luckiest people I know,” said he. “Yes, Sir, I reckon you are just that. I don’t fear anybody my own size, but I certainly do have some mighty scary times when I meet some people I might mention. I wish Old Mother Nature had done gone and given me something to make people as scared of me as they are of you. I certainly believe in preparedness after seeing you, Brother Skunk. I certainly do just that very thing. Have you found any nice fresh eggs lately?”

XIV A Little Something About Eggs

“An egg,” says Jenny Skunk, “is good;
It’s very good indeed to eat.”
“An egg,” says Mrs. Grouse, “is dear;
‘Twill hatch into a baby sweet.”

So in the matter of eggs, as in a great many other matters, it all depends on the point of view. To Jenny Skunk and Uncle Billy Possum eggs are looked on from the viewpoint of something to eat. Their stomachs prompt them to think of eggs. Eggs are good to fill empty stomachs. The mere thought of eggs will make Jenny and Uncle Billy smack their lips. They say they “love” eggs, but they don’t. They “like” them, which is quite different.

But Mrs. Grouse and most of the other feathered people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows and the Old Orchard really do “love” eggs. It is the heart instead of the stomach that responds to the thought of eggs. To them eggs are almost as precious as babies, because they know that some day, some day very soon, those eggs will become babies. There are a few feathered folks, I am sorry to say, who “love” their own eggs, but “like” the eggs of other people — like them just as Jenny Skunk and Uncle Billy Possum do, to eat. Blacky the Crow is one and his cousin, Sammy Jay, is another.

So in the springtime there is always a great deal of matching of wits between the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows and the Old Orchard. Those who have eggs try to keep them a secret or to build the nests that hold them where none who like to eat them can get them; and those who have an appetite for eggs try to find them.

When Uncle Billy Possum suddenly changed the subject by asking Jenny Skunk if she had found any nice fresh eggs lately, he touched a subject very close to Jenny’s heart. I should have said, rather, her stomach. To tell the truth, it was a longing for some eggs that had brought Jenny to the Green Forest. She knew that somewhere there Mrs. Grouse must be hiding a nestful of the very nicest of eggs, and it was to hunt for these that she had come.

“No,” replied Jenny, “I haven’t had any luck at all this spring. I’ve almost forgotten what an egg tastes like. Either I’m growing dull and stupid, or some folks are smarter than they used to be. By the way, have you seen Mrs. Grouse lately?” Jenny looked very innocent as she asked this.

Uncle Billy chuckled until his sides shook. “Do you suppose I’d tell you if I had?” he demanded. “I reckon Mrs. Grouse hasn’t got any more eggs than I could comfortably take care of myself, not to mention Mrs. Possum.” Here Uncle Billy looked back over his shoulder to make sure that old Mrs. Possum wasn’t within hearing, and Jenny Skunk chuckled. “Seems to me, Sister Skunk, you might better do your egg hunting on the Green Meadows and leave the Green Forest to me,” continued Uncle Billy. “That would be no more than fair. You know I never did hanker to get far away from trees, but you don’t mind. Besides there are more eggs for you to find on the Green Meadows than there are for me to find in the Green Forest. A right smart lot of birds make their nests on the ground there. There is Brother Bob White and Brother Meadowlark and Brother Bobolink and Brother Field Sparrow and Brother—”

“Never mind any more, Uncle Billy,” interrupted Jenny Skunk. “I know all about them. That is, I know all about them I want to know, except where their eggs are. Didn’t I just tell you I haven’t had any luck at all? That’s why I’m over here.”

“Well, you won’t have any more luck here unless you are a right smart lot sharper than your Uncle Billy, and when it comes to hunting eggs, I don’t take my hat off to anybody, not even to you, Sister Skunk,” replied Uncle Billy.

XV A Second Meeting

Jenny Skunk couldn’t think of anything but eggs. The more she thought of them, the more she wanted some. After parting from Uncle Billy Possum in the Green Forest she went back to the Green Meadows and prowled about, hunting for the nests of her feathered neighbors who build on the ground, and having no more luck than she had had before.

Uncle Billy Possum was faring about the same way. He couldn’t, for the life of him, stop thinking about those eggs that belonged to Mrs. Grouse. The more he tried to forget about them, the more he thought about them.

“I feel it in my bones that there isn’t the least bit of use in hunting for them,” said he to himself, as he watched Jenny Skunk amble out of sight up the Lone Little Path. “No, Sir, there isn’t the least bit of use. I’ve looked every place I can think of already. Still, I haven’t got anything else special on my mind, and those eggs certainly would taste good. I reckon it must be I need those eggs, or I wouldn’t have them on my mind so much. I find it rather painful to carry eggs on my mind all the time, but I would enjoy carrying them in my stomach. I certainly would.” Uncle Billy grinned and started to ramble about aimlessly, hoping that chance would lead him to the nest of Mrs. Grouse.

Do what he would, Uncle Billy couldn’t get the thought of eggs off his mind, and the more he thought about them the more he wanted some. And that led him to think of Farmer Brown’s henhouse. He had long ago resolved never again to go there, but the longing for a taste of eggs was too much for his good resolutions, and as soon as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun sank to rest behind the Purple Hills, and the Black Shadows came creeping across the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest, Uncle Billy slipped away, taking pains that old Mrs. Possum shouldn’t suspect where he was going.

Out from the Green Forest, keeping among the Black Shadows along by the old stone wall on the edge of the Old Orchard, he stole, and so at last he reached Farmer Brown’s henhouse. He stopped to listen. There was no sign of Bella the Hound, and Uncle Billy sighed gently. It was a sigh of relief. Then he crept around a corner of the henhouse towards a certain hole under it he remembered well. Just as he reached it, he saw something white. It moved. It was coming towards him from the other end of the henhouse. Uncle Billy stopped right where he was. He was undecided whether to run or stay. Then he heard a little grunt and decided to stay. He even grinned. A few seconds later up came Jenny Skunk. It was a white stripe on Jenny’s coat that Uncle Billy had seen.

Jenny gave a little snort of surprise when she almost bumped into Uncle Billy.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Just taking a little walk for the good of my appetite,” replied Uncle Billy, grinning more broadly than ever. “What are you doing here, Brother Skunk?”

“The same thing,” replied Jenny. Then she chuckled. “This is an unexpected meeting. I guess you must have had the same thing on your mind all day that I have,” she added.

“I reckon so,” replied Uncle Billy, and both grinned.

[Illustration]

XVI A Matter of Politeness

It costs not much to be polite
And, furthermore, it’s always right.

Uncle Billy Possum and Jenny Skunk, facing each other among the Black Shadows close by a hole that led under Farmer Brown’s henhouse, chuckled as each thought of what had brought the other there. It is strange how a like thought often brings people together. Uncle Billy had the same longing in his stomach that Jenny Skunk had, and Jenny Skunk had the same thing on her mind that Uncle Billy had. More than this, it was the second time that day that they had met. They had met in the morning in the Green Forest and now they had met again among the Black Shadows of the evening at Farmer Brown’s henhouse. And it was all on account of eggs. Yes, Sir, it was all on account of eggs.

“Are you just coming out, or are you just going in?” Jenny inquired politely.

“I was just going in, but I’ll follow you, Sister Skunk,” replied Uncle Billy just as politely.

“Nothing of the kind,” returned Jenny. “I wouldn’t for a minute think of going before you. I hope I know my manners better than that.”

“You certainly are most polite, Sister Skunk. You certainly are most polite. You are a credit to your bringing up, but politeness always did run in your family. There is a saying that handsome is as handsome does, and your politeness is as fine as you are handsome, Sister Skunk. I’ll just step one side and let you go first just to show that I surely do appreciate your friendship,” said Uncle Billy.

Jenny Skunk chuckled. “I guess you’ve forgotten that other old saying, ‘Age before beauty,' Uncle Billy,” said she. “So you go first. You know you are older than I. I couldn’t think of being so impolite as to go first. I really couldn’t think of such a thing.”

And so they argued and argued, each insisting in the most polite way that the other should go first. If the truth were known, neither of them was insisting out of politeness at all. No, Sir, politeness had nothing to do with it. Jenny Skunk wanted Uncle Billy to go first because Jenny believes in safety first, and it had popped into Jenny’s head that there might, there just might, happen to be a trap inside that hole. If there was, she much preferred that Uncle Billy should be the one to find it out. Yes, Sir, that is why Jenny Skunk was so very polite.

Uncle Billy wanted Jenny to go first because he always feels safer behind Jenny than in front of her. He has great respect for that little bag of scent that Jenny carries, and he knows that when Jenny makes use of it, she always throws it in front and never behind her. Jenny seldom uses it, but sometimes she does if she happens to be startled and thinks danger near. So Uncle Billy preferred that Jenny should go first. It wasn’t politeness at all on the part of Uncle Billy. In both cases it was a kind of selfishness. Each was thinking of self.

How long they would have continued to argue and try to appear polite if something hadn’t happened, nobody knows. But something did happen. There was a sudden loud sniff just around the corner of the henhouse. It was from Bella the Hound. Right then and there Uncle Billy Possum and Jenny Skunk forgot all about politeness, and both tried to get through that hole at the same time. They couldn’t, because it wasn’t big enough, but, they tried hard. Bella sniffed again, and this time Uncle Billy managed to squeeze Jenny aside and slip through. Jenny was right at his heels.

XVII Jenny Skunk Gets a Bump

Jenny SKUNK GETS A BUMP

Hardly had Jenny Skunk entered the hole under Farmer Brown’s henhouse, following close on the heels of Uncle Billy Possum, than along came Bella the Hound, sniffing and sniffing in a way that made Uncle Billy nervous. When Bella reached that hole, of course she smelled the tracks of Uncle Billy and Jenny, and right away she became excited. She began to dig. Goodness, how she did make the dirt fly! All the time she whined with eagerness.

Uncle Billy wasted no time in squeezing through a hole in the floor way over in one corner, a hole that Farmer Brown’s girl had intended to nail a board over long before. Uncle Billy knew that Bella couldn’t get through that, even if she did manage to dig her way under the henhouse. Once through that and fairly in the henhouse, Uncle Billy drew a long breath. He felt safe for the time being, anyway, and he didn’t propose to worry over the future.

Jenny Skunk hurried after Uncle Billy. It wasn’t fear that caused Jenny to hurry. No, indeed, it wasn’t fear. She had been startled by the unexpectedness of Bella’s appearance. It was this that had caused her to struggle to be first through that hole under the henhouse. But once through, she had felt a bit ashamed that she had been so undignified. She wasn’t afraid of Bella. She was sorely tempted to turn around and send Bella about her business, as she knew she very well could. But she thought better of it. Besides, Uncle Billy was already through that hole in the floor, and Jenny didn’t for a minute forget what had brought her there. She had come for eggs, and so had Uncle Billy. It would never do to let Uncle Billy be alone up there for long. So Jenny Skunk did what she very seldom does — hurried. Yes, Sir, she hurried after Uncle Billy Possum. She meant to make sure of her share of the eggs she was certain were up there.

There was a row of nesting boxes along one side close to the floor. Above these was another row and above these a third row. Jenny doesn’t climb, but Uncle Billy is a famous climber.

“I’ll take these lower nests,” said Jenny, and lifted her tail in a way that made Uncle Billy nervous.

“All right,” replied Uncle Billy promptly. “All right, Sister Skunk. It’s just as you say.”

With this, Uncle Billy scrambled up to the next row of nests. Jenny grinned and started to look in the lower nests. She took her time about it, for that is Jenny’s way. There was nothing in the first one and nothing in the second one and nothing in the third one. This was disappointing, to say the least, and Jenny began to move a little faster. Meanwhile Uncle Billy had hurried from one nest to another in the second row with no better success. By the time Jenny was half-way along her row Uncle Billy bad begun on the upper row, and the only eggs he had found were hard china nest-eggs put there by Farmer Brown’s girl to tempt the hens to lay in those particular nests. Disappointment was making Uncle Billy lose his temper. Each time he peeped in a nest and saw one of those china eggs, he hoped it was a real egg, and each time when he found it wasn’t he grew angrier.

At last he so lost his temper that when he found another of those eggs he angrily kicked it out of the nest. Now it happened that Jenny Skunk was just underneath. Down fell that hard china egg squarely on Jenny Skunk’s head. For just a minute Jenny saw stars. At least, she thought she did. Then she saw the egg, and knew that Uncle Billy had knocked it down, and that it was this that had hit her. Jenny was sore at heart because she had found no eggs, and now she had a bump on the head that also was sore. Jenny Skunk lost her temper, a thing she rarely does.

XVIII A Sad, Sad Quarrel

Jenny Skunk sat on the floor of Farmer Brown’s henhouse, rubbing her head and glaring up at the upper row of nests with eyes red with anger. Of course it was dark in the henhouse, for it was night, but Jenny can see in the dark, just as so many other little people who wear fur can. What she saw was the anxious looking face of Uncle Billy Possum staring down at her.

“You did that purposely!” snapped Jenny. “You did that purposely, and you needn’t tell me you didn’t.”

“On my honor I didn’t,” protested Uncle Billy. “It was an accident, just a sure enough accident, and I’m right sorry for it.”

“That sounds very nice, but I don’t believe a word of it. You did it purposely, and you can’t make me believe anything else. Come down here and fight. I dare you to!” Jenny was getting more and more angry every minute.

Uncle Billy began to grow angry. Of course, it was wholly his fault that that egg had fallen, but it wasn’t his fault that Jenny had happened to be just beneath. He hadn’t known that Jenny was there. He had apologized, and he felt that no one could do more than that. Jenny Skunk had doubted his word, had refused to believe him, and that made him angry. His little eyes glowed with rage.

“If you want to fight, come up here. I’ll wait for you right where I am,” he sputtered.

This made Jenny angrier than ever. She couldn’t climb up there, and she knew that Uncle Billy knew it. Uncle Billy was perfectly safe in promising to wait for her.

“You’re a coward, just a plain no-account coward!” snapped Jenny. “I’m not going to climb up there, but I’ll tell you what I am going to do; I’m going to wait right down here until you come down, if it isn’t until next year. Nobody can drop things on my head and not get paid back. I thought you were a friend, but now I know better.”

“Wait as long as you please. I reckon I can stay as long as you can,” retorted Uncle Billy, grinding and snapping his teeth.

“Suit yourself,” retorted Jenny. “I’m going to pay you up for that bump on my head or know the reason why.”

And so they kept on quarreling and calling each other names, for the time being quite forgetting that they were where they had no business to be, either of them. It really was dreadful. And it was all because both had been sadly disappointed. They had found no eggs where they had been sure they would find plenty. You see, Farmer Brown’s girl had gathered every egg when she shut the biddies up for the night. Did you ever notice what a bad thing for the temper disappointment often is?

[Illustration]

XIX Jenny Skunk Is True to Her Word

Jenny SKUNK IS TRUE TO HER WORD

Uncle Billy Possum was having a bad night of it. When he had grown tired of quarreling with Jenny Skunk, he had tried to take a nap. He had tried first one nest and then another, but none just suited him. This was partly because he wasn’t sleepy. He was hungry and not at all sleepy. He wished with all his heart that he hadn’t foolishly yielded to that fit of temper which had resulted in kicking that china nest-egg out of a nest and down on the head of Jenny Skunk, making Jenny so thoroughly angry.

Uncle Billy had no intention of going down while Jenny was there. He thought that Jenny would soon grow tired of waiting and go away. So for quite awhile Uncle Billy didn’t worry. But as it began to get towards morning he began to grow anxious. Uncle Billy had no desire to be found in that henhouse when Farmer Brown’s girl came to feed the biddies.

Then, too, he was hungry. He had counted on a good meal of eggs, and not one had he found. Now he wanted to get out to look for something else to eat, but he couldn’t without facing Jenny Skunk, and it was better to go hungry than to do that. Yes, Sir, it was a great deal better to go hungry. Several times, when he thought Jenny was asleep, he tried to steal down. He was just as careful not to make a sound as he could be, but every time Jenny knew and was waiting for him. Uncle Billy wished that there was no such place as Farmer Brown’s henhouse. He wished he had never thought of eggs. He wished many other foolish wishes, but most of all he wished that he hadn’t lost his temper and kicked that egg down on Jenny Skunk’s head. When the first light stole in under the door and the biddies began to stir uneasily on their roosts Uncle Billy’s anxiety would allow him to keep still no longer.

“Don’t you think we better make up and get out of here, Sister Skunk?” he ventured.

“I don’t mind staying here; it’s very comfortable,” replied Jenny, looking up at Uncle Billy in a way that made him most uncomfortable. It was plain to see that Jenny hadn’t forgiven him.

For some time Uncle Billy said no more, but he grew more and more restless. You see, he knew it would soon be time for Farmer Brown’s girl to come to let the hens out and feed them. At last he ventured to speak again.

“I reckon you forgot something,” said he.

“What is that?” asked Jenny.

“I reckon you forgot that it’s most time for Farmer Brown’s girl to come, and it won’t do for us to be found in here,” replied Uncle Billy.

“I’m not worrying about Farmer Brown’s girl. She can come as soon as she pleases,” retorted Jenny Skunk, and grinned.

That sounded like boasting, but it wasn’t. No, Sir, it wasn’t, and Uncle Billy knew it. He knew that Jenny meant it. Uncle Billy was in despair. He didn’t dare stay, and he didn’t dare go down and face Jenny Skunk, and there he was. It certainly had been a bad night for Uncle Billy Possum.

XX Farmer Brown’s Girl Arrives

The light crept farther under the door of Farmer Brown’s henhouse, and by this time the hens were all awake. Furthermore, they had discovered Jenny Skunk down below and were making a great fuss. They were cackling so that Uncle Billy was sure Farmer Brown’s girl would soon hear them and hurry out to find out what the noise was all about.

“If you would just get out of sight, Sister Skunk, I reckon those fool hens would keep quiet,” Uncle Billy ventured.

“I don’t mind their noise. It doesn’t trouble me a bit,” replied Jenny Skunk, and grinned. It was plain enough to Uncle Billy that Jenny was enjoying the situation.

But Uncle Billy wasn’t. He was so anxious that he couldn’t keep still. He paced back and forth along the shelf in front of the upper row of nests and tried to make up his mind whether it would be better to go down and face Jenny Skunk or to try to hide under the hay in one of the nests, and all the time he kept listening and listening and listening for the footsteps of Farmer Brown’s girl.

At last he heard them, and he knew by the sound that Farmer Brown’s girl was coming in a hurry. She had heard the noise of the hens and was coming to find out what it was all about. Uncle Billy hoped that now Jenny Skunk would retreat through the hole in the floor and give him a chance to escape.

“She’s coming! Farmer Brown’s girl is coming, Sister Skunk! You better get away while you can!” whispered Uncle Billy.

“I hear her,” replied Jenny calmly. “I’m waiting for her to open the door for me to go out. It will be much easier than squeezing through that hole.”

Uncle Billy gasped. He knew, of course, that it was Jenny Skunk’s boast that she feared no one, but it was hard to believe that Jenny really intended to face Farmer Brown’s girl right in her own henhouse where Jenny had no business to be. He hoped that at last Jenny’s boldness would get her into trouble. Yes, he did. You see, that might give him a chance to slip away himself. Otherwise, he would be in a bad fix.

The latch on the door rattled. Uncle Billy crept into one of the nests, but frightened as he was, he couldn’t keep from peeping over the edge to see what would happen. The door swung open, letting in a flood of light. The hens stopped their noise. Farmer Brown’s girl stood in the doorway and looked in. Jenny Skunk lifted her big plume of a tail just a bit higher than usual and calmly and without the least sign of being in a hurry walked straight towards the open door. Of course Farmer Brown’s girl saw her at once.

“So it’s you, you black and white rascal!” she exclaimed. “I suppose you expect me to step out of your way, and I suppose I will do just that very thing. You are the most impudent and independent fellow of my acquaintance. That’s what you are. You didn’t get any eggs, because I gathered all of them last night. And you didn’t get a chicken because they were wise enough to stay on their roosts, so I don’t know as I have any quarrel with you, and I’m sure I don’t want any. Come along out of there, you rascal.”

Farmer Brown’s girl stepped aside, and Jenny Skunk calmly and without the least sign of hurry or worry walked out, stopped for a drink at the pan of water in the henyard, walked through the henyard gate, and turned towards the stone wall along the edge of the Old Orchard.

XXI The Nest-Egg Gives Uncle Billy Away

‘Tis little things that often seem
Scarce worth a passing thought
Which in the end may prove that they
With big results are fraught.

Farmer Brown’s girl watched Jenny Skunk calmly and peacefully go her way and grinned as she watched her. She scratched her head thoughtfully. “I suppose,” said she, “that that is as perfect an example of the value of preparedness as there is. Jenny knew she was all ready for trouble if I chose to make it, and that because of that I wouldn’t make it. So she has calmly gone her way as if she were as much bigger than I as I am bigger than she. There certainly is nothing like being prepared if you want to avoid trouble.”

Then Farmer Brown’s girl once more turned to the henhouse and entered it. She looked to make sure that no hen had been foolish enough to go to sleep where Jenny could have caught her, and satisfied of this, she would have gone about her usual morning work of feeding the hens but for one thing. That one thing was the china nest-egg on the floor.

“Hello!” exclaimed Farmer Brown’s girl when she saw it. “Now how did that come there? It must be that Jenny Skunk pulled it out of one of those lower nests.”

Now she knew just which nests had contained nest-eggs, and it didn’t take but a minute to find that none was missing in any of the lower nests. “That’s strange,” she muttered. “That egg must have come from one of the upper nests. Jenny couldn’t have got up to those. None of the hens could have kicked it out last night, because they were all on the roosts when I shut them up. They certainly didn’t do it this morning, because they wouldn’t have dared leave the roosts with Jenny Skunk here. I’ll have to look into this.”

So she began with the second row of nests and looked in each. Then she started on the upper row, and so she came to the nest in which Uncle Billy Possum was hiding under the hay and holding his breath. Now Uncle Billy had covered himself up pretty well with the hay, but he had forgotten one thing; he had forgotten his tail. Yes, Sir, Uncle Billy had forgotten his tail, and it hung just over the edge of the nest. Of course, Farmer Brown’s girl saw it. She couldn’t help but see it.

“Ho, ho!” she exclaimed right away. “Ho, ho! So there was more than one visitor here last night. This henhouse seems to be a very popular place. I see that the first thing for me to do after breakfast is to nail a board over that hole in the floor. So it was you, Uncle Billy Possum, who kicked that nest-egg out. Found it a little hard for your teeth, didn’t you? Lost your temper and kicked it out, didn’t you? That was foolish, Uncle Billy, very foolish indeed. Never lose your temper over trifles. It doesn’t pay. Now I wonder what I’d better do with you.”

All this time Uncle Billy hadn’t moved. Of course, he couldn’t understand what Farmer Brown’s girl was saying. Nor could he see what Farmer Brown’s girl was doing. So he held his breath and hoped and hoped that he hadn’t been discovered. And perhaps he wouldn’t have been but for that telltale nest-egg on the floor. That was the cause of all his troubles. First it had angered Jenny Skunk because as you remember, it had fallen on Jenny’s head. Then it had led Farmer Brown’s girl to look in all the nests. It had seemed a trifle, kicking that egg out of that nest, but see what the results were. Truly, little things often are not so little as they seem.

[Illustration]

XXII Uncle Billy Possum Tries His Old Trick

The first knowledge Uncle Billy Possum had that he was discovered came to him through his tail. Yes, Sir, it came to him through his tail. Farmer Brown’s girl pinched it. It was rather a mean thing to do, but Farmer Brown’s girl was curious. She wanted to see what Uncle Billy would do. And she didn’t pinch very hard, not hard enough to really hurt. Farmer Brown’s girl is too good-hearted to hurt any one if she can help it.

Now any other of the Green Forest and Green Meadows people would promptly have pulled their tail away had they been in Uncle Billy’s place. But Uncle Billy didn’t. No, Sir, Uncle Billy didn’t. That tail might have belonged to any one but him so far as he made any sign. Of course, he felt like pulling it away. Any one would have in his place. But he didn’t move it the tiniest bit, which goes to show that Uncle Billy has great self-control when he wishes.

Farmer Brown’s girl pinched again, just a little harder, but still Uncle Billy made no sign. Farmer Brown’s girl chuckled and began to pull on that tail. She pulled and pulled until finally she had pulled Uncle Billy out of his hiding-place, and he swung by his tail from the hand of Farmer Brown’s girl. There wasn’t the least sign of life about Uncle Billy. He looked as if he were dead, and he acted as if he were dead. Any one not knowing Uncle Billy would have supposed that he was dead.

Farmer Brown’s girl dropped Uncle Billy on the floor. He lay just as he fell. Farmer Brown’s girl rolled him over with her foot, but there wasn’t a sign of life in Uncle Billy. He hoped that Farmer Brown’s girl really did think him dead. That was what he wanted. Farmer Brown’s girl picked him up again and laid him on a box, first putting a board over the hole in the floor and closing the henhouse door. Then she went about her work of cleaning out the henhouse and measuring out the grain for the biddies.

Uncle Billy lay there on the box, and he certainly was pathetic looking. A dead animal or bird is always pathetic looking, and none was ever more so than Uncle Billy Possum as he lay on that box. His hair was all rumpled up, as it usually is. It was filled with dust from the floor and bits of straw. His lips were drawn back and his mouth partly open. His eyes seemed to be closed. As a matter of fact, they were open just a teeny, weeny bit, just enough for Uncle Billy to watch Farmer Brown’s girl. But to have looked at him you would have thought him as dead as the deadest thing that ever was.

As she went about her work Farmer Brown’s girl kept an eye on Uncle Billy and chuckled. “You old fraud,” said she. “You think you are fooling me, but I know you. Possums don’t die of nothing in hens’ nests. You certainly are a clever old rascal, and the best actor I’ve ever seen. I wonder how long you will keep it up. I wish I had half as much self-control.”

When she had finished her work she picked Uncle Billy up by the tail once more, opened the door, and started for the house with Uncle Billy swinging from her hand and bumping against her legs. Still Uncle Billy gave no sign of life. He wondered where he was being taken to. He was terribly frightened. But he stuck to his old trick of playing dead which had served him so well more than once before.

[Illustration]

XXIII Uncle Billy Gives Himself Away

Never had Uncle Billy Possum played that old trick of his better than he was playing it now. Farmer Brown’s girl knew that Uncle Billy was only pretending to be dead, yet so well did Uncle Billy pretend that it was hard work for Farmer Brown’s girl to believe what she knew was the truth — that Uncle Billy was very much alive and only waiting for a chance to slip away.

They were half-way from the henyard to the house when Bella the Hound came to meet her master. “Now we shall see what we shall see,” said Farmer Brown’s girl, as Bella came trotting up. “If Uncle Billy can stand this test, I’ll take off my hat to him every time we meet hereafter.” She held Uncle Billy out to Bella, and Bella sniffed him all over.

Just imagine that! Just think of being nosed and sniffed at by one of whom you were terribly afraid and not so much as twitching an ear! Farmer Brown’s girl dropped Uncle Billy on the ground, and Bella rolled him over and sniffed at him and then looked up at her master, as much as to say: “This fellow doesn’t interest me. He’s dead. He must be the fellow I saw go under the henhouse last night. How did you kill him?”

Farmer Brown’s girl laughed and picked Uncle Billy up by the tail again. “He’s fooled you all right, old fellow, and you don’t know it,” said she to Bella, as the latter pranced on ahead to the house. The mother of Farmer Brown’s girl was in the doorway, watching them approach.

“What have you got there?” she demanded. “I declare if it isn’t a Possum! Where did you kill him? Was he the cause of all that racket among the chickens?”

Farmer Brown’s girl took Uncle Billy into the kitchen and dropped him on a chair. Mrs. Brown came over to look at him closer. “Poor little fellow,” said she. “Poor little fellow. It was too bad he got into mischief and had to be killed. I don’t suppose he knew any better. Somehow it always seems wrong to me to kill these little creatures just because they get into mischief when all the time they don’t know that they are in mischief.” She stroked Uncle Billy gently.

The eyes of Farmer Brown’s girl twinkled. She went over to a corner and pulled a straw from her mother’s broom. Then she returned to Uncle Billy and began to tickle Uncle Billy’s nose. Mrs. Brown looked puzzled. She was puzzled.

“What are you doing that for?” she asked.

“Just for fun,” replied Farmer Brown’s girl and kept on tickling Uncle Billy’s nose. Now Uncle Billy could stand having his tail pinched, and being carried head down, and being dropped on the ground, but this was too much for him; he wanted to sneeze. He had got to sneeze. He did sneeze. He couldn’t help it, though it were to cost him his life.

“Land of love!” exclaimed Mrs. Brown, jumping back and clutching her skirts in both hands as if she expected Uncle Billy would try to take refuge behind them. “Do you mean to say that that Possum is alive?”

“Seems that way,” replied Farmer Brown’s girl as Uncle Billy sneezed again, for that straw was still tickling his nose. “I should certainly say it seems that way. The old sinner is no more dead than I am. He’s just pretending. He fooled you all right, Mother, but he didn’t fool me. I haven’t hurt a hair of him. You ought to know me well enough by this time to know that I wouldn’t hurt him.”

She looked at her mother reproachfully, and she hastened to apologize. “But what could I think?” she demanded. “If he isn’t a dead-looking creature, I never have seen one. What are you going to do with him, daughter?”

“Take him over to the Green Forest after breakfast and let him go,” replied Farmer Brown’s girl.

This is just what she did do, and Uncle Billy wasted no time in getting home. It was a long time before he met Jenny Skunk again. When he did, Jenny was her usual good-natured self, and Uncle Billy was wise enough not to refer to eggs.