Part 6 (1/2)

XIX

Peter Rabbit and Danny Meadow Mouse Live High

Peter Rabbit sat in his secretest place in the dear Old Briar-patch with one of his long hind legs all swelled up and terribly sore because of the fine wire fast around it and cutting into it He could hear Fare of the dear Old Briar-patch and stopping every little while to do so In spite of his pain, Peter was curious

Finally he called Danny Meadow Mouse

”Danny, you are sht easier than I can Go as near as ever you dare to Far,” said Peter Rabbit

So Danny Meadow Mouse crept out as near to Farmer Brown's boy as ever he dared, and studied and studied toBy and by he returned to Peter Rabbit

”I don't knohat he's doing, Peter, but he's putting so into the Briar-patch from the Green Meadows”

”Ha!” said Peter Rabbit

”There are little loops of that queer stuff you've got hanging to your leg, Peter,” continued Danny Meadow Mouse

”Just so!” said Peter Rabbit

”And he's put cabbage leaves and pieces of apple all around,”

said Danny

”Wewas in a very bad way, indeed, and Peter suffered a great deal of pain The worst of it was, he didn't kno to get off the wire that was cutting into it so He had tried to cut the ith his big teeth, but he couldn't do it Danny Meadow Mouse had tried and tried to gnaw the wire, but it wasn't the least bit of use But Danny wasn't easily discouraged, and he kept working and working at it Once he thought he felt it slip a little He said nothing, but kept right on working Pretty soon he was sure that it slipped He went right on working harder than ever By and by he had it so loose that he slipped it right off Peter's leg, and Peter didn't know anything about it You see, that cruel wire snare had been so tight that Peter didn't have any feeling except of pain left in his leg, and so when Danny Meadow Mouse pulled the cruel wire snare off, Peter didn't know it until Danny held it up in front of him

My, how thankful Peter was, and how he did thank Danny Meadow Mouse! But Danny said that it was nothing at all, just nothing at all, and that he owed ood to hi hi time before Peter could hop as he used to, but after the first day he et around He found that Farmer Brown's boy had spread those miserable wire snares in every one of his private little paths But Peter knehat they were now He showed Danny Meadow Mouse how he, because he was so s the snares and steal all the cabbage leaves and apples which Farmer Brown's boy had put there for bait

Danny Meadow Mouse thought this great fun and a great joke on Farmer Brown's boy So every day he stole the bait, and he and Peter Rabbit lived high while Peter's leg was getting well And all the time Farmer Brown's boy wondered why he couldn't catch Peter Rabbit

[Illustration]

XX

Timid Danny Meadow Mouse

Danny Meadow Mouse is tiht to be so But just as anybody can make a mistake sometimes, so can everybody Still, in this case, it is quite likely that everybody is right Danny Meadow Mouse is timid Ask Peter Rabbit Ask Sammy Jay Ask Striped Chip Saht even tell you that Danny is afraid of his own shadow, or that he tries to run away from his own tail Of course this isn't true Sas It isn't fair to Danny Meadow Mouse to believe what Sammy Jay says

But the fact is Danny certainly is timid More than this, he isn't ashamed of it--not the least little bit

”You see, it's this way,” said Danny, as he sat on his doorstep one sunnyto his friend, old Mr Toad ”If I weren't afraid, I wouldn't be all the ti out, I wouldn't have anyacross in front of you”

Old Mr Toad looked where Danny was pointing, and his tongue darted out and back again so quickly that Danny wasn't sure that he saw it at all, but when he looked for the ant it was nowhere to be seen, and there was a satisfied twinkle in Mr Toad's eyes