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 Jimmy Skunk lay perfectly still, and a great fear crept into his heart. Had Jimmy been killed? He hadn’t once thought of what might happen to Jimmy when he planned that joke. But presently Jimmy began to wave first one leg and then another, as if to make sure that he had some legs left. Then slowly he rolled over and got on to his feet. Peter breathed a sigh of relief.
IV. Jimmy Skunk Is Very Mad Indeed
When Jimmy Skunk is angry
Then every one watch out!
It’s better far at such a time
To be nowhere about.
Jimmy Skunk was angry this time and no mistake. He was just plain mad, and when Jimmy 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. He minds his own business, and if no one interferes with him, he interferes with no one. But once he is aroused and feels that he hasn’t been treated fairly, look out for him!
And this time Jimmy was mad clear through, as he got to his feet and shook himself to see that he was all there. I don’t know that any one could blame him. To be wakened from a comfortable nap by being rolled over and over and shaken nearly to death as Jimmy had been by that wild ride down the hill in the old barrel was enough to make any one mad. So he really is not to be blamed for feeling as he did.
Now Jimmy can never be accused of being stupid. He knew that an old barrel which has been lying in one place for a long time doesn’t move of its own accord. He 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, he looked about to see who could have played such a trick on him.
The first person he 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 Jimmy 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 Jimmy got to his feet.
Now when Jimmy 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 Jimmy 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 he is afraid of no one, and why every one respects Jimmy and his rights.
“Huh!” said Jimmy Skunk again. “If you were chasing Peter Rabbit, where is he now?”
He used it now, and he didn’t waste any time about it. He 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 Jimmy 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. Jimmy 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 Jimmy 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 any one was in it.”
“Huh!” said Jimmy 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. Jimmy 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 Jimmy 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 Jimmy 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 Jimmy 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
