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Show iu DISAPPODPrtfKNT i MRS. R DDY jp 1 HOP. ton BURGESS 'Tls when you're surest of a thing You most feel dlaappointm eni j stin;. Mrs Keddy. The only thing in this world that Is sure la that nothing is sure. Ton ask Mrs Reddy Fox. You ask Redd" You ask i'eter Rabbit. All of them will tell you that' that is true Tin have found It out in the greatest ofi all schools, the school of es perlem Rsddy and Mrs. Reddy were sure thnt Johnny and Polly Chuck, who! lived on the edge of the near O'dl Brlar-pa'.ch. and" Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Peter, who llvei in the dear Old Brlar-pateh, coulflnl Ibly UapeCt them of having any unusual interest in tho dear Old B. iar-p.i . I Xot since Reddy's sharp little black nose had found the scent of lltl Rabbits and lltle Chucks ln the patch r.f sweet clover, a little way outside the dear Old Briar-patch had he been near there. Of course, he had told Mrs Reddy what he had found out. 'They don't know that I know anything any-thing about their babies." said Reddy. Red-dy. "Of course, they think that I don't know. "What we want to do is to keep them thinking th it "Quite right. Reddy. .iuie right." replied Mrs. Reddy. "We'll keep away from there for a few daj.- Well not let them get so much as a glimps-' of us and perhaps In a way, they will j forget all about us." Now, clever as they are. Reddy and Mrs Reddy do make mistakes. They made one this time. By staying away so as to make Peter and Johnny Chuck unsuspicious they really made Peter suspicious. Had they come prowling about Iho dear Old Brltr-- Brltr-- patch just as often as usual Pe;er wouldn't have thought about them o much. II was because they stay '1 away so long that Peter begdn to suspect sus-pect a trick.' So it was that when late one afternoon after-noon Redd appeared in the distance and without once looking toward tho dear Old Briar-pan h trotted off toward to-ward the Oreen Fore9t, Peter was more suspicious than ever. You see, Reddy was overdoing matters. So Peter had slipped back through the dear Old Briar-patch to the other side, for it had popped into his he id that It was on that side the danger might be. Xow it had seemed to Reddy and Mrs Reddy that their plan was a verj good one. ull the better because' It was a Very simple plan. Keddy w.is to show himself so that Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit would s?o him. He was to trot over to the Green Forest. While he w:, - doing this, Mrs. Reddy Fox was to ate il around on the back side of the Old I Briar-patch and creep around the end. Then if the Chuck family and the Rabbit ramify were over in the patch of sweet clover, she would have I a chance to get between them and I the priar-patch while they were watching Reddy. "Quito right. Reddy, quite right replied Mrs Reddy. Everything worked Just as Roddy' and Mrs. Reddy had planned until j 'us; as Mrs. Roddy peeped around ihi end of the dear Old Briar-patch. I Sh old see Johnny Chuck silting up very straight on his doorstep watching watch-ing RCddy, who had almost reached the Green Forest She could see Polly Pol-ly Chuck and Mrs. Peter sitting up ln the patch of sWeel clover, also 1 watching Reddy. Best of all, she ! could see four lltle Chucks and five lltle Rabbits nibbling sweet clover as j fast as they could make their little ; Jaws go. "It was a great plan, thought Mrs. Reddy, as she prepared to steal around the end of the Old Briar-patch and down to a point from which she COUld rush between the Briar-patch and tho patch of sweet clover. "In Just a few minutes I'll have some of those young 1 (.'bucks and Rabbits" Thump" Thump' Thump' At th very first thump little Mrs. Peter gave a -ignal to those five little Rabbll -and itarted thOm for the dear Old j Brier-patch as fast as their little leers could go The Instant she started Polly Chuck did the same thing hurrying hur-rying the litle Chucks ahead of her. I Mrs. Reddy leaped forward, but shel wa just too late. Never in all her life had she had a greater disappointment disappoint-ment And It was Peter Who had dls-I appointed her It was he who hud given the danger signal. (Copyright 1322 by T. V. Burge9s) The next story: "Reddy Fox Work': I for Xothing." |