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Show PI7T8R RABBIT II s A STARTLHTG SURPRISE , By THORNTON Y . BURGESS There's not a particle of use In offering a poor excuse. I'ctcr Rabbit j Spring fever and the desire. to see and find out all that was going on In the Green Forest, around the. Smiling Pool, in the Old Orchard and on the Green Meadows, had kept Peter Rabbit Rab-bit away from the dear old Brlar-I Brlar-I patch a great deal more than was fair io timid little Mrs. Peter. Sometimes Peter would be rone two days. It was on one of these occasions I that Peter returned Just at sun-up Ho hurried across the Green Meadows toward to-ward the old Briar-patch. Ho was so busy trying to think up a good excuse for his long absence that bo paid little lit-tle attention to anything Fortunately Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote were nowhere about, and Peter reached the dear Old Briar-patch safely. He did not enter the dear Old Prlnr-patch Prlnr-patch at once You see ho had not yet thought of an excuso that he felt little Mrs. Peter would accept. He knew that ho richly deserved the scolding he would surely get unless he could think of a very good reason for having stayed away so long. So, Instead In-stead of entering tho dear ( Ud Briar-patch Briar-patch at once, ho slowly hopped alone! tho edge of it, still trying to think of. i Suddenly he discovered something' that put all thought of excuses out of his head. He eat up and stared at it as it ho thought such a thing couldn't be. Ho rubbed his eyes and stared again What ho saw was a pllo of! .shining yellow sand Just at tho very I edge ,, the dear old Kilar-patch and very near to his favorlto patch ofl sweet clover. Back of that pile of yel- j low sjnd was a holo. w hen Peter had loft home thrrJ had been no hide there, and of course no pile of yellow Band Ho couldn't beleve that they could be there now. He shut his eyes tight, hoping that when he opened them that hole and 1 sand would have disappeared. But when ho looked again they were still I thtre. and he knew that they were I real. "Gracious pnodnesH!" exclaimed Peter. "Gracious goodness! Someone has made a home right on the edge of my Briar-patch. I wonder who It can' bo. My, my, my. how upset Mrs. Pet-er Pet-er must bo I can't imagine who could have done such a thing They, have no business here. I don't know ; who it Is and I don't care. I shall tell them to get out right away." Then a dreadful thought popped Into Peter's mind Could it be that Reddy and Mr Fox had come over there to make their home? He hop- ! ped a sicp or two nearer and looked at 'Grndou? goodnesB! Somebody ban made a home righf on the edge of my : Brlar-patdb ! the bole more cioseiy, a iceiing ui relief swept over him. "That doorway Is too -mall for Red-dv Red-dv Fox." muttered Peter. "Old Man Coyote would need a bigger doorway than Reddy Fox. It can't be that either eith-er of them dug that hole. It Is Just about tho right size for Johnny Chuck, but Johnny and Polly Chuck have a fin homo, so It can't bo them. It must be some stranger." For two or three minutes longer he aat staring at that hole and heap of sand Then he turned and hurried to th entrance to ono of his private little paths into tho Old Briar-patch. He wa so excited that he no longer thought of an excuse! but at once started to look for little Mrs. Peter He knew that ho must know who had dug that new home and he wanted to find out right away (Copyright, 1928, by T. W. Burgess) The next story:: ';' Peter Find Out Who His New Neighbors Are." |