| Show mite meadow mouse discovers sparrow eggs are good to eat L by THORNTON BURGESS I 1 IP F PETER RABBIT could have 1 known how reddy fox had been 1 sitting so close to little mite the lost baby ot of danny meadow mouse that his tall tail was over him and that he did not know it at all peter would simply have laughed in his sleeve instead of 0 being angry and anxious as he saw reddy coming in his direction not that peter was afraid for himself oh my nol he had seen reddy in plenty of time 19 vi A so he ran until he could no longer hear the angry voice behind him and he knew that his long legs would take him to safety what made him anxious was the thought that reddy would be sure to poke around and try to find out what peter had been doing now you know peter had been trying to find the lost baby of danny meadow mouse so as to take him back home and what he was afraid of now was that freddys keen little black nose might find what peters eyes had been unable to find so peter hurry away as fast as he would have otherwise in tact fact peter took chances he acqua actually uy tried to tempt roddy reddy to chase him so that he might lead him away from that place he made faces at reddy and called him names but reddy had found out from one ot of the merry little breezes who had been thoughtless the secret of the lost little meadow mouse and he paid no attention whatever to peter instead he began to run this way and that way with his nose to the ground sniffing and snuffing tor for some trace of meadow mouse and all the time he was going farther and farther from where little mite was now just as soon as little mite thought it was sate safe to move he began to run in the opposite direction he wanted to get just as far as he could from that dangerous neighborhood it was hard work pushing through the grass for there were no little paths there but he was too frightened to mind the hard work and kept right on one thing he had learned and that was the wisdom of keeping perfectly still when an enemy was near and yet seen him it was one ot of the most important lessons he would ever e er learn though he t know it at the time after what seemed to him like a very long time he came to a tiny path it as good a path as the private little paths that danny meadow mouse makes but still it was a real little path and of 0 course that meant easier going he hur ried ned along it and then quite anex he came to a little house hidden in the grass he stopped short and eyed it suspiciously it looked something like his own on dear home in the middle of the pile of old cornstalks corn stalks for it was made oi of dried grasses it gasn wasn t quite so big and it had no roof little mite looked this way and looked that way he see anyone about so tie he crept up and peeped into the little grass house inside were four little speckled shiny things they were ere the queerest things he had ever seen and he t know just what to make of them with another hasty took look to see that all was safe little mite crept in and touched one of the queer speckled things it was very smooth and rolled a little when he touched it he wondered it if it was good to eat the only wiy to find out was to bite it and find out at first it s slipped lipped away from his sharp little teeth he clutched it in both hands URU and tried again this time his teeth went through and inside was some thing simply delicious he sucked it all out and it seemed to him that he never had tasted anything quite so good you see he was very ery hungry lie he had just reached tor for another of the little speckled things when without any warning at all some thing sharp hit him on the head ouch cried little mite and start ed to run and then it seemed as it if a hundred enemies were striking sinking at him from all sides and the air was filled with shrill angry cries komeh somehow 0 w he t fight back all he could do was to run and run at last the terrible blows stopped but little mite he wanted wante d to get gel as far away as he could so tie ran until he could no longer hear the angry voice behind him it was as the voice of little friend the sons song sparrow for it was little friends n nest c t that he had found and one of little frends eggs that he hid had s tolen stolen Q T W burgess service |
