where he was sitting at the time, so Peter should have known better than to
have raced up the Crooked Little Path as he did. But if Old Mr. Toad had
nothing to hide under, of course he must have hopped away, reasoned Peter.
He couldn't hop far in five minutes, that was sure, and so Peter ran this
way and that way a great deal farther than it would have been possible for
Old Mr. Toad to have gone. But it was a wholly useless search, and
presently Peter returned and sat down on the very spot where he had last
seen Old Mr. Toad. Peter never had felt more foolish in all his life. He
began to think that Old Mr. Toad must be bewitched and had some strange
power of making himself invisible.

For a long time Peter sat perfectly still, trying to puzzle out how Old Mr.
Toad had disappeared, but the more he puzzled over it, the more impossible
it seemed. And yet Old Mr. Toad had disappeared. Suddenly Peter gave a
frightened scream and jumped higher than he ever had jumped before in all
his life. A voice, the voice of Old Mr. Toad himself, had said, "Well, now
are you satisfied?" _And that voice had come from right under Peter!_ Do
you wonder that he was frightened? When he turned to look, there sat Old
Mr. Toad right where he himself had been sitting a moment before. Peter
rubbed his eyes and stared very foolishly.

"Wh-wh-where did you come from?" he stammered at last.

Old Mr. Toad grinned. "I'll show you," said he. And right while Peter was
looking at him, he began to sink down into the ground until only the top of
his head could be seen. Then that disappeared. Old Mr. Toad had gone down,
and the sand had fallen right back over him. Peter just had to rub his eyes
again. He had to! Then, to make sure, he began to dig away the sand where
Old Mr. Toad had been sitting. In a minute he felt Old Mr. Toad, who at
once came out again.