Presently Peter Rabbit came along. He found Jimmy Skunk sitting in a brown
study. He had quite forgotten to look for fat beetles, and when he
forgets to do that you may make up your mind that Jimmy is doing some hard
thinking.

"Hello, old Striped-coat, what have you got on your mind this fine
morning?" cried Peter Rabbit.

"Him," said Jimmy simply, pointing down the Lone Little Path.

Peter looked. "Do you mean Old Mr. Toad!" he asked.

Jimmy nodded. "Do you see anything queer about him?" he asked in his turn.

[Illustration: "Do you see anything queer about him?" he asked.]

Peter stared down the Lone Little Path. "No," he replied, "except that he
seems in a great hurry."

"That's just it," Jimmy returned promptly. "Did you ever see him hurry
unless he was frightened?"

Peter confessed that he never had.

"Well, he isn't frightened now, yet just look at him go," retorted Jimmy.
"Says he has got a beautiful voice, and that he has to take part in the
spring chorus at the Smiling Pool and that he is late."

Peter looked very hard at Jimmy to see if he was fooling or telling the