"Never mind," said Peter, "we can catch up with him easy enough, he's such
a slow-poke."

But even a slow-poke who keeps right on doing a thing without wasting any
time always gets somewhere sooner or later, very often sooner than those
who are naturally quicker, but who waste their time. So it was with Old Mr.
Toad. He kept right on, hop, hop, hipperty-hop, while the others were
playing, and so it happened that when at last Peter and Jimmy and Unc'
Billy reached the Smiling Pool, they hadn't caught another glimpse of Old
Mr. Toad.

"Do you suppose he hid somewhere, and we passed him?" asked Peter.

Unc' Billy shook his head. "Ah don' reckon so," said he. "We-uns done been
foolin' away our time, an' Brer Toad done stole a march on us. Ah reckons
we-uns will find him sittin' on the bank here somewhere."

So right away the three separated to look for Old Mr. Toad. All along the
bank of the Smiling Pool they looked. They peeped under old leaves and
sticks. They looked in every place where Old Mr. Toad might have hidden,
but not a trace of him did they find.

"Tra-la-la-lee! Oka-chee! Oka-chee!
Happy am I as I can be!"

sang Mr. Redwing, as he swayed to and fro among the bulrushes.

"Say, Mr. Redwing, have you seen Old Mr. Toad?" called Peter Rabbit.

"No," replied Mr. Redwing. "Is that whom you fellows are looking for? I