rat-a-tat-tat over by Unc' Billy Possum's hollow tree. Then Sammy was
sure that this was the day of Peter Rabbit's party. Sammy grinned as
he hurried off to find Blacky the Crow and Reddy Fox and Shadow the
Weasel.

Reddy was not yet out of bed, but when he heard Sammy Jay at his
door, he tumbled out in a hurry. He didn't stop to get any breakfast,
because he had planned to get all he could eat at the party. So he
hurried over to where the party was to be. Very cautiously he crept
up, and when he was quite sure that no one was about, he crawled into
a hollow log which was open at one end. There he stretched himself out
and made himself as comfortable as he could.

Pretty soon Shadow the Weasel joined Reddy Fox in the hollow log, and
they whispered and chuckled while they waited. They knew that Blacky
the Crow was safely hidden in the top of a tall pine, where he could
see all that went on, and that Sammy Jay was flying about over the
Green Meadows and through the Green Forest, pretending that he was
attending wholly to his own business, but really watching all the
preparations for Peter Rabbit's party. At the foot of a tree, in the
top of which Prickly Porky the Porcupine was eating his breakfast, sat
old Mr. Toad, nodding sleepily. Sammy Jay saw him there but, smart as
Sammy is, he didn't once suspect innocent-looking old Mr. Toad. You
see, he didn't know that old Mr. Toad had overheard all of his plans.




IX