Jimmy was chuckling by this time. "I won't forget, and I'll be there,"
he promised. "I'm glad to know that nobody has been telling untruths,
and I beg your pardon, Unc' Billy, for thinking you might have been."

"Don' mention it, Brer Skunk, don' mention it. Ah'll be looking fo'
yo' to-morrow mo'ning," replied Unc' Billy, with a sly wink that made
Jimmy laugh aloud.




XI

WHAT HAPPENED TO REDDY FOX


Reddy Fox wished with all his might that he had kept his tongue still
about not being afraid to meet the strange creature that had given
Peter Rabbit such a fright. When he had boasted that he would stop and
find out all about it if he happened to meet it, he didn't have the
least intention of doing anything of the kind. He was just idly
boasting and nothing more. You see, Reddy is one of the greatest
boasters in the Green Forest or on the Green Meadows. He likes to
strut around and talk big. But like most boasters, he is a coward at
heart.

Unc' Billy Possum knew this, and that is why he dared Reddy to go the
next morning to the foot of the hill where Prickly Porky the Porcupine
lives, and where Peter Rabbit had had his strange adventure, and where