visit the dooryards of those two-legged creatures called men than
very early in the morning. On this particular morning he had
planned to fly over to Farmer Brown's dooryard, but at the last
minute he changed his mind. Instead, he flew over to the
dooryard of another farm. It was so very early in the morning
that Sammy didn't expect to find anybody stirring, so you can
guess how surprised he was when, just as he came in sight of that
dooryard, he saw the door of the house open and a man step out.

Sammy stopped on the top of the nearest tree. "Now what is that
man doing up as early as this?" muttered Sammy. Then he caught
sight of something under the man's arm. He didn't have to look
twice to know what it was. It was a gun! Yes, sir, it was a gun,
a terrible gun.

"Ha!" exclaimed Sammy, and quite forgot that his stomach was
empty. "Now who can that fellow be after so early in the morning?
I wonder if he is going to the dear Old Briar-patch to look for
Peter Rabbit, or if he is going to the Old Pasture in search of
Reddy Fox, or if it is Mr. and Mrs. Grouse he hopes to kill.
I think I'll sit right here and watch."

So Sammy sat in the top of the tree and watched the hunter with
the terrible gun. He saw him head straight for the Green Forest.
"It's Mr. and Mrs. Grouse after all, I guess," thought Sammy.
"If I knew just where they were I'd go over and warn them."
But Sammy didn't know just where they were and he knew that it
might take him a long time to find them, so he once more began to
think of breakfast and then, right then, another thought popped
into his head. He thought of Lightfoot the Deer.