It was getting late in the afternoon when Johnny finally felt rested
enough to go on. He had got to find a place to spend the night. He
hobbled along, for he was very stiff and sore, until he came to the
edge of the Green Meadows, where they meet the Green Forest.

Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun was almost ready to go down to his bed
behind the Purple Hills. Shadows were already beginning to creep
through the Green Forest. Somehow they gave Johnny Chuck that same
lonesome feeling that he had had when he first left his old home. You
see he had always lived out in the Green Meadows and somehow he was
afraid of the Green Forest in the night.

So, instead of going into the Green Forest, he wandered along the edge
of it, looking for a place in which to spend the night. At last he
came to a hollow log lying just out on the edge of the Green Meadows.
Very carefully Johnny Chuck examined it, to be sure that no one else
was using it.

"It's just the place I'm looking for!" he said aloud.

Just then there was a sharp hiss, a very fierce hiss. Johnny Chuck
felt the hair on his neck rise as it always did when he heard that
hiss, and he wasn't at all surprised, when he turned his head, to find
Mr. Blacksnake close by. Mr. Blacksnake glided swiftly up to the old
log and coiled himself in front of the opening. Then he raised his
head and ran out his tongue in the most impudent way.

"Run along, Johnny Chuck! I've decided to sleep here myself to-night!"
he said sharply.