it looked like the shadow of Johnny Chuck. Peter rubbed his eyes and
looked again. Then he hurried as fast as he could, lipperty-lipperty-
lip. The nearer he got, the less like Johnny Chuck looked the one
sitting on Johnny Chuck's door-step. Johnny Chuck had gone to sleep
round and fat and roly-poly, so fat he could hardly waddle. This
fellow was thin, even thinner than Peter Rabbit himself. He waved a
thin hand to Peter.

"Hello, Peter Rabbit! I told you that I would see you in the spring.
How did you stand the long winter?"

That certainly was Johnny Chuck's voice. Peter was so delighted that
in his hurry he fell over his own feet. "Is it really and truly you,
Johnny Chuck?" he cried.

"Of course it's me; who did you think it was?" replied Johnny Chuck
rather crossly, for Peter was staring at him as if he had never seen
him before.

"I--I--I didn't know," confessed Peter Rabbit. "I thought it was you
and I thought it wasn't you. What have you been doing to yourself,
Johnny Chuck? Your coat looks three sizes too big for you, and when I
last saw you it didn't look big enough." Peter hopped all around
Johnny Chuck, looking at him as if he didn't believe his own eyes.

[Illustration: "Is it really and truly you, Johnny Chuck?" he cried.]

"Oh, Johnny's all right. He's just been living on his own fat," said
another voice. It was Jimmy Skunk who had spoken, and he now stood
holding out his hand to Johnny Chuck and grinning good-naturedly. He