had come up without either of the others seeing him.

Peter's big eyes opened wider than ever. "Do you mean to say that he
has been eating his own fat?" he gasped.

Johnny Chuck and Jimmy Skunk both laughed. "No," said Jimmy Skunk, "he
didn't eat it, but he lived on it just the same while he was asleep
all winter. Don't you see he hasn't got a particle of fat on him now?"

"But how could he live on it, if he didn't eat it?" asked Peter,
staring at Johnny Chuck as if he had never seen him before.

Jimmy Skunk shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me. That is one of Old
Mother Nature's secrets; you'll have to ask her," he replied.

"And don't ask me," said Johnny Chuck, "for I've been asleep all the
time. My, but I'm hungry!"

"So am I!" said another voice. There was Reddy Fox grinning at them.
Johnny Chuck dove into the doorway of his house with Peter Rabbit at
his heels, for there was nowhere else to go. Jimmy Skunk just stood
still and chuckled. He knew that Reddy Fox didn't dare touch him.




III

THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL