Mrs Peter Rabbit | Page 9

he grew, and the more he bragged and boasted to
himself about what he would do.
"I'll just keep out of sight until my wounds are healed, and then we'll
see who owns the Old Pasture!" thought Peter.
No sooner had this thought popped into his head than he received a
surprise, such an unpleasant surprise! It was three heavy thumps right
behind him. Peter knew what that meant. Of course he knew. It meant
that he must run or fight. It meant that he had been so busy thinking
about how smart he was going to be that he had forgotten to cover his
own tracks, and so the maker of the big tracks he had followed had
found him out.
Thump! Thump! Thump! There it was again. Peter knew by the sound
that it was of no use to stay and fight, especially when he was so sore
and stiff. There was nothing to do but run away. He simply had to. And
that is just what he did do, while his eyes were filled with tears of rage
and bitterness.

CHAPTER X
PETER RABBIT ALMOST DECIDES TO RETURN HOME
I have no doubt that you've been told How timid folks are sometimes
bold. Peter Rabbit.
In all his life Peter Rabbit had never been so disappointed. Here he was
in the Old Pasture, about which he had dreamed and thought so long,
and in reaching which he had had such a narrow escape from Hooty the
Owl, and yet he was unhappy. The fact is, Peter was more unhappy
than he could remember ever to have been before. Not only was he
unhappy, but he was in great fear, and the worst of it was he was in fear
of an enemy who could go wherever he could go himself.
You see, it was this way: Peter had expected to find some enemies in
the Old Pasture. He had felt quite sure that fierce old Mr. Goshawk was
to be watched for, and perhaps Mr. Redtail and one or two others of the
Hawk family. He knew that Granny and Reddy Fox had lived there
once upon a time and might come back if things got too unpleasant for
them on the Green Meadows, now that Old Man Coyote had made his
home there. But Peter didn't worry about any of these dangers. He was
used to them, was Peter. He had been dodging them ever since he could
remember, A friendly bramble-bush, a little patch of briars, or an old
stone wall near was all that Peter needed to feel perfectly safe from
these enemies, But now he was in danger wherever he went, for he had
an enemy who could go everywhere he could, and it seemed to Peter
that this enemy was following him all the time. Who was it? Why, it
was a great big old Rabbit with a very short temper, who, because he
had lived there for a long time, felt that he owned the Old Pasture and
that Peter had no right there.
Now, In spite of all his trouble, Peter had seen enough of the Old
Pasture to think it a very wonderful place, a very wonderful place
indeed. He had seen just enough to want to see more. You know how
very curious Peter is. It seemed to him that he just couldn't go back to
the dear Old Briar-patch on the Green Meadows until he had seen

everything to be seen in the Old Pasture. So he couldn't make up his
mind to go back home, but stayed and stayed, hoping each day that the
old gray Rabbit would get tired of hunting for him, and would let him
alone.
But the old gray Rabbit didn't do anything of the kind. He seemed to
take the greatest delight in waiting until Peter thought that he had found
a corner of the Old Pasture where he would be safe, and then in stealing
there when Peter was trying to take a nap, and driving him out. Twice
Peter had tried to fight, but the old gray Rabbit was too big for him. He
knocked all the wind out of poor Peter with a kick from his big hind
legs, and then with his sharp teeth he tore Peter's coat.
Poor Peter! His coat had already been badly torn by the cruel claws of
Hooty the Owl, and Old Mother Nature hadn't had time to mend it
when he fought with the old gray Rabbit. After the second time Peter
didn't try to fight again. He just tried to keep out of the way. And he did,
too. But in doing it he lost so much sleep and he had so little to eat that
he grew thin and thin and