The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk

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The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk, by Thornton W.

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Title: The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
Author: Thornton W. Burgess

Release Date: April 8, 2007 [eBook #21015]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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A Bedtime Story-Book
THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY SKUNK
by
THORNTON W. BURGESS
Illustrations by Harrison Cady

[Illustration]

Little, Brown and Company Boston Toronto
Copyright 1918 by Thornton W. Burgess; Copyright renewed 1946 by Thornton W. Burgess All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Republished in 1987 Printed and Bound in Canada

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Peter Rabbit Plans a Joke 1 II Peter Makes a Flying Jump 7 III What Happened at the Old Barrel 12 IV Jimmy Skunk is Very Mad Indeed 17 V Reddy Fox Sneaks Away 23 VI Peter Rabbit Doesn't Enjoy His Joke 28 VII Sammy Jay Does Some Guessing 33 VIII Jimmy Skunk Looks for Peter 39 IX Jimmy Visits Johnny Chuck's Old House 44 X Peter Rabbit is Most Uncomfortable 50 XI Jimmy Skunk Keeps His Word 55 XII Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum Meet 61 XIII Jimmy Skunk Explains 66 XIV A Little Something About Eggs 70 XV A Second Meeting 75 XVI A Matter of Politeness 80 XVII Jimmy Skunk Gets a Bump 85 XVIII A Sad, Sad Quarrel 90 XIX Jimmy Skunk is True to His Word 94 XX Farmer Brown's Boy Arrives 98 XXI The Nest-Egg Gives Unc' Billy Away 103 XXII Unc' Billy Possum Tries His Old Trick 108 XXIII Unc' Billy Gives Himself Away 113

THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY SKUNK
I
PETER RABBIT PLANS A JOKE
The Imp of Mischief, woe is me, Is always busy as a bee.
That is why so many people are forever getting into trouble. He won't keep still. No, Sir, he won't keep still unless he is made to. Once let him get started there is no knowing where he will stop. Peter Rabbit had just seen Jimmy Skunk disappear inside an old barrel, lying on its side at the top of the hill, and at once the Imp of Mischief began to whisper to Peter. Of course Peter shouldn't have listened. Certainly not. But he did. You know Peter dearly loves a joke when it is on some one else. He sat right where he was and watched to see if Jimmy would come out of the barrel. Jimmy didn't come out, and after a little Peter stole over to the barrel and peeped inside. There was Jimmy Skunk curled up for a nap.
Peter tiptoed away very softly. All the time the Imp of Mischief was whispering to him that this was a splendid chance to play a joke on Jimmy. You know it is very easy to play a joke on any one who is asleep. Peter doesn't often have a chance to play a joke on Jimmy Skunk. It isn't a very safe thing to do, not if Jimmy is awake. No one knows that better than Peter. He sat down some distance from the barrel but where he could keep an eye on it. Then he went into a brown study, which is one way of saying that he thought very hard. He wanted to play a joke on Jimmy, but like most jokers he didn't want the joke to come back on himself. In fact, he felt that it would be a great deal better for him if Jimmy shouldn't know that he had anything to do with the joke.
As he sat there in a brown study, he happened to glance over on the Green Meadows and there he saw something red. He looked very hard, and in a minute he saw that it was Reddy Fox. Right away, Peter's nimble wits began to plan how he could use Reddy Fox to play a joke on Jimmy. All in a flash an idea came to him, an idea that made him laugh right out. You see, the Imp of Mischief was very, very busy whispering to Peter.
"If Reddy were only up here, I believe I could do it, and it