The Tale of Peter Mink | Page 8

had heard somewhere that there was a place called the Reform
School, where boys were sent who fought too much. And he began to
be afraid that if Peter did to Tommy Fox half the things he said he was
going to do, some one would come along and catch Peter and send him
to the Reform School.
And the Reform School was an awful place! Why, boys who went there
had to sleep in beds! They had to wash their faces every morning, and
brush their hair, and have table manners! It was no wonder that Slim
began to worry.
"You'd better let that young fox alone!" he told Peter. "You fight too
much. If you don't look out, something dreadful will happen to you,
some day. You'll get sent to the Reform School."
But Peter Mink told him to hold his tongue. "If you're not careful,"
Peter said, "I'll bite your nose, too."
Now, Slim was smaller than his cousin Peter. And he didn't want his
nose bitten. So he kept quiet after that. But he hoped that Peter would
take his advice.
"Let's go down to the brook and fish," he suggested, hoping that he
could get Peter's mind off Tommy Fox.
"You can go if you want to," said Peter Mink. "And save me some fish,
too, or it will be the worse for you!"
Slim decided that he wouldn't go fishing, after all. And he roamed
through the woods with Peter, who was determined to find Tommy

Fox.
And at last Peter found him, at a garden-party that was being given by
Jimmy Rabbit, in Farmer Green's garden.
Everybody but Tommy Fox was having refreshments. But he said he
didn't feel like eating anything. That was because he was polite. He
never cared for lettuce, or peas, or cabbage.
Peter Mink had not been invited to the garden-party. But that made no
difference to him. Before anyone knew what was happening he
marched straight up to Tommy Fox and bit him on the nose.
Then there followed such an uproar as had never before been seen in
Farmer Green's garden. Tommy Fox and Peter Mink rolled over and
over upon the ground. And for a long time nobody could tell one from
the other.
But after a while that squirming heap of tails and legs began to turn
more slowly, until at last it stopped altogether.
Peter Mink was a sad sight. He had been ragged enough, before the
fight. But now he looked ten times worse. And one of his eyes was
closed. And he had lost his hat, and one shoe.
Everyone was glad that the trouble was over. And everyone was glad
that Tommy Fox had won.
And to everybody's surprise, the gladdest of all was Slim Mink, Peter's
cousin.
"Hurrah!" he cried. (The others had been too polite to say anything.)
"What makes you shout that?" Peter asked Slim as he crawled away.
"Why," his cousin answered, "Tommy Fox hurt you, instead of your
hurting him. And now you won't have to go to the Reform School."
But for once Peter Mink thought there might be worse places than that.

He thought that maybe a real bed would feel pretty comfortable, just
then.

HELPING JIMMY RABBIT
Peter Mink was feeling even more peevish than usual. And this was the
reason: Jimmy Rabbit had a new sled.
Now, Peter had never owned a sled; and it made him envious to see
what a good time Jimmy was having, coasting down the side of Blue
Mountain.
There was only one thing that Jimmy Rabbit did not like about his sled.
It went so fast that he always fell off long before he reached the end of
the slide.
"I can fix that," Peter Mink told him. "You go home and borrow your
father's hammer and a few nails, and I'll show you how you can coast
'way down into Pleasant Valley without once tumbling off."
Jimmy thanked him. And he hurried home at once. He dragged his new
sled after him, too; for he was afraid that if he left it behind he might
not be able to find Peter Mink--or the sled, either--when he came back
again.
But Peter did not seem to care. Perhaps he had something on his mind.
Anyhow, when Jimmy Rabbit returned with the hammer and nails,
Peter Mink was waiting patiently for him.
"Now, then," said Peter, as he took the nails and the hammer, "you sit
on the sled, Jimmy, and I'll fix you up in no time."
So Jimmy Rabbit sat down on his new sled. And in a few minutes Peter
Mink had nailed Jimmy's trousers fast to the sled.
"Now you simply can't fall off," Peter said. "I'll give you a push; and
the