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V CHATTERER FINDS A HOME Just make up your mind that you'll find a way out. When he did get there, he
found
Peter Rabbit sitting on Johnny Chuck's doorstep, staring down Johnny
Chuck's
long hall. "They're asleep," said he, as Chatterer came up all out of
breath. "I've thumped and thumped and thumped, but it isn't the least
bit
of use. They are asleep, and they'll stay asleep until Mistress Spring
arrives.
I can't understand it at all. No, Sir, I can't understand how anybody
can be
willing to miss this splendid cold weather." Peter shook his head in a
puzzled
way and continued to stare down the long empty hall. Of course he was
talking
about Johnny and Polly Chuck, who had gone to sleep for the winter.
That
sleeping business always puzzles Peter. It seems to him like a terrible
waste
of time. But Chatterer had too much on his mind to waste time wondering
how
other people could sleep all winter. He couldn't himself, and now that
he had
been driven away from his own home in the Green Forest by fear of
Shadow the
Weasel, he couldn't waste a minute. He must find a new home and then
spend
every minute of daytime laying up a new store of food for the days when
everything would be covered with snow. Up and down the length of
the stone
wall he scampered, looking for a place to make a home, but nothing
suited him.
You know he likes best to make his home in a tree. He isn't like
Striped
Chipmunk, who lives in, the ground. Poor Chatterer! He just couldn't
see how he
was going to live in the old stone wall. He sat on top of a big stone
to rest
and think it over. He was discouraged. Life
didn't seem
worth the living just then. He felt as if his heart had gone way down
to his
toes. Just then his eyes saw something that made his heart come up
again with a
great bound right where it ought to be, and just then Peter Rabbit came
hopping
along. "Have you found a new
home yet?"
asked Peter. "Yes," replied
Chatterer,"
I think I have. "That's good," replied
Peter. "I was sure you would find one over here. Where is it?" Chatterer opened his
mouth to tell
Peter and then closed it with a snap. He remembered just in time how
hard it is
for Peter to keep a secret. If he should tell Peter, it would be just
like
Peter to tell some one else without meaning to, and then it might get
back to
Shadow the Weasel. "I'm
not going to tell you now, Peter
Rabbit," said he. "You see, I don't want anybody to know where it is
until I am sure that it will do. But I'll tell you this much," he
added,
as he saw how disappointed Peter looked, "I'm going to live right
here." Peter brightened up right
away. You
see, he thought that of course Chatterer meant that he had found a hole
in the
old stone wall, and he felt very sure that he could find it by keeping
watch.
"That's good," he said again. "I'll come see you often. But
watch out for Black Pussy; her claws are very sharp. Now I think I'll
be going
back to the Old Briar-patch." "Don't tell where I am," called Chatterer. "Have you found a new home yet?" asked Peter. |