sitting at all, and at a time when he was keeping his mouth shut as tight
as he knew how. In fact, he had been so worried that for several nights he
hadn't said a word, yet his neighbors had complained that he had been very
noisy. He was getting so worried that he couldn't eat.

Peter Rabbit listened with his mouth wide open. It was just the same kind
of a story that Sammy Jay had told. What under the sun could be going on?
Peter couldn't understand it at all. It certainly was very, very curious.
He just must find out about it!




XIV


PETER RABBIT MEETS UNC' BILLY POSSUM

After Sticky-toes the Tree Toad had poured out his troubles, Peter went
back to the Old Briar-patch, more puzzled than ever. If Sammy Jay was
asleep in the far-away Old Pasture on the edge of the mountain, how could
he be at the same time down in the Green Forest screaming? And if
Sticky-toes the Tree Toad sat all night with his mouth shut tight, how
could the voice of Sticky-toes be heard in an altogether different tree
than the one Sticky-toes was spending the night in? Wasn't it enough to
drive any one crazy?

The more Peter studied over it, the more puzzled he grew. The next night
he started out for the Green Forest with a new plan in his head. He would
hide down among the alders by the Laughing Brook. He would see for himself