"Ah reckon he sho'ly is, and he's plumb full of his ol' tricks, just like
he used to be," muttered Unc' Billy.

"What's that?" asked Peter, pricking up his ears.

"Nothing, nothing, Brer Rabbit, nothing at all. Ah has a habit of just
talking foolishness to mahself," replied Unc' Billy.

Peter looked at him sharply, but Unc' Billy's shrewd little face looked so
innocent that Peter was ashamed to doubt what Unc' Billy said.

"I guess that we better not talk any more, for fear we might be heard and
have our watch for nothing," said Peter.

Unc' Billy agreed, and side by side they sat as still as if they were made
of wood or stone. The black shadows came early to the alders beside the
Laughing Brook, and soon it was very dark, so dark that Peter and Unc'
Billy, whose eyes are meant for seeing in the dark as well as in the light,
had hard work to make out much. It grew later and later, and still there
was not a sound of the voice of either Sammy Jay or Sticky-toes the Tree
Toad. Peter began to get hungry. The more he thought about it, the hungrier
he grew. He was just about ready to give it up, when the moonbeams began to
creep in among the alder trees just as they had crept through the Green
Forest the night that Sammy Jay kept awake all night.

The moonbeams crept farther and farther into the thicket of alder trees and
bushes where Peter Rabbit and Unc' Billy Possum were hiding. Then it was
that they heard the voice of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. At any rate, Peter
was sure that it was the voice of Sticky-toes until a fierce, angry whisper