<div class="figcenter"> <SPAN name="VI" id="VI" /> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-vi-p038.jpg" width-obs="322" height-obs="169" alt="MR. RABBIT IS WORRIED" title="MR. RABBIT IS WORRIED" /></div>
<p><span class="smcap">When</span> Mr. Rabbit reached home, after
Peter Mink's lecture, and told his wife
about the money that had been collected
for the poor boy whom Peter Mink knew,
she asked:</p>
<p>"Who has the money?"</p>
<p>"Oh, it's safe," said Mr. Rabbit. "It's
hidden in an old stump. And the hole in
the stump is so small that even Peter himself
can't crawl through it."</p>
<p>"How do you know he can't?"</p>
<p>"He tried," said Mr. Rabbit.</p>
<p>"How do you know he tried as hard as
he could?" Mrs. Rabbit asked.</p>
<p class="flat"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>That was what made Mr. Rabbit worry.
So instead of going to bed, he hurried back
to the place where Peter had given his famous
lecture; and there he hid himself
under a small pine.</p>
<p>Mr. Rabbit hadn't waited long before
he saw some one come out of the elderberry
bushes and hurry up to the stump.</p>
<p>It was Peter Mink! He had a bag in his
hand. And while Mr. Rabbit was watching,
he squeezed through the hole in the
stump. Even for Peter Mink the hole was
almost too small. But he managed to
squirm through, though it cost him a few
groans; and he said some words that made
Mr. Rabbit shake his head.</p>
<p>Well, as soon as Peter was inside the
hole he began to push the money through
it. And then what do you suppose Mr.
Rabbit did? He crept up to the stump,
picked up the bag, which Peter had left<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></SPAN></span>
on the ground, and as fast as the money
rolled out of the hole, Mr. Rabbit put it
inside the bag.</p>
<p>The bag was almost full when the money
stopped rolling out of the hole. And Mr.
Rabbit heard Peter Mink say to himself:</p>
<p>"That seems to be all!"</p>
<p>And as soon as he heard that, Mr. Rabbit
hurried away, with the bag of money
over his shoulder.</p>
<p>Peter Mink waited a bit, to see if he
could find more money. But he had
thrown it all out. So he squeezed through
the hole again. Then he turned to pick
up the bag. But it had vanished.</p>
<p>"That's queer!" said Peter Mink. "I
thought I left that bag right here." He
looked all around, but he couldn't find it
anywhere. So he took off his ragged
coat and laid it on the ground. "I'll put
the money in this!" Peter said.</p>
<p class="flat"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>But when he looked for the money he
couldn't find a single piece.</p>
<p>"That's queer!" said Peter. "It must
have rolled away from the stump." And
he began to search all about. But the
money, too, had vanished completely. And
Peter Mink couldn't understand it.</p>
<p>The following night, when everybody
came back again, expecting that Peter
Mink would bring the poor boy with him
to get the money, Peter never appeared
at all.</p>
<p>Finally Mr. Rabbit jumped on top of
the stump and told his friends what had
happened the night before.</p>
<p>"And now," he said, "everybody can
come right up here and get his money
back, for there's no doubt at all that Peter
Mink was collecting it for himself. <i>He</i>
was the poor boy he told us about."</p>
<p>Everybody was surprised. But everybody<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></SPAN></span>
was glad to get his money again. In
fact, there was only one person who
grumbled; and that was Uncle Jerry
Chuck. He hurried up to the stump ahead
of all the rest, to get some money. And
he seemed more surprised than ever when
Mr. Rabbit said there was no money there
for <i>him</i>.</p>
<p>"I was at the lecture last night," Uncle
Jerry said.</p>
<p>"But you left before the money was
collected," Mr. Rabbit replied.</p>
<p>Uncle Jerry admitted that that was so.
But he claimed that he had made <i>less
trouble</i> for everybody, because no one had
been obliged to handle the money that he
hadn't given.</p>
<p>But Mr. Rabbit told him he ought to be
ashamed of himself. And every one will
say that Peter Mink ought to have been
ashamed of himself, too.</p>
<hr class="chapter" />
<p class="flat"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></SPAN></span></p>
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