ragged coat and laid it on the ground. "I'll put the money in this!"
Peter said.

But when he looked for the money he couldn't find a single piece.

"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.

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.

Finally Mr. Rabbit jumped on top of the stump and told his friends what
had happened the night before.

"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. _He_ was the poor boy he told us about."

Everybody was surprised. But everybody 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 _him_.

"I was at the lecture last night," Uncle Jerry said.

"But you left before the money was collected," Mr. Rabbit replied.

Uncle Jerry admitted that that was so. But he claimed that he had made
_less trouble_ for everybody, because no one had been obliged to handle
the money that he hadn't given.

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.

PETER'S BAD TEMPER

Peter Mink was always quarreling. And he seemed always ready to
fight--to fight even people who were four times bigger than he was. And
when he fought, Peter usually won. But there was one person Peter Mink
was afraid of; and that was Fatty Coon. Fatty was almost too big for
Peter Mink to whip. And his teeth were very sharp. And his claws were
like thorns.

One day Peter and Fatty had a dispute. Fatty Coon had said that a hen
made the finest meal in the world. But Peter Mink spoke up at once and
said it wasn't so.

"There's nothing quite like a duck," he said.

Fatty Coon sneered.

"Ducks may be all right," he cried. "In fact, in my opinion they are far
too good for any member of the Mink family to eat. But for me--give me a
plump hen!" And just thinking about hens made him hungry. And being
hungry made him think of green corn. "Give me a plum