joke, but it wasn't. It was a horrid, mean joke. Why, oh,
why did I ever think of it?"

Meanwhile Jimmy Skunk had gone off, chuckling.

XI

JIMMY SKUNK KEEPS HIS WORD

Keep your word, whate'er you do,
And to your inmost self be true.

When Jimmy Skunk shouted down the hall of Johnny Chuck's old house to
Peter Rabbit that he would come back at dark, he was half joking. He did
it to make Peter uneasy and to worry him. The truth is, Jimmy was no
longer angry at all. He had quite recovered his good nature and was very
much inclined to laugh himself over Peter's trick. But he felt that it
wouldn't do to let Peter off without some kind of punishment, and so he
decided to frighten Peter a little. He knew that Peter wouldn't dare
come out during the daytime because of the Yellow Jackets whose home was
just inside the doorway of that old house; and he knew that Peter
wouldn't dare face him, for he would be afraid of being treated as Reddy
Fox had been. So that is why he told Peter that he was coming back at
dark. He felt that if Peter was kept a prisoner in there for a while,
all the time worrying about how he was to get out, he would be very slow
to try such a trick again.

As Jimmy ambled away to look for some beetles, he chuckled and chuckled
and chuckled. "I guess that by this time Peter wishes he hadn't thought
of that joke on Reddy Fox and myself," said he. "Perhaps I'll go back
there tonight and perhaps I won't. He won't know whether I do or not,
and he won't dare come out."

Then he stopped and scratched his head thoughtfully. Then he sighed.
Then he scratched his head again and once more sighed. "I really don't
want to go back there tonight," he muttered, "but I guess I'll have to.
I said I would, and so I'll have to do it. I believe in keeping my word.
If I shouldn't and some day he should find it out, he wouldn't believe
me the next time I happened to say I would do a thing. Yes, Sir, I'll
have to go back. There is nothing like making people believe that when
you say a thing you mean it. There is nothing like keeping your word to
make people respect you."

Being naturally rather lazy, Jimmy decided not to go any farther than
the edge of the Old Orchard, which was only a little way above Johnny
Chuck's old house, where Peter was a prisoner. There Jimmy found a warm,
sunny spot and curled up for a nap. In fact, he spent all the day
there. When jolly, round, red Mr. Sun went to bed behind the Purpl