t about
it--there at his feet lay Danny Meadow Mouse!

[Illustration: Peter Rabbit was surprised to see Danny.]

CHAPTER XII

_The Old Briar-patch Has a New Tenant_

Danny Meadow Mouse slowly opened his eyes and then closed them again
quickly, as if afraid to look around. He could hear someone talking.
It was a pleasant voice, not at all like the terrible voice of Hooty
the Owl, which was the very last thing that Danny Meadow Mouse could
remember. Danny lay still a minute and listened.

"Why, Danny Meadow Mouse, where in the world did you drop from?"
asked the voice. It sounded like--why, very much like Peter Rabbit
speaking. Danny opened his eyes again. It _was_ Peter Rabbit.

"Where--where am I?" asked Danny Meadow Mouse in a very weak and
small voice.

"In the middle of the dear Old Briar-patch with me," replied Peter
Rabbit. "But how did you get here? You seemed to drop right out of
the sky."

Danny Meadow Mouse shuddered. Suddenly he remembered everything: how
Hooty the Owl had caught him in great cruel claws and had carried
him through the moonlight across the snow-covered Green Meadows; how
he had felt Hooty's claws slip and then had struggled and kicked and
twisted and turned until his coat had torn and he had dropped down,
down, down until he had landed in the soft snow and knocked all the
breath out of his little body. The very last thing he could remember
was Hooty's fierce scream of rage and disappointment. Danny
shuddered again.

Then a new thought came to him. He must get out of sight! Hooty
might catch him again! Danny tried to scramble to his feet.

"Ouch! Oh!" groaned Danny and lay still again.

"There, there. Keep still, Danny Meadow Mouse. There's nothing to be
afraid of here," said Peter Rabbit gently. His big eyes filled with
tears as he looked at Danny Meadow Mouse, for Danny was all torn and
hurt by the cruel claws of Hooty the Owl, and you know Peter has a
very tender heart.

So Danny lay still, and while Peter Rabbit tried to make him
comfortable and dress his hurts, he told Peter all about how he had
forgotten to watch up in the sky and so had been caught by Hooty the
Owl, and all about his terrible ride in Hooty's cruel claws.

"Oh, dear, whatever shall I do now?" he ended. "However shall I get
back home to my warm house of grass, my safe little tunnels under
the snow, and my little store of seeds in the snug hollow in the old
fence-post?"

Peter Rabbit looked thoug