lay Danny
Meadow Mouse!

[Illustration]

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 thoughtful. "You can't do it," said he. "You