o one saw him. You see his coat was
so black that in the darkness of the night it was not visible at all.

Now about this time of which I am telling you Mrs. Ruffed Grouse made a
nest at the foot of the Great Pine and in it she laid fifteen beautiful
buff eggs. Mrs. Grouse was very happy, very happy indeed, and all the
little meadow folks who knew of her happiness were happy too, for they
all loved shy, demure, little Mrs. Grouse. Every morning when Peter
Rabbit trotted down the Lone Little Path through the wood past the Great
Pine he would stop for a few minutes to chat with Mrs. Grouse. Happy
Jack Squirrel would bring her the news every afternoon. The Merry Little
Breezes of Old Mother West Wind would run up a dozen times a day to see
how she was getting along.

One morning Peter Rabbit, coming down the Lone Little Path for his usual
morning call, found a terrible state of affairs. Poor little Mrs. Grouse
was heart-broken. All about the foot of the Great Pine lay the empty
shells of her beautiful eggs. They had been broken and scattered this
way and that.

"How did it happen?" asked Peter Rabbit.

"I don't know," sobbed poor little Mrs. Grouse. "In the night when I was
fast asleep something pounced upon me. I managed to get away and fly up
in the top of the Great Pine. In the morning I found all my eggs broken,
just as you see them here."

Peter Rabbit looked the ground over very carefully. He hunted around
behind the Great Pine, he looked under the bushes, he studied the ground
with a very wise air. Then he hopped off down the Lone Little Path to
the Green Meadows. He stopped at the house of Johnny Chuck.

"What makes your eyes so big and round?" asked Johnny Chuck.

Peter Rabbit came very close so as to whisper in Johnny Chuck's ear,
and told him all that he had seen. Together they went to Jimmy Skunk's
house. Jimmy Skunk was in bed. He was very sleepy and very cross when he
came to the door. Peter Rabbit told him what he had seen.

"Too bad! Too bad!" said Jimmy Skunk, and yawned sleepily.

"Won't you join us in trying to find out who did it?" asked Johnny
Chuck.

Jimmy Skunk said he would be delighted to come but that he had
some other business that morning and that he would join them in the
afternoon. Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck went on. Pretty soon they met
the Merry Little Breezes and told them the dreadful story.

"What shall we do?" asked Johnny Chuck.

"We'll hurry over and tell Old Dame Natu