ght, just as Peter Rabbit did, that
Sticky-toes was over in an alder tree on the other side of the Laughing
Brook. But when he heard a whisper right over their heads and looked up to
see Sticky-toes himself, Unc' Billy almost chuckled out loud.

"Yo' can't fool Uncle Billy,
So don't go fo' to try!
Ah knows yo', yes, Ah knows yo'--
Ah knows yo', Mistah Sly."

He said that to himself and quite under his breath, for all the time that
Peter Rabbit and Sticky-toes the Tree Toad were whispering together, Unc'
Billy Possum was stealing away under the alder bushes. Unc' Billy is very
soft-footed, oh, very soft-footed indeed, when he wants to be. You see one
must needs be very soft-footed to steal eggs in Farmer Brown's hen-house.
So Unc' Billy stole away without making a sound, and when Peter Rabbit
turned to speak to him, there was no Unc' Billy there.

Peter rubbed his eyes and stared all around, this way and that way, but no
sign of Unc' Billy could he see. This so surprised Peter Rabbit that he
felt queer all over. First there was the voice of Sticky-toes over on the
other side of the Laughing Brook, when all the time Sticky-toes wasn't
there at all. Now here Unc' Billy Possum had disappeared, just as if the
earth had swallowed him up.

"This isn't any place for me!" said Peter Rabbit, and off he started for
the Green Meadows as fast as he could go, lipperty-lipperty-lip!

All this time Unc' Billy Possum had been crawling along without the tiniest
sound. When he came to the Laughing Brook, he went up a way until he found
a big tree with a branch stretching clear across. Of course Unc' Billy
could have swum across, but he didn't feel like swimming that night, so he
climbed up the big tree, ran out along the branch, let himself down by the
tail, and then dropped. He was across the Laughing Brook without even
wetting his feet.

Unc' Billy didn't waste any time. Just as soft-footed as before, he crept
along in the darkest shadows, until he was right under the alder tree from
which the complaining voice of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad seemed to come.
Unc' Billy listened, and the longer he listened, the broader grew the smile
on Unc' Billy's shrewd face.

"Thief! thief! thief!"

It certainly sounded for all the world like Sammy Jay's voice, and it was
right over Unc' Billy's head. Unc' Billy peered up through the alders. The
leaves were so thick that he could not see very well, but what he did see
was enough. I