d keep perfectly still.

Reddy made a wry face when he saw that he must put his feet in a deep
puddle of water. But he obeyed, all the same.

XXI

TWO RASCALS CAUGHT

THE moment Reddy Woodpecker stepped into the cold water he wanted to say
"Ouch!" But Jimmy Rabbit put a finger on his mouth--meaning that Reddy
must be still as a mouse.

So the red-capped scamp managed to keep quiet, though it was such hard
work that he began to feel terribly hungry. Jimmy Rabbit watched him for
a short time, smiling and nodding his head, as if to say:

"That's right! Just do as I say and all will be well." And then he waved
a sort of farewell, before he disappeared.

Though Reddy did not know it, Jimmy Rabbit stopped as soon as he was out
of sight and crept behind a bush, from which hiding-place he could watch
the cedar tree, without being seen by the two beechnut lovers who stood
so still beside it--for there was Jasper Jay, standing in a puddle on
one side of the big tree, and there was Reddy Woodpecker, standing in
another puddle on the opposite side of the tree!

And neither of them knew that the other was anywhere around!

But there was one thing that they knew quite well: the water was almost
colder than they could bear, at first. If their feet hadn't grown numb,
after a time, so that there was no feeling in them at all, they wouldn't
have been able to stand there so still and so long.

They both wondered where Jimmy Rabbit was, and what he was doing, and
why he didn't come back.

But Jimmy Rabbit was waiting for something. As he had told Reddy
Woodpecker, everything depended on the weather. Though the air was
becoming sharper every minute, it was not yet cold enough to suit Jimmy
Rabbit. What he wanted was _freezing_ weather. And at last he was
satisfied. When the sun hid itself behind a bank of clouds the ground
began to stiffen with frost, which covered all the puddles and pools
with a coating of ice.

* * * * *

It was almost dark when Jimmy Rabbit left the shelter of his bush and
danced up and down to get warm. Soon he came with a hop, skip and a jump
to the big cedar tree.

"How are you?" he called.

And two very sulky voices answered:

"I'm cold--that's how I am!"

"Well, why don't you dance around and get warm?" Jimmy asked.

But both Reddy Woodpecker and Jasper Jay were caught fast by their feet
in the frozen puddles. And as soon as they tried to move they began