n that Carol hadn't built one yet. Peter was
secretly glad. You know he doesn't eat eggs, and he is always sorry for his
feathered friends when their eggs are stolen.

Half way across the Green Meadows they stopped to play with the Merry
Little Breezes, and because it was very pleasant there, they played longer
than they realized. When at last they started on again, Old Mr. Toad was
out of sight. You see all the time he had kept right on going, hop, hop,
hipperty-hop.

"Never mind," said Peter, "we can catch up with him easy enough, he's such
a slow-poke."

But even a slow-poke who keeps right on doing a thing without wasting any
time always gets somewhere sooner or later, very often sooner than those
who are naturally quicker, but who waste their time. So it was with Old Mr.
Toad. He kept right on, hop, hop, hipperty-hop, while the others were
playing, and so it happened that when at last Peter and Jimmy and Unc'
Billy reached the Smiling Pool, they hadn't caught another glimpse of Old
Mr. Toad.

"Do you suppose he hid somewhere, and we passed him?" asked Peter.

Unc' Billy shook his head. "Ah don' reckon so," said he. "We-uns done been
foolin' away our time, an' Brer Toad done stole a march on us. Ah reckons
we-uns will find him sittin' on the bank here somewhere."

So right away the three separated to look for Old Mr. Toad. All along the
bank of the Smiling Pool they looked. They peeped under old leaves and
sticks. They looked in every place where Old Mr. Toad might have hidden,
but not a trace of him did they find.

"Tra-la-la-lee! Oka-chee! Oka-chee!
Happy am I as I can be!"

sang Mr. Redwing, as he swayed to and fro among the bulrushes.

"Say, Mr. Redwing, have you seen Old Mr. Toad?" called Peter Rabbit.

"No," replied Mr. Redwing. "Is that whom you fellows are looking for? I
wondered if you had lost something. What do you want with Old Mr. Toad?"

Peter explained how they had followed Old Mr. Toad just to see what he
really was up to. "Of course we know that he hasn't any more voice than I
have," declared Peter, "but we are curious to know if he really thinks he
has, and why he should be in such a hurry to reach the Smiling Pool. It
looks to us as if the spring has made Old Mr. Toad crazy."

"Oh, that's it, is it?" replied Mr. Redwing, his bright eyes twinkling.
"Some people don't know as much as they might. I've been wondering where
Old Mr. Toad was, and I'm ever so glad to learn that he hasn't