.

Right behind him came Mr. Blacksnake. Of course he saw Jimmy, and he
stopped short and hissed angrily.

"What were you going to do to Mr. Toad?" demanded Jimmy.

"None of your business!" hissed Mr. Blacksnake. "Get out of my way, or
you'll be sorry."

Jimmy Skunk just laughed and stepped in front of poor Old Mr. Toad. Mr.
Blacksnake coiled himself up in the path and darted his tongue out at Jimmy
in the most impudent way. Then he tried to make himself look very fierce.
Then he jumped straight at Jimmy Skunk with his mouth wide open, but he
took great care not to jump quite far enough to reach Jimmy. You see, he
was just trying to scare Jimmy. But Jimmy didn't scare. He knows all
about Mr. Blacksnake and that really he is a coward. So he suddenly gritted
his teeth in a way not at all pleasant to hear and started for Mr.
Blacksnake. Mr. Blacksnake didn't wait. No, Sir, he didn't wait. He
suddenly turned and glided back up the Crooked Little Path, hissing
angrily. Jimmy followed him a little way, and then he went back to Old Mr.
Toad.

"Oh," panted Mr. Toad, "you came just in time! I couldn't have hopped
another hop."

"I guess I did," replied Jimmy. "Now you get your breath and come along
with me." And Old Mr. Toad did.

XIX

OLD MR. TOAD GETS HIS STOMACH FULL

Pray do not tip your nose in scorn
At things which others eat,
For things to you not good at all
To others are most sweet.

There are ants, for instance. You wouldn't want to eat them even if you
were dreadfully hungry. But Old Mr. Toad and Buster Bear think there is
nothing much nicer. Now Buster Bear had found Old Mr. Toad catching ants,
one at a time, as he kept watch beside their home, and it had pleased
Buster to find some one else who liked ants. Right away he invited Old Mr.
Toad to dine with him. But poor Old Mr. Toad was frightened almost to death
when he heard the deep, grumbly-rumbly voice of Buster Bear, for he had
been so busy watching the ants that he hadn't seen Buster coming.

He fell right over on his back, which wasn't at all dignified, and made
Buster Bear laugh. That frightened Mr. Toad more than ever. You see he
didn't have the least doubt in the world that Buster Bear meant to eat him,
and when Buster invited him to dinner, he was sure that that was just a
joke on Buster's part.

But there was no way to escape, and after a little Old Mr. Toad thought it
best to be polite, because, you know, it always pay