an outcast, friendless and alone,
hated by every one.'

"And so it was, and has been ever since. And so it is with Yowler today.
You said truly, Peter, that he hasn't any honor. Isn't it dreadful?"

And Peter agreed that it is.

XV

WHERE DIPPY THE LOON GOT THE NAME OF BEING CRAZY

As you all know, Peter Rabbit is out and about at a time when most folks
are snugly tucked in bed. The fact is, Peter is very fond of roaming
around at night. He says he feels safer then in spite of the fact that
some of his smartest enemies are also out and about, among them Hooty
the Owl and Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote. The two latter also hunt by
day when the fancy takes them or they have been so unsuccessful at night
that their stomachs won't give them any peace, and Peter is sure that
though they can see very well at night, they can see still better in
the light of day. Anyway, that is one of the reasons he gives for his
own liking for roaming after jolly, round, red Mr. Sun has gone to bed
behind the Purple Hills.

Now it happened one moonlight night that Peter had ventured way over
almost to the Big River. He had heard Hooty the Owl's fierce hunting
call far off in the Green Forest. He had heard Reddy Fox barking up in
the Old Pasture. So Peter felt quite safe. He felt so safe that he had
almost forgotten that there could be such a thing as fear. And then,
from the direction of the Big River, there came such a sound as Peter
never had heard before. It was a sound that made his heart seem to quite
stop beating for an instant. It was a sound that sent cold chills racing
and chasing all over him. It was a sound that made him wish with all
his might that he was that instant right in the heart of the dear Old
Briar-patch instead of way over there near the bank of the Big River.

He didn't waste much time getting back to the dear Old Briar-patch, once
he was sure his heart hadn't really stopped beating. The way he went
across the Green Meadows, lipperty-lipperty-lip, lipperty-lipperty-lip,
was positive proof that in spite of his fright his heart was quite all
right. He didn't run a little way, stop, run a little farther and stop
again, as is his usual way. He kept lipperty-lipperty-lipping without a
single stop until he reached the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch and
once more felt really safe. Two or three times he had felt that he must
stop to get his breath, but each time that sound, that dreadful sound,
had seemed to b