ot intended that Peter should fill his stomach at once. He
had gone but a little way when from just ahead of him the silence of
the early evening was broken by a terrifying sound--"Whooo-hoo-hoo,
whooo-hoo!" It was so sudden and there was in it such a note of
fierceness that Peter had all he could do to keep from jumping and
running for dear life. But he knew that voice and he knew, too, that
safety lay in keeping perfectly still. So with his heart thumping madly,
as when he had escaped from Terror that morning, Peter sat as still as
if he could not move.

It was the hunting call of Hooty the Great Horned Owl, and it had been
intended to frighten some one into jumping and running, or at least into
moving ever so little. Peter knew all about that trick of Hooty's. He
knew that in all the Green Forest there are no ears so wonderful as
those of Hooty the Owl, and that the instant he had uttered that fierce
hunting call he had strained those wonderful ears to catch the faintest
sound which some startled little sleeper of the night might make. The
rustle of a leaf would be enough to bring Hooty to the spot on his great
silent wings, and then his fierce yellow eyes, which are made for seeing
in the dusk, would find the victim.

So Peter sat still, fearful that the very thumping of his heart might
reach those wonderful ears. Again that terrible hunting cry rang out,
and again Peter had all he could do to keep from jumping. But he didn't
jump, and a few minutes later, as he sat staring at a certain tall, dead
stub of a tree, wondering just where Hooty was, the top of that
stub seemed to break off, and a great, broad-winged bird flew away
soundlessly like a drifting shadow. It was Hooty himself. Sitting
perfectly straight on the top of that tall, dead stub he had seemed a
part of it. Peter waited some time before he ventured to move. Finally
he heard Hooty's hunting call in a distant part of the Green Forest, and
knew that it was safe for him to once more think of his empty stomach.

Later in the winter while the snow still lay in the Green Forest,
and the ice still bound the Laughing Brook, Peter made a surprising
discovery. He was over in a certain lonely part of the Green Forest when
he happened to remember that near there was an old nest which had once
belonged to Redtail the Hawk. Out of idle curiosity Peter ran over for a
look at that old nest. Imagine how surprised he was when just as he
came within sight of it, he saw