f he thinks he can hide in that," thought Reddy, and grinned
again, for he remembered that he had passed that old barrel a few days
before, and that one end was open while the other end was closed. "If he
tries that, I will get him without the trouble of much of a chase,"
thought Reddy, and chuckled.

Lipperty-lipperty-lip ran Peter, lipperty-lipperty-lip, Reddy right at
his heels! To Sammy Jay it looked as if in a few more jumps Reddy
certainly would catch Peter. "Go it, Peter! Oh, go it! Go it!" screamed
Sammy, for in spite of his quarrels with Peter, he didn't want to see
him come to any real harm.

Just as he reached the old barrel, Reddy was so close to him that Peter
was almost sure that he could feel Reddy's breath. Then Peter made a
splendid flying jump right over the old barrel and kept on down the
hill, lipperty-lipperty-lip, as fast as ever he could, straight for an
old house of Johnny Chuck's of which he knew. When he reached it, he
turned to see what was happening behind him, for he knew by the
screaming of Sammy Jay and by other sounds that a great deal was
happening. In fact, he suspected that the joke which he had planned was
working out just as he had hoped it would.

III

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE OLD BARREL

Peter Rabbit's jump over the old barrel on the edge of the hill was
unexpected to Reddy Fox. In fact, Reddy was so close on Peter's heels
that he had no thought of anything but catching Peter. He was running so
fast that when Peter made his flying jump over the barrel, Reddy did not
have time to jump too, and he ran right smack bang against that old
barrel. Now you remember that that barrel was right on the edge of the
hill. When Reddy ran against it, he hit it so hard that he rolled it
over, and of course that started it down the hill. You know a barrel is
a very rolly sort of thing, and once it has started down a hill,
nothing can stop it.

It was just so this time. Reddy Fox had no more than picked himself up
when the barrel was half way down the hill and going faster and faster.
It bounced along over the ground, and every time it hit a little hummock
it seemed to jump right up in the air. And all the time it was making
the strangest noises. Reddy quite forgot the smarting sore places where
he had bumped into the barrel. He simply stood and stared at the
runaway.

"As I live," he exclaimed, "I believe there was some one in that old
barrel!" There was. You remember that Jimmy Skunk h