appetite for eggs try to find them.

When Unc' Billy Possum suddenly changed the subject by asking Jimmy
Skunk if he had found any nice fresh eggs lately, he touched a subject
very close to Jimmy's heart. I should have said, rather, his stomach. To
tell the truth, it was a longing for some eggs that had brought Jimmy to
the Green Forest. He knew that somewhere there Mrs. Grouse must be
hiding a nestful of the very nicest of eggs, and it was to hunt for
these that he had come.

"No," replied Jimmy, "I haven't had any luck at all this spring. I've
almost forgotten what an egg tastes like. Either I'm growing dull and
stupid, or some folks are smarter than they used to be. By the way, have
you seen Mrs. Grouse lately?" Jimmy looked very innocent as he asked
this.

Unc' Billy chuckled until his sides shook. "Do yo' suppose Ah'd tell yo'
if Ah had?" he demanded. "Ah reckons Mrs. Grouse hasn't got any mo'
aiggs than Ah could comfortably take care of mahself, not to mention
Mrs. Possum." Here Unc' Billy looked back over his shoulder to make sure
that old Mrs. Possum wasn't within hearing, and Jimmy Skunk chuckled.
"Seems to me, Brer Skunk, yo' might better do your aigg hunting on the
Green Meadows and leave the Green Forest to me," continued Unc' Billy.
"That would be no mo' than fair. Yo' know Ah never did hanker fo' to get
far away from trees, but yo' don't mind. Besides there are mo' aiggs for
yo' to find on the Green Meadows than there are fo' me to find in the
Green Forest. A right smart lot of birds make their nests on the ground
there. There is Brer Bob White and Brer Meadowlark and Brer Bobolink and
Brer Field Sparrow and Brer--"

"Never mind any more, Unc' Billy," interrupted Jimmy Skunk. "I know all
about them. That is, I know all about them I want to know, except where
their eggs are. Didn't I just tell you I haven't had any luck at all?
That's why I'm over here."

"Well, yo' won't have any mo' luck here unless yo' are a right smart lot
sharper than your Unc' Billy, and when it comes to hunting aiggs, Ah
don't take mah hat off to anybody, not even to yo', Brer Skunk," replied
Unc' Billy.

XV

A SECOND MEETING

Jimmy Skunk couldn't think of anything but eggs. The more he thought of
them, the more he wanted some. After parting from Unc' Billy Possum in
the Green Forest he went back to the Green Meadows and prowled about,
hunting for the nests of his feathered neighbors who build on the
ground, and ha