nice time with William and Jack, and at
four o'clock he started to go home; for he was a boy of his word.

"As he went along, suddenly, on the path before him, he saw a most
beautiful gray squirrel, with a long bushy tail.

"'Oh, you beauty!' cried Peter. 'I must catch you and carry you home
to grandmother.'

"Now, this was humbug in Peter, because grandmother did not care a bit
about gray squirrels. But Peter did.

"So Peter ran to catch the squirrel, and the squirrel ran, too. He did
not go very fast, but kept just out of reach. More than once, Peter
thought he had laid hold of him, but the cunning squirrel always
slipped through his fingers.

"At last the squirrel darted up into a thick tree, where Peter could
not see him any more. Then Peter began to think of going home. To his
surprise it was almost dark. He had been running so hard that he had
not noticed this before, nor which way he had come, and when he looked
about him, he saw that he had lost his way.

"This was bad enough, but worse happened; for, pretty soon, as he
plodded on, trying to guess which way he ought to go, he heard a long,
low howl far away in the wood,--the howl of a wolf. Peter had heard
wolves howl before, and he knew perfectly well what the sound was. He
began to run, and he ran and ran, but the howl grew louder, and was
joined by more howls, and they sounded nearer every minute, and Peter
knew that a whole pack of wolves was after him. Wolves can run much
faster than little boys, you know. They had almost caught Peter, when
he saw--"

Mr. Joyce paused to enjoy Eyebright's eyes, which had grown as round
as saucers in her excitement.

"Oh, go on!" she cried, breathlessly.

"--when he saw a big hollow tree with a hole in one side. There was
not a moment to spare; the hole was just big enough for him to get
into; and in one second he had scrambled through and was inside the
tree. There were some large pieces of bark lying inside, and he picked
one up and nailed it over the hole with a hammer which he happened to
have in his pocket. So there he was, in a safe little house of his
own, and the wolves could not get at him at all."

"That was splendid," sighed Eyebright, relieved.

"All night the wolves stayed by the tree, and scratched and howled and
tried to get in," continued Mr. Joyce. "By and by the moon rose, and
Peter could see them putting their noses through the knotholes in the
bark, and smelling at him. But the knotholes we