r Uncle Jerry mention
something about 'to-morrow at the same hour'?" he asked.

"Y-y-e-s-s!" Billy Woodchuck was so angry that his teeth were
chattering and clattering; and he found it very hard to talk.

"Well, then--you just lie low until to-morrow. Meet him here. Let
him fall asleep. And then we'll teach him a good lesson."

Billy liked that idea. He liked it so well that he could hardly
wait for to-morrow to come.

XIII

A JOKE ON UNCLE JERRY

Well, the third day Uncle Jerry Chuck once more climbed to the top
of the big rock to take his nap in the sun. And this time Billy
Woodchuck was there ahead of him.

"Good!" said Uncle Jerry. "I see you're trying to do better. You're
not late to-day.... Now, keep a sharp ear out while I'm asleep. And
don't forget to give a loud whistle the moment you hear the least
noise that--sounds--like----" He was asleep even before he finished
what he had started to say. And after taking a good look at him,
Billy Woodchuck tiptoed away to a spot where he saw two long ears
sticking out from behind a clump of milkweed.

[Illustration: He Painted Two White Stripes on Uncle Jerry's
Back]

"Is he asleep?" Jimmy Rabbit whispered.

"Yes!" said Billy.

"Then help me carry these pots of paint up where that old fraud
is," said Jimmy Rabbit.

Billy Woodchuck obeyed. There was a pot of black paint and a pot of
white. And besides all that, Jimmy had a whole armful of Indian
paint brush, which grew thick in Farmer Green's pasture. He gave
Billy Woodchuck a brush.

"Now," he whispered, "we'll paint this old fellow black."

Between them they soon covered Uncle Jerry Chuck with a thick coat
of the black paint. And then Jimmy Rabbit stood off and squinted at
the sleeper.

"So far, so good!" he said. "And now for the last touch of all!
This has to be put on with care, so I shall do it myself."

And Billy Woodchuck watched him while he painted two broad, white
stripes the length of Uncle Jerry's back. They began on the top of
his head, so close together that they made just one line, and ended
far apart, on either side of his tail.

"There!" Jimmy Rabbit whispered, when he had finished. "Does he
look like anyone you know?"

"He looks exactly like Henry Skunk's father," said Billy Woodchuck.
And he backed away. He was afraid of the Skunk family. "What are we
going to do now?" Billy asked.

"First of all, we'll hide these pots of paint," said Jimmy. And as
soon as they had do