down very flat and whispered in Johnny Chuck's ear in great excitement. "Old Whitetail is down here and he's headed this way. We'd better be

moving," he said. Johnny Chuck felt a chill of fear. "Who is Old Whitetail?" he asked, as

he prepared to follow Peter Rabbit. "Don't you know?" asked Peter in surprise. "Say, you are green! Why,

he's Mr. Marsh Hawk, and if he once gets the chance he'll gobble you up, skin, bones and all. There's an old stone wall just a little way from

here, and the sooner we get there the better!" Peter Rabbit led the way, and if he had run fast before it was nothing

to the way he ran now. A great fear made Johnny Chuck forget that he was tired, and he ran as he had never run before in all his short life. Just

as he dived head-first into a hole between two big stones, a shadow swept over the grass and something sharp tore a gap in the seat of his

pants and made him squeal with fright and pain. But he wriggled in beside Peter Rabbit and was safe, while Mr. Marsh Hawk flew off with a

scream of rage and disappointment. Johnny Chuck had never been so frightened in all his short life. He made

himself as small as possible and crept as far as he could underneath a friendly stone in the old wall. His pants were torn and his leg smarted

dreadfully where one of Mr. Marsh Hawk's cruel, sharp claws had scratched him. How he did wish that he had minded old Mrs. Chuck and

stayed in his own yard, as she had told him to. Peter Rabbit looked at the tear in Johnny Chuck's pants. "Pooh!" said

Peter Rabbit, "don't mind a little thing like that." "But I'm afraid to go home with my pants torn," said Johnny Chuck.