When Peter reached Farmer Brown's garden, he had no trouble in finding
the new planting of cabbage. It was tender. It was good. My, how good it
was! Peter started in to fill his little round stomach. He ate and ate
and ate and ate! By and by, just when he thought he couldn't eat another
mouthful, he happened to look over to a patch of moonlight. For just
a second Peter's heart stopped beating. There was Reddy Fox coming
straight over to the new cabbage bed!
Peter Rabbit didn't know what to do. Reddy Fox hadn't seen him yet, but
he would in a minute or two, unless Peter could hide. He was too far
from the dear Old Briar-patch to run there. Peter looked this way and
looked that way. Ha! ha! There lay Fanner Brown's boy's old straw hat,
just where he had left it when the supper horn blew. Peter crawled under
it. It covered him completely.
Peter peeped out from under one edge. He saw Reddy Fox standing in the
moonlight, looking at the bed of newly set cabbage. Reddy was smiling as
if his thoughts were very pleasant. Peter shivered. He could just guess
what Reddy was thinking--how he would gobble up Peter, when once he got
him away from the safety of the Old Briar-patch.
The thought made Peter so indignant that he forgot that he was hiding,
and he sat up on his hind legs. Of course, he lifted the straw hat with
him. Then he remembered and sat down again in a hurry. Of course, the
straw hat went down quite as quickly.
Presently Peter peeped out. Reddy Fox was staring and staring at the old
straw hat, and he wasn't smiling now. He actually looked frightened. It
gave Peter an idea. He made three long hops straight towards Reddy Fox,
all the time keeping the old straw hat over him. Of course the hat went
along with him, and, because it covered Peter all up, it looked for all
the world as if the hat was alive.
Reddy Fox gave one more long look at the strange thing coming towards
him through the cabbage bed, and then he started for home as fast as he
could go, his tail between his legs.
Peter Rabbit just lay down right where he was and laughed and laughed
and laughed. And it almost seemed as if the old straw hat laughed too.