When Mr. Rabbit reached home, after Peter Mink's lecture, and told his
wife about the money that had been collected for the poor boy whom Peter
Mink knew, she asked:
"Who has the money?"
"Oh, it's safe," said Mr. Rabbit. "It's hidden in an old stump. And the
hole in the stump is so small that even Peter himself can't crawl
through it."
"How do you know he can't?"
"He tried," said Mr. Rabbit.
"How do you know he tried as hard as he could?" Mrs. Rabbit asked.
That was what made Mr. Rabbit worry. So instead of going to bed, he
hurried back to the place where Peter had given his famous lecture; and
there he hid himself under a small pine.
Mr. Rabbit hadn't waited long before he saw some one come out of the
elderberry bushes and hurry up to the stump.
It was Peter Mink! He had a bag in his hand. And while Mr. Rabbit was
watching, he squeezed through the hole in the stump. Even for Peter Mink
the hole was almost too small. But he managed to squirm through, though
it cost him a few groans; and he said some words that made Mr. Rabbit
shake his head.
Well, as soon as Peter was inside the hole he began to push the money
through it. And then what do you suppose Mr. Rabbit did? He crept up to
the stump, picked up the bag, which Peter had left on the ground, and
as fast as the money rolled out of the hole, Mr. Rabbit put it inside
the bag.
The bag was almost full when the money stopped rolling out of the hole.
And Mr. Rabbit heard Peter Mink say to himself:
"That seems to be all!"
And as soon as he heard that, Mr. Rabbit hurried away, with the bag of
money over his shoulder.
Peter Mink waited a bit, to see if he could find more money. But he had
thrown it all out. So he squeezed through the hole again. Then he turned
to pick up the bag. But it had vanished.
"That's queer!" said Peter Mink. "I thought I left that bag right here."
He looked all around, but he couldn't find it anywhere. So he took off
his ragged coat and laid it on the ground. "I'll put the money in this!"
Peter said.
But when he looked for the money he couldn't find a single piece.
"That's queer!" said Peter. "It must have rolled away from the stump."
And he began to search all about. But the money, too, had vanished
completely. And Peter Mink couldn't understand it.
The following night, when everybody came back again, expecting that
Peter Mink would bring the poor boy with him to get the money, Peter
never appeared at all.
Finally Mr. Rabbit jumped on top of the stump and told his friends what
had happened the night before.
"And now," he said, "everybody can come right up here and get his money
back, for there's no doubt at all that Peter Mink was collecting it for
himself. _He_ was the poor boy he told us about."
Everybody was surprised. But everybody was glad to get his money again.
In fact, there was only one person who grumbled; and that was Uncle
Jerry Chuck. He hurried up to the stump ahead of all the rest, to get
some money. And he seemed more surprised than ever when Mr. Rabbit said
there was no money there for _him_.
"I was at the lecture last night," Uncle Jerry said.
"But you left before the money was collected," Mr. Rabbit replied.
Uncle Jerry admitted that that was so. But he claimed that he had made
_less trouble_ for everybody, because no one had been obliged to handle
the money that he hadn't given.
But Mr. Rabbit told him he ought to be ashamed of himself. And every one
will say that Peter Mink ought to have been ashamed of himself, too.