a fawn Nimble became very fond of water lilies. But he didn't carry them as a bouquet, nor wear one in his buttonhole. He was fond of lilies in a different way: he liked to eat them, and their flat, round, glossy pads. At night his mother often led him to the edge of the lake on the other side of Blue Mountain and there they feasted.

It was wonderful to stand in the cool water, not too far from the shore, with the moonlight shimmering on the ruffled lake, and breathe in the sweet scent of the lilies while nibbling at their pads.

"There's nothing," said Nimble to his mother one night, "nothing so good to eat as water lilies."

His mother said, "Humph! Wait till you've tasted carrots!"

"Carrots!" Nimble echoed. "What are carrots and where can I find some? Do they grow in this lake?"

"Carrots," his mother explained, "are vegetables and they grow in Farmer Green's garden."

When he heard that, Nimble wanted to start for Farmer Green's place at once. But his mother said, "No!" And he soon saw that she meant it, too.

However, the word carrots was in his mouth a good deal of the time, for days and nights afterward. But Nimble wasn't satisfied with having only the word in his mouth. There was no taste to that at all. Nor could he chew it, nor swallow it. He was wild to bite into a carrot and see if it actually was more toothsome than a water lily. Again and again he said to his mother, "Can't we go down to Farmer Green's garden patch to-night? If we wait much longer somebody else will eat all the carrots before we get a taste of them." Or maybe he would exclaim, "Let's have some carrots for supper! Please!"

It was no wonder that Nimble's mother grew very tired of his teasing. At last she said to him, when he was urging her to take him down the hill and across the meadow to Farmer Green's vegetable garden, "There's no sense in our going down there now. The carrots aren't big enough yet. They aren't ready to eat. But later, if you show you're trustworthy, and if you mind well, and if you grow enough, and if you can start quickly and run fast, perhaps I'll see that you have your first meal of carrots. Now, don't bother me any more!"

Well, there were so many ifs in his mother's promise that Nimble almost gave up hope of ever getting to Farmer Green's garden patch. He didn't quite dare expect that his mother would take him there with her. But he made up his mind that if she didn't he would go on a carrot hunt alone as soon as he could.

At the same time he practiced minding his mother, which was not always a pleasant thing to do. And he practiced starting and running, both of which were a good deal of fun. As for growing, Nimble did not need to practice that at all; for he was getting heavier and taller every day, without doing anything more than to eat and to sleep and to have the best time possible.

Meanwhile he told everybody he met that if all went well he would be eating carrots some day. And when his friends learned that he planned to go on an excursion to Farmer Green's garden patch there wasn't one of them that didn't say he would like to go too.

Jimmy Rabbit said he really ought to have a look at the cabbages. And if Nimble didn't mind he thought it would be pleasant to join the party. Patty Coon remarked that there were certain matters connected with corn which he must attend to, and if there was no objection he would go along with the rest, when the time came for the excursion. Even Cuffy Bear, who almost never went near the farm buildings, declared that there was nothing he would enjoy more than to make the trip with Nimble and his mother. He had once tasted baked beans. And ever since that occasion he had meant to see if he couldn't find some around Farmer Green's house.

Of course it would have been awkward to say no. So Nimble said yes to everybody. He even promised that he would let all his friends know when the excursion should take place.

But of all these things he said not a word to his mother. He was not sure that they would please her. In fact he was sure that they wouldn't.

Contents

V

NIMBLE'S MISTAKE

One morning Nimble's mother said to him, "To-night, just as the moon rises, we'll start for Farmer Green's garden patch."

He knew what that meant. It meant that he was going to know, at last, what carrots tasted like. And he was delighted.

"You've improved fast," his mother told him. "You've grown a good deal. You start to run much more quickly than you did a month ago; and you're quite speedy now. I must say that you don't mind me any too well. Take care that to-night you do exactly as you're ordered!"

Nimble promised. "I'll be good," he said. "No matter how many carrots you want me to eat, I'll finish every one."

"No matter if you haven't had a chance to eat a single carrot, if I tell you to run you must obey instantly," his mother warned him. "Two seconds' delay might be fatal," she added solemnly. "If we hear a twig snap you mustn't stop to look nor listen."

"Yes!" said Nimble. But ten minutes later he couldn't have repeated a word that his mother said—except that they were going to start for the garden when the moon rose. That much he told Jimmy Rabbit when he met him in the woods a little while afterward. And Jimmy Rabbit agreed to get the news, somehow, to Fatty Coon and Cuffy Bear.

He was as good as his promise—even better. For Jimmy told everybody he met that day. He explained about the excursion to the garden patch and said that every one must be ready to start just as the moon peeped over the rim of the world, for Nimble Deer's mother wouldn't wait for anybody that wasn't on hand.

Nimble found that day a long one. He was so eager to get a carrot between his lips that he thought night would never come. But darkness fell at last. And some hours later his mother said to him, "Are you ready?"

He was. So together they passed silently along the old runway which led, as his mother knew, to the pasture fence. The woods were inky black, for the moon had not yet risen. But Nimble's mother remarked that she thought they would see it when they reached the open hillside.

Just before they came to the fence somebody spoke. Nimble's mother jumped when somebody cried, "Good evening!" But she knew at once that it was only Jimmy Rabbit.

"I see you're on time," he said. "I haven't been waiting long."

"Waiting?" Nimble's mother exclaimed. "Waiting for what?"

"For you!" he answered. "I heard you were going down to the garden patch to-night; and I'm to be one of the party."

The good lady thought it queer. How did Jimmy Rabbit happen to have heard of the excursion? She couldn't imagine. But he was a harmless little fellow. Really she didn't mind having him go with her.

"Very well!" she told him. "But remember: You must be quiet!" And she was just about to walk up to the fence when she gave a searching look all around. "Bless me!" she muttered. "I never saw so many eyes in all my life. Who are all these people?"

It was no wonder she asked that question. For no matter where she turned, pairs of eyes burned in the darkness.