lettuce.

"More! more! more!" Fatty ordered.

And soon Jimmy Rabbit saw with dismay that the vegetables were nearly all gone. In a few moments he reached the very last one—a big turnip which he could hardly lift.

p. 39

But he managed to pick it up and raise it above his head. And then with all his might he threw the turnip straight at Fatty Coon.

Fatty was just opening his mouth to say "More!" But he never said it. The big turnip struck him right on his fat stomach and knocked his breath out. He gave a faint groan and toppled over on the ground. And he was so fat that he started to roll.

Though he clawed at the grass to stop himself, he rolled faster and faster down the hill.

He was a very comical sight. And at any other time Jimmy Rabbit would have stopped to laugh. But Jimmy was so glad to be rid of Fatty Coon that he picked up the handles of his little wheelbarrow and ran home as fast as he could jump

p. 40

On Blue Mountain, and in Pleasant Valley as well, there lived many fast runners. And among the swiftest was Jimmy Rabbit. But he never ran very far. Whenever he was startled he would go bounding off like the wind; but pretty soon he would stop and listen to see if anyone was following him. And if it happened to be dog Spot, he always hurried to a hollow stump, or perhaps a woodchuck's hole—or a skunk's—and hid there until Spot went away.

Of course, there was some risk in going into somebody else's house. For if thep. 41 owner happened to be at home there was likely to be a quarrel. Naturally, nobody likes to have some outsider burst into his house without even stopping to knock.

Now, everyone said that Jimmy Rabbit could run fast—that is, all but Tommy Fox. He never would admit that Jimmy Rabbit was much of a runner. I should hate to say that Tommy Fox was jealous. But it certainly did annoy him to hear so much said about Jimmy's wonderful speed.

Perhaps he never would have suggested the race, if Jimmy Rabbit hadn't boasted so much about his running. You see, in time Jimmy's head became turned. And he was often heard to say that there was no one in that part of the country who could beat him.

"Of course, there may be some one, somewhere, who can outrun me," Jimmyp. 42 Rabbit said. "But I have yet to meet him."

That was a little more than Tommy Fox could bear. And he went off, looking very sour. He trotted over to the creek, did Tommy Fox. And there he might have been seen talking to Mr. Turtle. He talked with him for a long time. And when at last he went away Tommy's face wore a very different look. He was actually smiling.

The very next day Jimmy Rabbit met Tommy Fox in the woods.

"You'd better go home!" Tommy told him. "You have a caller waiting to see you. I just happened to pass your house, and the caller asked me if I had seen you."

"Who is it?" Jimmy asked him.

But Tommy Fox would not tell him.

"It's really none of my business," he said.

p. 43

Jimmy Rabbit hurried off. He wondered who wanted to see him, and why.

He was surprised—and disappointed, too—to find that it was nobody but Mr. Turtle. And he was still more surprised when he learned his errand.

"I have come to challenge you to a race," Mr. Turtle told him.

Jimmy Rabbit laughed right in his face.

"A race!" he exclaimed. "Why—you can't run. I guess you've come to the wrong house. I guess you've made a mistake."

But Mr. Turtle said that he knew what he was about.

"I want to race you all the way from the creek to Broad Brook, where it runs into Swift River," he said.

Jimmy Rabbit had hard work to keep a straight face.

"My dear sir!" he said. "I could runp. 44 that distance a hundred times while you were waddling it once. I don't care to race with you. It would be no fun at all for me."

When Mr. Turtle heard that, his beady little eyes snapped.

"Don't be so sure!" he said. "I believe I can beat you. And I will bet you——"

Jimmy Rabbit did not wait for him to finish.

"Bet!" he cried. "I never bet! I'm not allowed to. My mother doesn't approve of betting. And if she heard you mention such a thing to me she would be very angry."

"I didn't mean to say that," Mr. Turtle told him hastily. "It was just a slip of the tongue. What I meant to say was this: If you win the race, I'll give you a fine new sled; and if I win, you can give me your wheelbarrow."

p. 45

Jimmy Rabbit began to be interested. He had always wanted a sled. And by another month or two there ought to be good coasting. It certainly wasn't betting, he thought. And as for losing the race—and his wheelbarrow—he knew that such a thing could never happen.

"I'll race you!" he cried. "When shall it be?"

"How would to-morrow do?" said Mr. Turtle. "It's a long way from the creek to Broad Brook—a good day's journey, I call it. It's too late to start to-day."

Jimmy Rabbit grinned. He knew that he could run that far fifty times a day.

"I'll be at the creek early in the morning," he promised.

p. 46

On the morning of his great race with Mr. Turtle, Jimmy Rabbit was at the creek bright and early. He brought his two brothers with him, to see the fun. And he found that there were others, too, who had heard of the sport and had come to enjoy it. Frisky Squirrel was there, and Billy Woodchuck, and Fatty Coon. Then there was old Mr. Crow, who was always on hand whenever a crowd gathered. And perhaps the pleasantest and most interested of all was Tommy Fox.

"I hope you'll let me have a ride on your new sled when the first snow comes,"p. 47 he said to Jimmy Rabbit. "For, of course, you'll win the race. And Mr. Turtle will have to give you the sled, as he promised."

"I'll see," said Jimmy. And that was all the answer he would give.

But Tommy Fox seemed satisfied.

"I'm going to run along beside you," he told Jimmy, "to keep you company. And I'll wait at Broad Brook with you, to see the fun when Mr. Turtle gets there. For everyone knows that you're going to win the race."

"I fully expect to," said Jimmy.

Then Tommy drew a line in the sand.

"Here's where you start!" he said.

And Mr. Turtle and Jimmy Rabbit toed the mark.

"One, two, three—go!" cried Tommy Fox. And with that they were off. In no time at all Jimmy Rabbit had run so far that Mr. Turtle lost sight of him.

p. 48

"Just as I expected!" Tommy Fox said to Jimmy Rabbit. They were in the woods now, and not far from Broad Brook. "There's no need of hurrying," Tommy remarked. "You can reach the brook quickly enough. It will be late in the afternoon before Mr. Turtle gets this far. I see you're a little out of breath. Why don't you lie down and rest? I'd take a nap, if I were