Evening star., 1934-03-17

| - He had Snpped paoIy. he nao
left the dear Old Briar- patch,
i where he was safe, and now
he didn't know where he
would be safe until he could get back
there. And it was all because he was
uneasy and discontented. Discon-
tent gets a lot of people into trouble.
Now, with all his might Peter wished
that he was back in the dear Old
Briar-patch, and his wishing was as
useless as most wishing was. He
! wasn't back there and he didn't know
how he was going to get back there.
Peter was in the old stone wall
along the edge of the Old Orchard.
He had just heard the hunting call Of
Hooty the Owl from the edge Of the
Green Forest, so he knew 1t wasn't
safe to 60 over there. He didn't dare
60 back the way he had come, for he
had seen Shadow the Weasel over by
Farmer Browns barn. He didn't dare
stay in the old wall, for Shadow was
likely to return that way. SO Peter
was in a dilemma. He didn't know
where to go to be safe.
At last he heard Hooty call again
It sounded a little farther away.
Peter yentured to come out of his
hiding place. He didn't dare stay
around that old stone wall any lon
ger. If Shadow should discover his
presence, there would be no escape.
Peter shivered at the thought. He
didn't dare go to the Green Forest
for fear of Hooty the Owl. He didn't
dare circle around on the Green
Meadows for fear of Reddy the Fox.
If he could Just get back past that
barn where he had seen Shadow kill
a big Rat, he might take a chance OF
crossing the Green Meadows from the
point nearest the Old Briar-patch.
He hoped out into the Old Or
chard and scampered. hpperty-lp-
perty-ip, across to the far side. All
the way he half expected to feel the
great claws of Hooty the Owl grip
him from above. But he didn't. He
reached the fence on the far side
and slipped under 1t. Then, sitting
close to post, he considered what to
do next.
In front of him was q road. 1t
ran past Farmer Browns. II he fol-
lowed that road he might cut back
across to the Green Meadows after he
was past Farmer Browns. Then
there would be no danger of meeting
Shadow the Weasel. But the road
was open. II Hooty the Owl should
come flying that way he, Peter, would
be in plain sight. But there seemed
to be nothing else to do.
"Ill have to try it" thought Peter.
He hastily looked this way and that
way. Then he hoped out into the
road and started along it, his heart
in his mouth, as the saying Is. He
hoped fast, but at every little sound
stopped to look and listen. At last
he was past Farmer Browns house.
It was Just then that far ahead Of
him he saw two cleaning eyes. He
stopped and sat up to stare at them
and new terror took possession Of
him. Never had he seen such eyes.
He had seen many eyes in the dark.
But never such eyes as these. They
were many times bigger than any he
eyer had seen, and with every passing
second they grew bigger.
He wanted to run, but he couldn't.
Those great, glaring eyes fascinated
him so that all he could do was to
stare at them. Bigger and bigger and
bigger they grew until the glare from
them blinded him so that he couldn't
see. Here was a monster such as he
never even had heard of rushing
straight at him at speed that made
it appear useless to even try to run
from it.
"Oh!" gasped Peter and squatted
fiat. chiefly because. in his fright, all
strength seemed to leave him and he
could no longer sit up. There was q
roar 6 the monster seemed about 70