Evening star., 1942-01-12
Bedtime Stories
BY THORNTON W. BURGESS.

There were strange tracks deep In
the Green Forest. OF course, 1t was
Peter Rabbit Who found them first.
None but Petey or some one with
curiosity as great As his would ever
have been wandering about 80 deep
In the Green Forest at that time Of
the year. It he'd popped into Peters
head one day that he would like to
see how that part Of the Green
Forest way in deep at the very foot
Of the mountain looked when every
thing was covered with snow. So
OF he started, ipperty-lipper-ty-lip,
as fast as he could 60.
The farther in he got the fewer
little people he saw and the fewer
tracks to show that others had been
there. BY and by he saw no tracks
at all. It was very. very still in the
great white woods, 80 still that 1t
seemed to Peter that he could ac-
tually feel the stiffness. It gave him
q creepy, lonesome feeling. The
farther he went the more the creepy.
lonesome feeling grew. Two or three
times he almost decided to turn
back, but each time his curiosity
drove him on.
IF could silg. I would" thought
Peter, "for II I heard even my own
voice 1t wouldn't seem so Lonesome.
There's nothing to be afraid Of. OF
course not. I'll go . little ways far
ther and then I'll 60 back"
So Peter went on, but every two
or three hops he stopped to sit up
and look and Listen. It was so still
in the great white woods that he
could hear his own heart beat, and
that creepy feeling had grown until
II he had heard even q tiny noise he
would have Jumped almost out Of
his skin. He had Just decided that
no one ever cane way OF there 50
deep in the Green Forest in the
winter, and hsd about decided to
turn back, when he saw something
just ahead Of Rim. It looked as II
some one had crushed the snow of
the lower branches Of tho hemlock
trees In passing Peter hoped over
there. And then he saw the strange
tracks!
At first Pete, thought that they
had been made by Farmer Browns
boy, because Trey were 30 big. He
stared and staled at them. They
looked something like the tracks
Farmer Brown's boy left in the mud
around the Smiling Pool when he
went in swimming in tho summer,
but Peter knew that Farmer Browns
boy never wen. barefoot In winter.
OF course not. Peter scratched his,
long left ear With his long right
hindfoot and Looked puzzled. Then
he discovered something that made
his heart jump right up in his
throat. Whoever made those tracks
had claws! Peer almost turned .
somersault in his haste to get away.
He ran = lite way as fast as he
could and then stopped and sat up.
looking and lis:ening. No one was
to be seen. Not . sound was to
be heard. Pete slowly hoped back
for another lock at those strange
tracks. But wien he got near them
the sight OF them frightened him
again just as pefore, and away he
scurried. He dd this several times.
for no sooner would he get away
than his curiosity would tempt him
to go back. Finally. he ventured to
sniff at them but whoever had
made them hao done 1t so long be-
fore that there was no odor In the
tracks and Peter was no wiser than
before. But he felt no easier In his
mind. It was TO dreadfully still!
And those strsnge tracks were 80
dreadfully big!
This is no place for me-" decided
Peter, and stared back for the dear
Old Briar Patch as fast as his long
legs could take 1im. for he had great
news and it seemed to him that he
should burst II he didn't flnd some
one soon to tell about the strange
tracks he had found in the Green
Forest.