The Weekly Gazette

BOWSER WONDERS WHAT AILS PETER
Bow wow, wow! Here is where I get you. Thump, thump. thump! I will never let you IF UNC' BILLY POSSUM thought Peter Rabbit crazy when he ran out from the safety of the bramble-tangle in the Green Forest right under the very nose of Bowser the Hound, you may be sure that Bowser thought the same thing. He had tried his very best to frighten Peter, and Peter had merely sat there and laughed at him. Then Peter suddenly hopped out right in front of him and Bowser was so surprised that for a minute he quite lost his voice and simply stared in the most stupid way. Peter hopped along a few steps and then thumped the ground, which was his way of saying "Catch me if you can!"

"Of course I'll catch you!" roared Bowser. He didn't really believe he would. for he had chased Peter often enough to know that Peter was full of smart tricks. but he wanted to scare Peter. and then perhaps he liked to boast a little, too. Pretty soon he began to think that he really might catch Peter this time, You see usually Peter kept so far ahead of him that he only got a glimpse of him now and then and followed him by keeping his wonderful nose in Peter's tracks. but this time Peter kept only a little way ahead and in plain sight all the time, so that Bowser could follow him without depending on his nose at all, Sometimes Pete would let him get so close that it seemed as if he would surely catch him in the next jump but somehow he never did. Bowser was puzzled. There was no doubt about that. Peter wasn't doing any of the things he usually did. He didn't run in a single circle. He didn't once try to mix his trail. He didn't take a single long side jump to break his trail and make Bowser waste time in hunting for it. In fact he didn't play the game at all the way he usually did. You see Bowser had become so used to hunting Peter and never catching him that he had come to look at it as a game, and he knew that Peter looked at it the same way. Right down in his heart Bowser didn't want to catch Peter so much as he tried to make himself think he did. You see If he should catch Peter why that would put an end to these games But this time it began to look as If he really might catch him. Peter was running as if he were lame. "Something is the matter with him," thought Bowser. "As sure as I can wag my tail something ails Peter Rabbit. He isn't running right. What under the sun made him come out of that bramble-tangle when he knew that he was perfectly safe there? And why didn't he run into that hollow log we just passed? I couldn't have got him there and he knows It. He must have lost his senses. He must be crazy. Well, if he doesn't know enough to take care of himself it is no fault of mine. It is every one for himself in the Green Forest and Peter can't expect me to let him go after the way he has teased me and fooled me and made fun of me in the past." So Bowser ran harder than ever and the Green Forest rang with his great voice, so that everybody within hearing knew that there was an exciting chase going on. Sammy Jay and Blacky the Crow hurried over to watch it. and when they saw how close to Peter Bowser was. and that Peter wasn't trying a single trick. but seemed to be having the hardest work to keep out of Bowser's reach, they, too. were sure that something was the matter with Peter.

"He's trying to reach the Old Brier Patch, and he'll never get there in the world" cried Sammy Jay. "He's all out of breath now. and he hasn't reached the edge of the Green Forest yet. I never expected to see the day when Bowser the Hound would catch Peter Rabbit. but he's going to do it this time or my name isn't Sammy Jay."

(© by J. G. Lloyd.)-WNU Service.