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went back to his work.

Peter tips over pots

      Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea which way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting in that can.

      After a time he began to wander about, going lippity—lippity—not very fast, and looking all round.

Peter looks around for the exit

      He found a door in a wall; but it was locked, and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath.

      An old mouse was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter asked her the way to the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth that she could not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter began to cry.

Peter asks the mouse

      Then he tried to find his way straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled. Presently, he came to a pond where Mr. McGregor filled his water-cans. A white cat was staring at some gold-fish, she sat very, very still, but now and then the tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive. Peter thought it best to go away without speaking to her; he had heard about cats from his cousin, little Benjamin Bunny.

Peter encounters a cat

      He went back towards the tool-shed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe—scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the bushes. But presently, as nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a wheelbarrow and peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!

Peter finds a vantage point

      Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow; and started running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some black-currant bushes.

      Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden.

Peter dashes for the gate

      Mr. McGregor hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a scare-crow to frighten the blackbirds.

      Peter never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home to the big fir-tree.

Scare-crow of rabbit clothes

      He was so tired that he flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole and shut his eyes. His mother was busy cooking; she wondered what he had done with his clothes. It was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter had lost in a fortnight!

Peter is back home

      I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening.

      His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!

      'One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time.'

Petered out

      But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper.

Eating the berries they picked

       The End

       Table of Contents

       Part I

       01 My Early Home

       02 The Hunt

       03 My Breaking In

       04 Birtwick Park

       05 A Fair Start

       06 Liberty

       07 Ginger

       08 Ginger's Story Continued

       09 Merrylegs

       10 A Talk in the Orchard

       11 Plain Speaking

       12 A Stormy Day

       13 The Devil's Trade Mark

       14 James Howard

       15 The Old Hostler

       16 The Fire

       17 John Manly's Talk

       18 Going for the Doctor

       19 Only Ignorance

       20 Joe Green

       21 The Parting

       Part II

       22 Earlshall

       23 A Strike for Liberty

       24 The Lady Anne, or a Runaway Horse

       25 Reuben Smith

       26 How it Ended

       27

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