When Mrs. Rabbit heard that she was terribly upset.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" she cried. "Whatever shall I do?"

"The usual thing," Jasper Jay told her, "is to offer a reward."

"Is that so?" said Mrs. Rabbit. "I've never done anything like that. Will you help me?"

"Why, certainly!" said Jasper. And he set to work and painted a big sign, which looked like this:

LOST, STRAYED, OR STOLEN!
A boy in a checkered suit, with a short
tail and long ears. He answers to
the name of Jimmy Rabbit. A reward
will be paid for his return, and no
questions asked.
Mrs. Rabbit,
Near the Big Pine Tree.

[p. 82]

"There!" said Jasper Jay, proudly. "That ought to fetch him, if anything will." And he and Mrs. Rabbit took the sign down to the road and hung it on a fence-post.

"Why do you say 'No questions asked'?" she inquired.

"That's the way it's always done," said Jasper.