Though he went like the wind, he never fell off once. And soon he was down in Pleasant Valley, skimming over the crust which covered the drifts in Farmer Green's meadow.
At last the sled stopped. And then Jimmy Rabbit decided that Peter Mink had forgotten something. How was he to get off the sled with his trousers nailed[p. 56] fast to it? And what would his mother say, when she saw the nail-holes in his trousers? And what would his father do, when he saw the nails in Jimmy's new sled?
It was not very pleasant for Jimmy Rabbit, sitting all alone in the meadow, with such thoughts running through his head.
After he had sat there a while Jimmy heard something that worried him even more. He heard old dog Spot barking. And he saw that he would be in a good deal of a fix if Spot should happen to come along and find him. For he couldn't stir from his sled.
Jimmy began to hate that sled. He wished he had never seen it.... And then he heard somebody scampering over the crust. He was almost too frightened to look around to see who it was. But he[p. 57] turned his head. And he was glad to find that it was Peter Mink, who had run all the way down from Blue Mountain.
"You had a fine ride, didn't you?" said Peter Mink.
"Yes," Jimmy answered. "But I liked the beginning of it better than the end."
"Why, what's the matter?" Peter inquired.
"I can't get off the sled," Jimmy said.
Peter Mink pretended to be surprised. And he said that he hadn't thought of that.