"You've been long enough coming to help me!" Peter Mink growled. "Get this log off me—you people—and be quick about it!"
Brownie Beaver left his place in the parade and hurried forward, because he knew more about handling logs than anybody else there. But before he could get his coat off, Jimmy Rabbit called him one side and whispered to him. And then Jimmy whispered to everybody else. And the parade disbanded. Then everybody crowded around Peter Mink.
"What is it you want?" Jimmy Rabbit asked Peter.
"Want?" Peter Mink screamed. "Are you blind? Can't you see this great log on top of me? Can't you get it off? What are you waiting for?"
"Ah!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "We are[p. 73] waiting for just one thing. And we haven't heard it yet."
"Heard it?" Peter Mink snarled. "Aren't your ears big enough to hear everything?"
"We're going to teach you something," said Jimmy. "And until you've learned the lesson, we're going to leave you right where you are."
You should have heard Peter Mink then—or rather, you're lucky you didn't hear him. For the way he went on was something dreadful. But until Jimmy Rabbit heard what he was waiting for, he wouldn't let anyone roll the log off Peter.
Finally it grew so late that some of the paraders said they would have to be going home pretty soon. And then Billy Woodchuck remarked that he didn't believe Peter Mink had the least idea what they were waiting for.