"So here you are!" he exclaimed. "I've hunted all through the Green Forest for you until I'm quite tuckered out. I've got news for you."
"What is it?" begged Chatterer, dancing about with impatience.
"I've seen Shadow the Weasel," replied Sammy.
"Where is he?" asked Chatterer, and his voice sounded very anxious.
"He's over in the Green Forest, and he says he is going to stay there until he catches you, if he has to stay all winter," replied Sammy. "He says he is going to find you if he has to hunt through every tree in the Green Forest."
Chatterer actually turned pale for a minute. "You—you didn't tell him that I wasn't in the Green Forest, did you?" he asked.
"Of course I didn't! How could I when I didn't know it myself?" retorted Sammy scornfully.
"And—and you won't tell him when you see him again, will you, Sammy?" begged Chatterer.
"What do you take me for?" demanded Sammy angrily. "I haven't got any love for you, Chatterer, and you know it. You're a red-headed, red-coated nuisance, and I'm not a bit sorry to see you in trouble, but I wouldn't turn my worst enemy over to such a cruel, cold-blooded robber as Shadow the Weasel. He would kill me just as quickly as he would you, if he could catch me, which he can't, and I am going to make it my business to see to it that all the little people who are afraid of him know that he is about. I am going over to the Old Briar-patch right away to warn Peter Rabbit."
"You don't need to, because I am right here," spoke up Peter from his hiding place. "I am ever so much obliged to you for planning to warn me, and I'm sorry I've ever said mean things about you, Sammy Jay."