Then his face cleared.
"Perhaps," said he hopefully, "he is a new comer here, too, and if he
is, I'll have just as much right here as he has. Perhaps he simply has
big feet and isn't any bigger or stronger than I am, and if that's the
case I'd like to see him drive me out!"
Peter swelled himself out and tried to look as big as he could when he
said this, but swelling himself out this way reminded him of how stiff
and sore he was from the wounds given him by Hooty the Owl, and he made
a wry face. You see he realized all of a sudden that he didn't feel much
like fighting.
"My," said Peter, "I guess I'd better find out all about this other
fellow before I have any trouble with him. The Old Pasture looks big
enough for a lot of Rabbits, and perhaps if I don't bother him, he won't
bother me. I wonder what he looks like. I believe I'll follow these
tracks and see what I can find."
So Peter began to follow the tracks of the strange Rabbit, and he was so
interested that he almost forgot to limp. They led him this way and they
led him that way through the swamp and then out of it. At the foot of a
certain birch-tree Peter stopped.
"Ha!" said he, "now I shall know just how big this fellow is."
How was he to know? Why, that tree was a kind of Rabbit measuring-
stick. Yes, Sir, that is just what it was. You see, Rabbits like to keep
a record of how they grow, just as some little boys and girls do, but as
they have no doors or walls to stand against, they use trees.
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