`` He can sing about as much as I can , and that is not at all . '' Jimmy grinned . `` I think he 's crazy , if you ask me , '' said he . `` And yet he was just as earnest about it as if it were really so . I think he must have eaten something that has gone to his head . There 's Unc ' Billy Possum over there . Let 's ask him what he thinks . '' So Jimmy and Peter joined Unc ' Billy , and Jimmy told the story about Old Mr. Toad all over again . Unc ' Billy chuckled and laughed just as they had at the idea of Old Mr. Toad 's saying he had a beautiful voice . But Unc ' Billy has a shrewd little head on his shoulders . After a few minutes he stopped laughing . `` Ah done learn a right smart long time ago that Ah don ' know all there is to know about mah neighbors , '' said he . `` We-uns done think of Brer Toad as ugly-lookin ' fo ' so long that we-uns may have overlooked something . Ah don ' reckon Brer Toad can sing , but Ah ` lows that perhaps he thinks he can . What do you-alls say to we-uns going down to the Smiling Pool and finding out what he really is up to ? '' `` The very thing ! '' cried Peter , kicking up his heels . You know Peter is always ready to go anywhere or do anything that will satisfy his curiosity . Jimmy Skunk thought it over for a few minutes , and then he decided that as he had n't anything in particular to do , and as he might find some fat beetles on the way , he would go too . So off they started after Old Mr. Toad , Peter Rabbit in the lead as usual , Unc ' Billy Possum next , grinning as only he can grin , and in the rear Jimmy Skunk , taking his time and keeping a sharp eye out for fat beetles .
III THE HUNT FOR OLD MR. TOAD Now , though Old Mr. Toad was hurrying as fast as ever he could and was quite out of breath , he was n't getting along very fast compared with the way Peter Rabbit or Jimmy Skunk or XXXXX ' Billy Possum could cover the ground .
Billy Brer Peter Possum Toad Unc minutes right ugly-lookin we-uns