He just gave a frightened little squeal , turned around , and started down the Crooked Little Path twice as fast as he had come up . Mr. Blacksnake grinned and started after him , not very fast because he knew that he would n't have to run very fast to catch Old Mr. Toad , and he thought the exercise would do him good . And this is how it happened that summer morning that jolly , bright Mr. Sun , looking down from the blue , blue sky and smiling to see how happy everybody seemed , suddenly discovered that there was one of the little meadow people who was n't happy , but instead was terribly , terribly unhappy . It was Old Mr. Toad hopping down the Crooked Little Path for his life , while after him , and getting nearer and nearer , glided Mr. Blacksnake . XVIII JIMMY SKUNK IS JUST IN TIME Jimmy Skunk ambled slowly along , chuckling as he thought of what a hurry Mr. Toad had been in , when he had heard that Mr. Blacksnake had asked after him . It had been funny , very funny indeed , to see Mr. Toad try to hurry . Suddenly Jimmy stopped chuckling . Then he stopped ambling along the Crooked Little Path . He turned around and looked back , and as he did so he scratched his head thoughtfully . He had just happened to think that Old Mr. Toad had gone up the Crooked Little Path , and it was up the Crooked Little Path that Mr. Blacksnake had shown himself that morning . `` If he 's still up there , '' thought Jimmy , `` Old Mr. Toad is hopping right straight into the very worst kind of trouble . How stupid of him not to have asked me where Mr. Blacksnake was ! Well , it 's none of my business . I guess I 'll go on . '' But he had gone on down the Crooked Little Path only a few steps when he stopped again . You see , Jimmy is really a very kind-hearted little fellow , and somehow he did n't like to think of what might happen to Old Mr. Toad . `` I hate to go way back there , '' he grumbled , for you know he is naturally rather lazy . `` Still , the Green Meadows would n't be quite the same without Old Mr. Toad . I should miss him if anything happened to him . I suppose it would be partly my fault , too , for if I had n't pulled over that piece of bark , he probably would have stayed there the rest of the day and been safe . ''
`` Maybe he wo n't meet Mr. XXXXX , '' said a little voice inside of Jimmy .
Blacksnake Jimmy Meadows SKUNK Sun Toad head morning right summer