Promptly at 4 o'clock that afternoon all the little meadow folks were gathered around the foot of the Great Pine. Brokenhearted little Mrs. Ruffed Grouse sat beside her empty nest, with all the broken shells about her. Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit, Johnny Chuck, Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Jerry Muskrat, Hooty the Owl, Bobby Coon, Sammy Jay, Blacky the Crow, Grandfather Frog, Mr. Toad, Spotty the Turtle, the Merry Little Breezes, all were there. Last of all came Jimmy Skunk. Very handsome he looked in his shining black coat, and very sorry he appeared that such a dreadful thing should have happened. He told Mrs. Grouse how badly he felt, and he loudly demanded that the culprit should be run down without delay and severely punished. Old Dame Nature has the most smiling face in the world, but this time it was very, very grave indeed. First she asked little Mrs. Grouse to tell her story all over again that all might hear. Then each in turn was asked to tell where he had been the night before. Johnny Chuck, Happy Jack Squirrel, Striped Chipmunk, Sammy Jay, and Blacky the Crow had gone to bed when Mr. Sun went down behind the Purple Hills. Jerry Muskrat, Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, and Spotty the Turtle had been down in Farmer Brown's corn-field. Hooty the Owl had been hunting in the lower end of the Green Meadows. Peter Rabbit had been down in the Berry Patch. Mr. Toad had been under the big piece of bark which he called a house. Old Dame Nature called on Jimmy Skunk last of all. Jimmy protested that he had been very, very tired and had gone to bed very early indeed, and had slept the whole night through. Then Old Dame Nature asked Peter Rabbit what he had found among the shells that morning. Peter Rabbit hopped out and laid three long black hairs before Old Dame Nature. "These," said Peter Rabbit, "are what I found among the egg shells." Then Old Dame Nature called Johnny Chuck. "Tell us, Johnny Chuck," said she, "what you saw when you called at Jimmy Skunk's house this morning." "I saw Jimmy Skunk," said Johnny Chuck, "and Jimmy seemed very, very sleepy. It seemed to me that his whiskers were yellow." "That will do," said Old Dame Nature, and she called Old Mother West Wind. "What time did you come down on the Green Meadows this morning?" asked Old Dame Nature. "Just at the break of day," said Old Mother West Wind, "as Mr. Sun was coming up from behind the Purple Hills." "And whom did you see so early in the morning?" asked old Dame Nature. "I saw Bobby Coon going home from old Farmer Brown's corn-field," said Old Mother West Wind. "I saw Hooty the Owl coming back from the lower end of the Green Meadows. I saw Peter Rabbit down in the berry patch. Last of all, I saw something like a black shadow coming down the Lone Little Path toward the house of Jimmy Skunk." Everyone was looking very hard at Jimmy Skunk. Jimmy began to look very unhappy and very uneasy. "Who wears a black coat?" asked Dame Nature.