On the whole, Mr. Crow's party would have been a great success if it
hadn't been for Peter Mink and Tommy Fox.
As soon as Major Monkey showed himself, after throwing the apple at
Mr. Crow, those two began whispering slyly together. And when the
Major climbed a tree and hung from a limb by his tail they both jumped
up and said to Mr. Crow:
"We saw Major Monkey before you ever did!"
Mr. Crow promptly flew into a rage.
"You did not!" he squalled.
"Yes, we did!" they declared. "We told people several days ago that we
had seen a stranger hanging by his tail; and nobody believed us
because you said it wasn't possible. You said nobody but a 'possum
could do that, and that no 'possum ever came as far north as Pleasant
Valley."
Old Mr. Crow was very angry. Although he knew that Tommy and Peter
were speaking the truth, he did not care to hear it. Certainly there
was no use of _his_ denying what they said. But an idea popped into
his head.
"Which of you saw the Major first?" he asked.
"I did!" they both bawled at the same time. And then followed a
terrible dispute: _"You didn't! I did! I did! You didn't!"_
Now, that was exactly what Mr. Crow wanted. He had started Peter Mink
and Tommy Fox to quarreling. "They'll never agree," Mr. Crow cried.
"Let's ask Major Monkey to settle the dispute! Let's leave it to him!"
And turning to his friend, the Major, Mr. Crow said: "Which of these
two sharp-nosed rascals did you see first?"
Major Monkey took a bite out of his apple while he looked closely at
Peter Mink and Tommy Fox.
"I never saw either of them until I came to this party," he declared.
"And then I saw both at the same time, because they were whispering
together."
"There!" Mr. Crow shouted to the whole company. "You hear what my old
friend the Major says?"
Tommy Fox and Peter Mink stopped quarreling.
"You didn't ask the Major the proper question!" they objected. "We
never said _he_ saw _us_ at all! We said----"
But Mr. Crow waved them aside.
"If you aren't too hungry," he muttered to Major Monkey, "I'd suggest
that you let fly with that red apple."
The Major was only too willing. With deadly aim he flung the apple at
Peter Mink and Tommy Fox. First it hit Peter on the nose, and then it
bounced off and struck Tommy on _his_ nose.
And then the party came to an end in an awful uproar. For Peter and
Tommy were very angry. Those that could fly flew away in a great
hurry. And those that could run scampered quickly out of sight. As for
the soldier, Major Monkey, he climbed a tree and hung by his tail from
a limb, where he swung backwards and forwards and made faces at Tommy
Fox and Peter Mink until their rage was terrible to see.
Mr. Crow did not desert his friend the Major. He remained in a tree
near-by, to watch the fun. And there's no telling how long it would
have lasted had not Major Monkey pulled himself suddenly up on a limb
and laid a hand across the front of his red coat. There was a look of
pain upon his face.
"What's the matter?" Mr. Crow asked him. "Are you wounded?" he
inquired. Knowing that the Major was a soldier, he could think of
nothing but a wound that would make him act as he did.
"I--I'm not sure," Major Monkey replied. "It may be that I've eaten too
many apples."