Of course Jasper Jay knew where Dickie Deer Mouse lived. And he took
great pleasure in pointing out the exact spot to his curious cousin, old
Mr. Crow.
It was broad daylight when they visited the tree where Dickie's house
hung. The two rogues did not know that he was drowsing inside his snug
home, because he had been out late the night before.
No one that knew the two cousins would need to be told that they could
never talk together quietly. Perched close to Dickie's house, Mr. Crow
croaked in a hoarse voice, while Jasper Jay squalled harshly.
"This is it!" Jasper had announced, as soon as they arrived. "This is
his house. And isn't it a sight?"
"I should say so!" old Mr. Crow agreed. "It's got a roof on it--ha! ha!"
And the two visitors laughed loudly, as if they thought there was a huge
joke somewhere.
They made such a noise, from the very first, that Dickie Deer Mouse
awoke and heard almost everything they said. But he didn't mind their
remarks in the least--until he caught Fatty Coon's name.
It was old Mr. Crow who mentioned it first.
"I'll have to tell Fatty Coon about this queer house," he chuckled.
"It's too good a joke to keep. He'll be over here as soon as he knows
where to come, for he'll be glad to see it; and he wants to talk to
Dickie Deer Mouse about taking our corn."
Dickie had still felt somewhat sleepy during the first part of this talk
outside his house. But when Mr. Crow began to speak about Fatty Coon,
Dickie became instantly wide awake. He sprang quickly to his feet; and
thrusting his head through his doorway, he called in his loudest tone:
"When do you think Fatty Coon will call on me?"
The two cousins looked at each other. And then they looked all around.
"What was that strange squeaking?" Mr. Crow asked Jasper Jay.
"To me it sounded a good deal like a rusty hinge on Farmer Green's barn
door," Jasper Jay answered.
But Mr. Crow shook his head. "It couldn't have been that," he said.
"Maybe Mrs. Green is rocking on a loose board on the porch," Jasper
suggested.
Still Mr. Crow couldn't agree with him.
"Don't be silly!" he snapped. "We're half a mile from the farmhouse."
"Well, what do _you_ think the noise was?" Jasper Jay inquired.
Old Mr. Crow cocked an eye upward into the tree-top above him. "I'd
think it was a Squirrel if it was louder," he replied. Jasper Jay
laughed in a most disagreeable fashion.
"I'd think it was thunder if it was loud enough," he sneered.
And at that the two cousins began to quarrel violently. To tell the
truth, they never could be together long without having a dispute.
For a short time Dickie Deer Mouse listened to their rude remarks,
hoping that they would stop wrangling long enough to hear his question
about Fatty Coon.
But they talked louder and louder. And since Dickie Deer Mouse never
quarreled with anybody, and hated to hear such language as the two
cousins used, he slipped out of his house without their seeing him and
went over to the cornfield.
For he was hungry.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]