Simon Screecher lived in the apple orchard, in a hollow tree, where he
could sleep during the day safe from attack by mobs of small birds, who
had the best of reasons for disliking him.
By night Simon wandered about the fields and the woods, hunting for mice
and insects. And since night was the time when Dickie Deer Mouse was
awake, and up and doing, it would have been a wonder if the two had
never met.
One thing is certain: Dickie Deer Mouse was not eager to make Simon
Screecher's acquaintance. Whenever he heard Simon's call he stopped and
listened. If it sounded nearer the next time it reached his ears, Dickie
Deer Mouse promptly hid himself in any good place that was handy.
So matters went along for some time. And Dickie actually began to think
that perhaps he didn't need to be so careful, and that maybe Simon
Screecher was not so bad as people said.
However, he jumped almost out of his skin one night, when he heard a
wailing whistle in a tree right over his head. And when he came down
upon all-fours again he couldn't see a single place to hide.
So he stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe.
To Dickie's dismay, a mocking laugh rang out. And somebody said:
"I see you!"
It was Simon Screecher himself that spoke.
Dickie Deer Mouse looked up and spied him, sitting on a low limb. He was
not so big as Dickie had supposed. But it was certainly Simon. Dickie
knew him, beyond a doubt, by his ear-tufts, which stuck up from his head
like horns.
"What made you jump when I whistled?" Simon Screecher asked him.
"I don't know," Dickie answered, "unless it was you."
Simon Screecher chuckled.
"You're a bright young chap," he observed. "But that's not surprising,
for I notice that you belong to the Deer Mouse family, and everybody's
aware that they are one of the brightest families in Pleasant
Valley--_what are left of them_."
These last words made Dickie Deer Mouse more uneasy than ever. But he
made up his mind not to let Simon Screecher know that he was worried.
"I have a great many relations," he declared stoutly. "Ours is a big
family."
"Yes--but not nearly so big as it was when I first came to this
neighborhood to live," Simon told him with a sly smile.
He had hardly finished that remark when a loud _wha-wha, whoo-ah_ came
from a hemlock not far away. And the next moment Simon's cousin Solomon
Owl sailed through the moonlight and alighted near him.
Dickie Deer Mouse couldn't help thinking that it was a great night for
the Owl family. And he was surprised to notice that Simon Screecher did
not act overjoyed at seeing his cousin.
"It's a pleasant night," said Solomon Owl in his deep, hollow voice.
Simon Screecher replied somewhat sourly that he supposed it was. And he
changed his seat, so that he might keep his eyes on both his cousin and
Dickie Deer Mouse at the same time.
But Solomon Owl made matters very hard for Simon. Simon had no sooner
seated himself comfortably when Solomon Owl moved to a perch behind him.
Simon Screecher looked almost crosseyed, as he tried to watch everything
that happened. And he looked so fretful that for a moment Dickie Deer
Mouse actually forgot his fear and laughed aloud. [Illustration]
[Illustration]