Sammy Jay had found him, and Reddy Fox had made fun of him, and Peter
Rabbit had peeped at him from behind the old stone wall. The very sight
of them going where they pleased and when they pleased had been too much
for Chatterer, and such a great longing for the Green Forest and the Old
Orchard filled his heart that he could think of nothing else. He just
sat in a corner of his cage and looked as miserable as he felt. He lost
his appetite. In vain Farmer Brown's boy brought him the fattest nuts
and other dainties. He couldn't eat for the great longing for freedom
that filled his heart until it seemed ready to burst. He no longer cared
to run in the new wire wheel which had given him so much pleasure at
first. He was homesick, terribly homesick, and he just couldn't help it.
Farmer Brown's boy noticed it, and his face grew sober and thoughtful.
He watched Chatterer when the latter didn't know that he was about, and
if he couldn't understand Chatterer's talk, he could understand
Chatterer's actions. He knew that he was unhappy and guessed why. One
morning Chatterer did not come out of his hollow stump as he usually did
when his cage was placed on the shelf outside the farmhouse door. He
just didn't feel like it. He stayed curled up in his bed for a long,
long time, too sad and miserable to move. At last he crawled up and
peeped out of his little round doorway. Chatterer gave a little gasp and
rubbed his eyes. Was he dreaming? He scrambled out in a hurry and peeped
through the wires of his cage. Then he rubbed his eyes again and rushed
over to the other side of the cage for another look. His cage wasn't on
the usual shelf at all! It was on the snow-covered stone wall at the
edge of the Old Orchard.
Chatterer was so excited he didn't know what to do. He raced around the
cage. Then he jumped into the wire wheel and made it spin round and
round as never before. When he was too tired to run any more, he jumped
out. And right then he discovered something he hadn't noticed before.
The little door in the top of his cage was open! It must be that Farmer
Brown's boy had forgotten to close it when he put in Chatterer's
breakfast. Chatterer forgot that he was tired. Like a little red flash
he was outside and whisking along the snow-covered stone wall straight
for his home in the Old Orchard.
"Chickaree! Chickaree! Chickaree!" he shouted as he ran.
XXI CHATTERER HEARS THE SMALL VOICE
The very first of the little meadow and forest people to see Chatterer
after he had safely reached the Old Orchard, was Tommy Tit the
Chickadee. It just happened that Tommy was very busy in the very
apple-tree in which was the old home of Drummer the Woodpecker when
Chatterer reached it. You know Chatterer had moved into it for the
winter just a little while before he had been caught in the corn-crib by
Farmer Brown's boy.
Yes, Sir, Tommy was very busy, indeed. He was so busy that, sharp as his
bright little eyes are, he had not seen Chatterer racing along the
snow-covered old stone wall. It wasn't until he heard Chatterer's claws
on the trunk of the apple-tree that Tommy saw him at all. Then he was so
surprised that he lost his balance and almost turned a somersault in the
air before he caught another twig. You see, he knew all about Chatterer
and how he had been kept a prisoner by Farmer Brown's boy.
"Why! Whye-e! Is this really you, Chatterer?" he exclaimed. "However did
you get out of your prison? I'm glad, ever and ever so glad, that you
got away."
Chatterer flirted his tail in the saucy way he has, and his eyes
twinkled. Here was just the best chance ever to boast and brag. He could
tell Tommy Tit how smart he had been--smart enough to get away from
Farmer Brown's boy. Tommy Tit would tell the other little people, and
then everybody would think him just as smart as Unc' Billy Possum; and
you know Unc' Billy really was smart enough to get away from Farmer
Brown's boy after being caught. Everybody knew that he had been a
prisoner, and now that he was free, everybody would believe whatever he
told them about how he got away. Was there ever such a chance to make
his friends and neighbors say: "What a smart fellow he is!"
"I--I--" Chatterer stopped. Then he began again. "You see, it was this
way: I--I--" Somehow, Chatterer couldn't say what he had meant to say.
It seemed as if Tommy Tit's bright, merry eyes were looking right into
his head and heart and could see his very thoughts. Of course they
couldn't. The truth is that little small voice inside, which Chatterer
had so often refused to listen to when he was tempted to do wrong, was
talking again. It was saying: "For shame, Chatterer! For shame! Tell the
truth. Tell the truth." It was that little small voice that made
Chatterer hesitate and stop.
"You don't mean to say that you were smart enough to fool Farmer Brown's
boy and get out of that stout little prison he made for you, do you?"
asked Tommy Tit.
"No," replied Chatterer, almost before he thought. "No, I didn't. The
fact is, Tommy Tit, he left the door open purposely. He let me go.
Farmer Brown's boy isn't half so bad as some people think."
"Dee, dee, dee," laughed Tommy Tit. "I've been telling a lot of you
fellows that for a long time, but none of you would believe me. Now I
guess you know it. Why, I'm not the least bit afraid of Farmer Brown's
boy--not the least little bit in the world. If all the little forest and
meadow people would only trust him, instead of running away from him, he
would be the very best friend we have."
"Perhaps so," replied Chatterer doubtfully. "He was very good to me
while I was in his prison, and--and I'm not so very much afraid of him
now. Just the same, I don't mean to let him get hands on me again."
"Pooh!" said Tommy Tit. "Pooh! I'd just as soon eat out of his hand."
"That's all very well for you to say, when you are flying around free,
but I don't believe you dare go up to his house and prove it," retorted
Chatterer.
"Can't now," replied Tommy. "I've got too much to do for him right now,
but some day I'll show you. Dee, dee, dee, chickadee! I'm wasting my
time talking when there is such a lot to be done. I am clearing his
apple-trees of insect eggs."
"Ha, ha, ha! Go it, you little red scamp!" shouted a voice behind him.
Then Chatterer knew that Farmer Brown's boy had not left the little door
open by mistake, but had given him his freedom, and right then he knew
that they were going to be the best of friends.
XXII TOMMY TIT MAKES GOOD HIS BOAST
"Dee, dee, dee, chickadee! See me! See me!" Tommy Tit the Chickadee kept
saying this over and over, as he flew from the Green Forest up through
the Old Orchard on his way to Farmer Brown's dooryard, and his voice was
merry. In fact, his voice was the merriest, cheeriest sound to be heard
that bright, snapping, cold morning. To be sure there were other voices,
but they were not merry, nor were they cheery. There was the voice of
Sammy Jay, but it sounded peevish and discontented. And there was the
voice of Blacky the Crow, but it sounded harsh and unpleasant. And there
was the voice of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, but Chatterer was scolding
just from habit, and his voice was not pleasant to hear.
So every one who heard Tommy Tit's cheery voice that cold winter morning
just had to smile. Yes, Sir, they just had to smile, even Sammy Jay and
Blacky the Crow. They just couldn't help themselves. When Tommy reached
the stone wall that separated the Old Orchard from Farmer Brown's
dooryard, his sharp eyes were not long in finding Peter Rabbit, and
Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, and Chatterer hiding in the old wall where
they could peep out and see all that happened in Farmer Brown's
dooryard. Looking back through the Old Orchard, he saw what looked like
a little bit of the blue, blue sky flitting silently from tree to tree.
It was Sammy Jay. Over in the very top of a tall maple-tree, a long way
off, was a spot of black. Tommy didn't need to be told that it was
Blacky the Crow, who didn't dare come any nearer.
Tommy fairly bubbled over with joy. He knew what it all meant. He knew
that Peter Rabbit and Happy Jack and Chatterer and Sammy Jay and Blacky
the Crow had come to see him make good his boast to Chatterer that he
would eat from the hand of Farmer Brown's boy, and that not one of them
really believed that he would do it. He tickled all over and cut up all
sorts of capers, just for pure joy. Finally he flew over to the
maple-tree that grows close by Farmer Brown's house.
"Dee, dee, dee, chickadee! See me! See me!" called Tommy Tit, and his
voice sounded cheerier than ever and merrier than ever.
Then the door of Farmer Brown's house opened, and out stepped Farmer
Brown's boy and looked up at Tommy Tit, and the look in his eyes was
gentle and good to see. He pursed up his lips, and from them came the
softest, sweetest whistle, and it sounded like "Phoe-be."
Peter Rabbit pinched himself to be sure that he was awake, for it was
Tommy Tit's own love note, and if Peter had not been looking straight at
Farmer Brown's boy, he would have been sure that it was Tommy himself
who had whistled.
"Phoe-be," whistled Farmer Brown's boy again.
"Phoe-be," replied Tommy Tit, and it was hard to say which whistle was
the softest and sweetest.
"Phoe-be," whistled Farmer Brown's boy once more and held out his hand.
In it was a cracked hickory nut.
"Dee, dee, dee! See me! See me!" cried Tommy Tit and flitted down from
the maple-tree right on to the hand of Farmer Brown's boy, and his
bright little eyes twinkled merrily as he helped himself to a bit of nut
meat.
Peter Rabbit looked at Happy Jack, and Happy Jack looked at Chatterer,
and all three acted as if they couldn't believe their own eyes. Then
they looked back at Farmer Brown's boy, and there on his head sat Tommy
Tit.
"Dee, dee, dee, chickadee! See me! See me!" called Tommy Tit, and his
voice was merrier than ever, for he had made good his boast.
XXIII CHATTERER GROWS VERY, VERY BOLD
"I'm not afraid. I am afraid. I'm not afraid. I am afraid. I'm not
afraid."
Chatterer kept saying these two things over and over and over again to
himself. You see, he really was afraid, and he was trying to make
himself believe that he wasn't afraid. He thought that perhaps if he
said ever and ever so many times that he wasn't afraid, he might
actually make himself believe it. The trouble was that every time he
said it, a little voice, a little, truthful voice down inside, seemed to
speak right up and tell him that he was afraid.
Poor Chatterer! It hurt his pride to have to own to himself that he
wasn't as brave as little Tommy Tit the Chickadee. His common sense told
him that there was no reason in the world why he shouldn't be. Tommy Tit
went every day and took food from the hand of Farmer Brown's boy. It
seemed to Chatterer, and to Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, and to Peter
Rabbit, and to Sammy Jay, and to Blacky the Crow, all of whom had seen
him do it, as if it were the very bravest thing they ever had seen, and
their respect for Tommy Tit grew wonderfully.
But Tommy Tit himself didn't think it brave at all. No, Sir, Tommy knew
better. You see, he has a great deal of common sense under the little
black cap he wears.
"It may have been brave of me to do it the first time," thought he to
himself, when the others told him how brave they thought him, "but it
isn't brave of me now, because I know that no harm is going to come to
me from Farmer Brown's boy. There isn't any bravery about it, and it
might be just the same way with Chatterer and all the other little
forest and meadow people, if only they would think so, and give Farmer
Brown's boy half a chance."
Chatterer was beginning to have some such thoughts himself, as he tried
to make himself think that he wasn't afraid. He heard the door of Farmer
Brown's house slam and peeped out from the old stone wall. There was
Farmer Brown's boy with a big, fat hickory nut held out in the most
tempting way, and Farmer Brown's boy was whistling the same gentle
little whistle he had used when Chatterer was his prisoner, and he had
brought good things for Chatterer to eat. Of course Chatterer knew
perfectly well that that whistle was a call for him, and that that big
fat hickory nut was intended for him. Almost before he thought, he had
left the old stone wall and was half way over to Farmer Brown's boy.
Then he stopped short. It seemed as if that little voice inside had
fairly shouted in his ears: "I am afraid."
It was true; he was afraid. He was right on the very point of turning to
scurry back to the old stone wall, when he heard another voice. This
time it wasn't a voice inside. No, indeed! It was a voice from the top
of one of the apple-trees in the Old Orchard, and this is what it said:
"Coward! Coward! Coward!"
It was Sammy Jay speaking.
Now it is one thing to tell yourself that you are afraid, and it is
quite another thing to be told by some one else that you are afraid.
"No such thing! No such thing! I'm not afraid!" scolded Chatterer, and
then to prove it, he suddenly raced forward, snatched the fat hickory
nut from the hand of Farmer Brown's boy, and was back in the old stone
wall. It was hard to tell which was the most surprised--Chatterer
himself, Farmer Brown's boy, or Sammy Jay.
"I did it! I did it! I did it!" boasted Chatterer.
"You don't dare do it again, though!" said Sammy Jay, in the most
provoking and unpleasant way.
"I do too!" snapped Chatterer, and he did it. And with the taking of
that second fat nut from the hand of Farmer Brown's boy, the very last
bit of fear of him left Chatterer, and he knew that Tommy Tit the
Chickadee had been right all the time when he insisted that there was
nothing to fear from Farmer Brown's boy.
"Why," thought Chatterer, "if I would have let him, he would have been
my friend long ago!" And so he would have.
And this is all about Chatterer the Red Squirrel for now. Sammy Jay
insists that it is his turn now, and so the next book will be about his
adventures.
THE END