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[Illustration: Frontispiece]
[Illustration: title page]
_The Club at Crow's Corner_
_By_ JAMES OTIS
Illustrated by ISABEL W. CALEY
THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 1915
COPYRIGHT 1915 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY
[Illustration publisher's logo ]
The Club at Crow's Corner
Contents
I. MR. CROW AND MR. TURTLE 9
II. CHEEKO IN DANGER 20
III. BUNNY RABBIT'S EFFORTS 30
IV. SONNY BUNNY'S PERIL 41
V. A MEETING OF THE CLUB 51
VI. MR. MAN'S BOY TOMMY 62
VII. CHEEKO'S CURIOSITY 74
VIII. JIMMY HEDGEHOG'S ESCAPE 85
IX. FOOLING MR. FOX 96
X. BOBBY COON'S TRICK 107
XI. TOWSER AND THE SENATOR 118
XII. FOLLY, NOT BRAVERY 130
XIII. DISCIPLINING JIMMY 141
XIV. MR. CROW'S PLOT 153
XV. MR. TURTLE 165
XVI. TROUBLE IN THE CLUB 177
Illustrations
PAGE
"HAVE YOU HAD YOUR DINNER?" _Frontispiece_
WE HEARD A TERRIBLE NOISE AMONG THE BUSHES 69
"LET ME AT 'EM!" 125
STRAIGHT IN THE AIR 158
The Club at Crow's Corner
CHAPTER I
MR. CROW AND MR. TURTLE
Over in that portion of the big woods where the brook swings around a
clump of alders in order to wind in and out among the trees is a very
large and very old oak tree whose branches afford a roosting place for
all the feathered inhabitants of that vicinity, and give shade on warm
days to all who are forced to wear fur coats during the summer.
This oak tree stands near what might be called a "corner" of the
brook, and because old Mr. James Crow is to be found among its
branches every moment of the day or night except when out in search of
food, the oak tree, the bend of the brook, and the land in that
immediate neighborhood have come to be known as "Crow's Corner," so
Mr. Bunny Rabbit declares, and there is no reason to doubt his word.
Mr. Bunny is a very old fellow. He never had any tail to speak of, and
in his younger days 'Squire Owl, whose wife and little ones were in
need of rabbit stew, decided to take Mr. Bunny home with him; but the
old fellow, who was very spry during the earlier portion of his life,
jumped into a thicket of thorn bushes so nimbly that the 'Squire only
succeeded in nipping about half an inch off poor Bunny's apology for a
tail. One of the old fellow's ears has been split into two pieces by
an over-eager hawk, and he has a great scar on his left side where Mr.
Reynard Fox snapped at him, but failed to get more than a small
mouthful after all.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Bunny has so many scars which tell of
hairbreadth escapes, and has been forced to run so many times for very
life, that no mistake can be made in setting him down as an old fellow
of vast experience, who could tell many an entertaining story of his
own adventures; and because he is ready and willing to talk at almost
any time to a friendly listener, I came to know about the Fur and
Feather Club, whose meeting place is at Crow's Corner.
Mr. Bunny is free to admit that Mr. James Crow is older than himself
and has seen very much more of the world than ever did any single
member of the Rabbit family, because of the ease with which he can
travel; but at the same time he declares, with many a sigh and groan
because of the wickedness of this world, that Mr. Crow often tells
stories in which is no truth whatever, and this he does in order to
make it appear that he is a bird of considerable importance in any
neighborhood where he may chance to be.
How the club at Crow's Corner was started Mr. Bunny cannot say. He
himself came upon it by mistake, while he was scurrying here and there
under every friendly bush and leaf in order to refuse an invitation to
dinner which 'Squire Owl was very eager he should accept, and when he
arrived at that particular place in the big woods Mr. Crow was telling
Cheeko Squirrel and two or three members of his family about the
wickedness of Mr. Weasel, who had just killed all Mrs. Thrush's
children.
'Squire Owl put an end to the meeting at that time, for Master Cheeko
and his little ones believed it necessary they should get under cover
in the shortest possible space of time; but when Mr. Bunny had more
leisure he went back to Crow's Corner and was speedily made a member
of the club.
"We don't have any regular hours for meeting," Mr. Bunny said while
first telling about the association. "When 'Squire Owl or Professor
Hawk have had such a big dinner that they forget to be hungry, we get
together around the tree, those of us who belong to the fur section,
with the associates of the feather department on the branches, and
then it is that you might hear some rare stories if you happened along
that way."
At that moment Mr. Bunny suddenly dropped his ears over his eyes and
began to laugh heartily, whereupon, as a matter of course, it seemed
proper to ask what had caused his mirth.
"I just happened to think of a rare trick Cheeko Squirrel played on
Mr. Crow not long ago, and there was a good deal of talk about
expelling him from the club; but everybody except Mr. Crow himself
thought it was so funny that they didn't have the heart to turn Cheeko
out, for he means well, as a general thing, even though he does spend
the most of his time scolding somebody or something.
"You see Cheeko had the idea that it was his duty to get square with
Mr. Crow because the old fellow gave him a downright talking to before
all the members of the club on account of his chattering so much while
the speeches were being made. It really wasn't to be wondered at that
Mr. Crow called him to order, for you know what a disturbance he makes
over nothing; but Cheeko thought he was abused, and didn't get more
than half the sleep he needed, on account of lying awake nights to
figure out how he could get the best of poor old Jimmy Crow.
"Well, one day while he was down near the pond where the Geese family
spend so much of their time dabbling around in the water in the most
foolish way you can imagine, Cheeko hit upon what he thought was a
great plan; but it turned out to be a very serious matter, or might
have been if 'Squire Owl hadn't interfered.
"Down at the pond lives an old fellow by the name of Slowly Turtle,
and between you and me, I don't think he has very much sense, although
you can't really say he is foolish. I suppose it takes him so long to
go from one place to another that he gets himself all mixed up with
watching out to see if he is moving. He isn't the kind of fellow you'd
really want for a friend; but because he doesn't do any great harm in
the world, we members of the club pass the time of day with him when
we meet.
"Well, at this time I'm going to tell you about, Cheeko Squirrel
happened to go down to the pond just out of curiosity, and there he
saw old Slowly, lying on a rock sunning himself.
"'Howdy, Mr. Turtle,' Cheeko said friendly-like, and the old fellow,
being too lazy to speak, winked one eye at Mr. Squirrel.
"'Have you had your dinner yet?' Cheeko asked, as if it would make him
feel dreadfully bad to know that Mr. Turtle was hungry.
"'I haven't had time to go after it, and it's so near sunset now that
I'm afraid I'll have to wait till to-morrow.'
"'Why don't you catch a big, fat frog?' Cheeko asked as if he couldn't
rest easy until he knew that Mr. Turtle was comfortable.
"'I haven't seen any around here lately, and there isn't time to go
hunting to-day.'
"'I don't suppose you'd be willing to follow any plan of mine,' Mr.
Squirrel said, speaking soft as silk; 'but if you did, I'm almost
certain I could put you in a place where all you'd have to do would be
to open your mouth when you wanted a bite.'
"That pleased Mr. Turtle 'way down to the ground, and he agreed he'd
do whatever Mr. Squirrel said, providing he didn't have to walk too
far, so Cheeko set about the plan he'd figured out in his mind for
getting square with Mr. Crow. In the first place he daubed Mr. Turtle
all over with clay till he looked like a ball of mud, and while doing
this he told the old fellow how to act.
"'I'm going to carry you over into the woods a little way and you are
to keep as still as a mouse till you feel some one meddling with the
mud I'm sticking to your shell. Then you'll know it's time to get your
dinner, and all you'll have to do will be to shut your jaws on
whatever is within reach. I'll promise that you shall have meat that
will be sweeter than the fattest frog you ever heard croak.'
"Mr. Turtle let Cheeko do what he pleased, and if you'll believe it,
that squirrel rolled the old fellow in his covering of clay all the
way from the pond up to Crow's Corner. It must have been a terrible
job, but Cheeko was willing to do it for the sake of getting a joke on
Mr. Crow, and when he came to the foot of the tree he sat down in
front of what appeared to be nothing more than a clay ball, with his
tail spread out over his head as if he were thinking mighty serious.
It wasn't long before old Mr. Crow espied him and it really did seem
as if that bird would shake himself into little pieces, he was so
curious to know what Cheeko was doing. He sat on the very tip of one
of the branches, looking at the odd thing until he could keep still no
longer, and then he hopped down by the side of Cheeko.
"'What have you got with you, Mr. Squirrel?' he asked, trying to turn
the clay ball over, and Cheeko said careless-like, as if it didn't
make very much difference to him whether Mr. Crow got the information
he wanted:
"'Roll it over two or three times and you may know as much as I do
about it.'
"Mr. Crow twisted his head first on one side and then on the other
until he had looked at the clay ball with both eyes, but Mr. Squirrel
didn't offer to explain anything more, and finally he grew so excited
that it seemed as if he just really had to do as Cheeko wanted. He
rolled the funny looking thing to and fro without learning anything
regarding it, and then began pecking at the hole in one end which Mr.
Squirrel had left open so Mr. Turtle could get air.
"By this time poor old Mr. Turtle made up his slow mind that the meat
Cheeko told him about was near at hand, and before Mr. Crow could wink
an eye, out came a queer-looking head with jaws that fastened on the
bird's leg in a way that wasn't pleasant or comfortable.
"There's no need of my saying that Mr. Crow was frightened. The idea
of being bitten by a lump of clay nearly scared him white, and up into
the tree he flew caw-cawing at the full strength of his lungs, while
Mr. Turtle hung on the best he knew how, for it must have startled him
a good bit to feel that instead of getting a dinner he was going up
into the air like a balloon. Of course, old Slowly couldn't make any
noise; but Mr. Crow was doing that for both of them, and down at the
foot of the tree Cheeko sat laughing until, so Mr. Porcupine declares,
it seemed certain he would burst.
"Just then 'Squire Owl, who had been awakened by the disturbance, came
out to learn what the matter was, but Mr. Crow was so frightened that
he couldn't give him the least little bit of information, and the
'Squire had to find out for himself. Being near-sighted in the
daytime, it was quite a while before he saw Mr. Turtle's head, and
then he cried out angrily:
"'What are you doing up a tree, you rascal? Let go of Mr. Crow's leg,
and go back to your pond this instant.'
"'If I do that I shall break myself all to pieces,' Mr. Turtle said,
speaking rather indistinctly because his mouth was so full; and,
hearing the words, Mr. Squirrel laughed harder than ever, until the
'Squire began to get an idea of how it all happened.
"'This is some of your doings, Cheeko Squirrel,' he said, savagely.
'Call off your turtle, or I'll come down there and eat you without
butter.'
"'You've tried to do that a good many times, and I've always got the
best of you, even when it wasn't very light, so don't puff yourself up
with the idea that I'm afraid of a big bunch of feathers like you
while the sun is shining,' Cheeko said, shaking his tail till Mr.
Porcupine says he was afraid it would drop off.
"Of course the 'Squire was dreadfully angry because of Cheeko's
impudence, and down he came out of the tree without stopping to think
how blind he was, while Mr. Crow shouted:
"'Never mind that miserable squirrel, 'Squire; but take this terrible
thing off my leg,' and Mr. Turtle mumbled as well as he could without
opening his jaws:
"'I'm the one who should be helped, for I can't afford to fall out of
a tree at my time of life.'
"All the while 'Squire Owl blundered around, not able to see even his
own nose, and Cheeko Squirrel jumped around him laughing and shouting
till every bird in the woods flew over to the Corner to find out what
was happening."