FARMER BROWN'S BOY TAKES A PRISONER
The craftiest and cleverest, the strongest and the bold
Will make mistakes like other folks, young, middle-aged, and old.
_Happy Jack._
Happy Jack Squirrel was happy once more. He liked his new house, the
house that Farmer Brown's boy had made for him and fastened in the big
maple tree close by the house in which he himself lived. Happy Jack and
Farmer Brown's boy were getting to be greater friends than ever. Every
morning Happy Jack jumped over to the window-sill and then in at the
open window of the room of Farmer Brown's boy. There he was sure to find
a good breakfast of fat hickory nuts. When Farmer Brown's boy overslept,
as he did sometimes, Happy Jack would jump up on the bed and waken him.
He thought this great fun. So did Farmer Brown's boy, though sometimes
when he was very sleepy he pretended to scold, especially on Sunday
mornings when he did not have to get up as early as on other days.
Of course, Black Pussy had soon discovered that Happy Jack was living in
the big maple tree, and she spent a great deal of time sitting at the
foot of it and glaring up at him with a hungry look in her eyes,
although she wasn't hungry at all, for she had plenty to eat. Several
times she climbed up in the tree and tried to catch him. At first he had
been afraid, but he soon found out that Black Pussy was not at all at
home in a tree as he was. After that, he rather enjoyed having her try
to catch him. It was almost like a game. It was great fun to scold at
her and let her get very near him and then, just as she was sure that
she was going to catch him, to jump out of her reach. After a while she
was content to sit at the foot of the tree and just glare at him.
Happy Jack had only one worry now, and this didn't trouble him a great
deal. It was possible that Shadow the Weasel might take it into his head
to try to surprise him some night. Happy Jack knew that by this time
Shadow must know where he was living, for of course Sammy Jay had found
out, and Sammy is one of those who tells all he knows. Still, being so
close to Farmer Brown's boy gave Happy Jack a very comfortable feeling.
Now all this time Farmer Brown's boy had not forgotten Shadow the Weasel
and how he had driven Happy Jack out of the Green Forest, and he had
wondered a great many times if it wouldn't be a kindness to the other
little people if he should trap Shadow and put him out of the way. But
you know he had given up trapping, and somehow he didn't like to think
of setting a trap, even for such a mischief-maker as Shadow. Then
something happened that made Farmer Brown's boy very, very angry. One
morning, when he went to feed the biddies, he found that Shadow had
visited the henhouse in the night and killed three of his best pullets.
That decided him. He felt sure that Shadow would come again, and he
meant to give Shadow a surprise. He hunted until he found the little
hole through which Shadow had got into the henhouse, and there he set a
trap.
"I don't like to do it, but I've got to," said he. "If he had been
content with one, it would have been bad enough, but he killed three
just from the love of killing, and it is high time that something be
done to get rid of him."
The very next morning Happy Jack saw Farmer Brown's boy coming from the
henhouse with something under his arm. He came straight over to the foot
of the big maple tree and put the thing he was carrying down on the
ground. He whistled to Happy Jack, and as Happy Jack came down to see
what it was all about, Farmer Brown's boy grinned. "Here's a friend of
yours you probably will be glad to see," said he.
At first, all Happy Jack could make out was a kind of wire box. Then he
saw something white inside, and it moved. Very suspiciously Happy Jack
came nearer. Then his heart gave a great leap. That wire box was a cage,
and glaring between the wires with red, angry eyes was Shadow the
Weasel! He was a prisoner! Right away Happy Jack was so excited that he
acted as if he were crazy. He no longer had a single thing to be afraid
of. Do you wonder that he was excited?