THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOCKER
BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS
Author of "The Adventures of Reddy Fox," "Old Mother West Wind," etc.
_With Illustrations by_
HARRISON CADY
1914
CONTENTS
I. THE LONE TRAVELER
II. UNC' BILLY POSSUM GROWS EXCITED
III. UNC' BILLY'S VAIN SEARCH
IV. UNC' BILLY COMES HOME
V. SAMMY JAY IS INDIGNANT
VI. SAMMY JAY THINKS HE'S GOING CRAZY
VII. SAMMY JAY SITS UP ALL NIGHT
VIII. SAMMY JAY IS GLAD HE SAT UP ALL NIGHT
IX. THE MYSTERY GROWS
X. SAMMY JAY SEEKS ADVICE
XI. HOW BLACKY THE CROW'S PLAN WORKED OUT
XII. NO ONE BELIEVES PETER RABBIT
XIII. STICKY-TOES THE TREE TOAD POURS OUT HIS TROUBLES
XIV. PETER RABBIT MEETS UNC' BILLY POSSUM
XV. PETER RABBIT AND UNC' BILLY POSSUM KEEP WATCH
XVI. UNC' BILLY POSSUM DOES A LITTLE SURPRISING HIMSELF
XVII. THE MEETING OF TWO OLD FRIENDS
XVIII. THE MISCHIEF-MAKERS
XIX. BOBBY COON MAKES A DISCOVERY
XX. BOBBY COON AND OL' MISTAH BUZZARD HAVE A TALK
XXI. BOBBY COON HAS A BUSY DAY
XXII. UNC' BILLY POSSUM SEES MANY BACKS
XXIII. UNC' BILLY POSSUM CONSULTS OL' MISTAH BUZZARD
XXIV. UNC' BILLY POSSUM GIVES A PARTY
XXV. UNC' BILLY POSSUM'S SURPRISE
XXVI. MR. MOCKER MAKES HIMSELF AT HOME
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"I DON'T KNOW THAT IT'S ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS!" SAID STICKY-TOES.
SUCH A THING AS UNC' BILLY FORGETTING TO SAY GOOD-BY HAD NEVER HAPPENED
BEFORE
BLACKY'S EYES TWINKLED AS HE LISTENED TO SAMMY JAY'S TALE OF WOE.
"GOOD MO'NING, BRER COON," SAID OL' MISTAH BUZZARD
THERE SAT THE THREE LITTLE SCAMPS ON THE BIG ROCK
SOMETIMES HE WOKE UP IN THE NIGHT AND WOULD SING FOR VERY JOY
THE ADVENTURES OF MISTAH MOCKER
I
THE LONE TRAVELER
When Mistress Spring starts from way down South to bring joy and gladness
to the Green Meadows and the Green Forest, the Laughing Brook and the
Smiling Pool, a great many travelers start with her or follow her. Winsome
Bluebird goes just a little way ahead of her, for Winsome is the herald of
Mistress Spring. Then comes Honker the Goose, and all the world hearing his
voice from way, way, up in the blue, blue sky knows that truly Mistress
Spring is on her way. And with her come Little Friend the Song Sparrow, and
Cheerful Robin and Mr. and Mrs. Redwing. Then follow other travelers, ever
so many of them, all eager to get back to the beautiful Green Forest and
Green Meadows.
Now there are a few feathered folk who think the far away South is quite
good enough for them to live there all the year round. Ol' Mistah Buzzard
used to think that way. Indeed, he used to think that there was no place
like the dear "Ol' Souf," and it wasn't until he went looking for his old
friend, Unc' Billy Possum, who had come up to live in the Green Forest,
that he found out how nice it is where the Laughing Brook dances down
through the Green Forest to the Smiling Pool and then through the Green
Meadows to the Big River. Now, when he is sure that there is no danger
that he will have cold feet or that he will catch cold in his bald head,
he likes to come up to spend the summer near Unc' Billy Possum.
Of course Ol' Mistah Buzzard has wonderful stories to tell when he goes
back South in the fall, and all winter long he warms his toes on the
chimney tops while he tells his friends about the wonderful things he has
seen in his travels. Now there is a certain friend of his, and of Unc'
Billy Possum, who had listened to these stories for a long time without
seeming in the least interested. But he was. Yes, Sir, he was. He was so
much interested that he began to wish he could see for himself all these
things Ol' Mistah Buzzard was telling about. But he didn't say a word, not
a word. He just listened and listened and then went on about his business.
But when all the other little people in feathers had flown to that far away
country Ol' Mistah Buzzard had told about, even Ol' Mistah Buzzard himself,
then did this friend of his, and of Unc' Billy Possum, make up his mind
that he would go too. He didn't say anything about it to any one, but he
just started off by himself. Now of course he didn't know the way, never
having been that way before, but he kept on going and going, keeping out of
sight as much as he could, and asking no questions. Sometimes he wondered
if he would know the Green Forest when he reached it, and then he would
remember how Ol' Mistah Buzzard dearly loves to fly round and round high
up in the blue, blue sky.
"All Ah done got to do is to keep on going till Ah see Brer Buzzard,"
thought he. So he traveled and traveled without speaking to any one, and
always looking up in the blue, blue sky. Then one day he saw a black speck
high up in the blue, blue sky, and it went round and round and round and
round. Finally it dropped down, down, down until it disappeared among the
trees.
"It's Brer Buzzard and that must be the Green Forest where Unc' Billy
Possum lives," thought the lone traveler, and chuckled. "Ah reckon Ah'll
give Unc' Billy a surprise. Yes, Sah, Ah reckon so."
And all the time Unc' Billy Possum and Ol' Mistah Buzzard knew nothing at
all about the coming of their old friend and neighbor, but thought him
far, far away down in Ol' Virginny where they had left him.
II
UNC' BILLY POSSUM GROWS EXCITED
Unc' Billy Possum sat at the foot of the great hollow tree in which his
home is. Unc' Billy felt very fine that morning. He had had a good
breakfast, and you know a good breakfast is one of the best things in the
world to make one feel fine. Then Unc' Billy's worries were at an end, for
Farmer Brown's boy no longer hunted with his dreadful gun through the Green
forest or on the Green Meadows. Then, too, old Granny Fox and Reddy Fox had
moved way, way off to the Old Pasture on the edge of the mountain, and so
Unc' Billy felt that his eight little Possums could play about without
danger.
So he sat with his back to the great hollow tree, wondering if it wouldn't
be perfectly safe for him to slip up to Farmer Brown's hen-house in the
dark of the next night for some fresh eggs. He could hear old Mrs. Possum
cleaning house and scolding the little Possums who kept climbing up on her
back. As he listened, Unc' Billy grinned and began to sing in a queer
cracked voice:
"Mah ol' woman am a plain ol' dame--
'Deed she am! 'Deed she am!
Quick with her broom, with her tongue the same--
'Deed she am! 'Deed she am!
But she keeps mah house all spick and span;
She has good vittles fo' her ol' man;
She spanks the chillun, but she loves 'em, too;
She sho' am sharp, but she's good and true--
'Deed she am! 'Deed she am!"
"You'all better stop lazing and hustle about fo' something fo' dinner,"
said old Mrs. Possum, sticking her sharp little face out of the doorway.
"Yas'm, yas'm, Ah was just aiming to do that very thing," replied Unc'
Billy meekly, as he scrambled to his feet.
Just then out tumbled his eight children, making such a racket that Unc'
Billy clapped both hands over his ears. "Mah goodness gracious sakes
alive!" he exclaimed. One pulled Unc' Billy's tail. Two scrambled up on
his back. In two minutes Unc' Billy was down on the ground, rolling and
tumbling in the maddest kind of a frolic with his eight children.
Right in the midst of it Unc' Billy sprang to his feet. His eyes were
shining, and his funny little ears were pricked up. "Hush, yo'alls!" he
commanded. "How do yo'alls think Ah can hear anything with yo'alls making
such a racket?" He boxed the ears of one and shook another, and then, when
all were still, he stood with his right hand behind his right ear,
listening and listening.
"Ah cert'nly thought Ah heard the voice of an ol' friend from way down
Souf! Ah cert'nly did!" he muttered, and without another word he started
off into the Green Forest, more excited than he had been since his family
came up from "Ol' Virginny."
III
UNC' BILLY'S VAIN SEARCH
Unc' Billy Possum was excited. Any one would have known it just to look at
him. He hurried off up the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest
without even saying good-by to old Mrs. Possum and all the little Possums.
They just stared after Unc' Billy and didn't know what to make of it, for
such a thing as Unc' Billy forgetting to say good-by had never happened
before. Yes, indeed, Unc' Billy certainly was excited.
Old Mrs. Possum sat in the doorway of their home in the great hollow tree
and watched Unc' Billy out of sight. Her sharp little eyes seemed to grow
sharper as she watched. "Ah done sent that no-account Possum to hunt fo'
something fo' dinner, but 'pears to me he's plumb forgot it already," she
muttered. "Just look at him with his head up in the air like he thought
dinner fo' we uns would drap right down to him out o' the sky! If he's
aiming to find a bird's nest with eggs in it this time o' year, he sho'ly
am plumb foolish in his haid. No, Sah! That onery Possum has clean
fo'gotten what Ah just done tole him, and if we uns am going to have any
dinner, Ah cert'nly have got to flax 'round right smart spry mahself!"
Old Mrs. Possum chased the eight little Possums into the house and warned
them not to so much as put their heads outside the door while she was gone.
Then she started out to hunt for their dinner, still muttering as she went.
Old Mrs. Possum was quite right. Unc' Billy had forgotten all about that
dinner. You see he had something else on his mind. While he had been
playing with his children, he had thought that he heard a voice way off in
the distance, and it had sounded very, very much like the voice of an old
friend from way down South in "Ol' Virginny." He had listened and listened
but didn't hear it again, and yet he was sure he had heard it that once.
The very thought that that old friend of his might be somewhere in the
Green Forest excited Unc' Billy so that it fairly made him homesick. He
just _had_ to go look for him.
So all the rest of that day Unc' Billy Possum walked and walked through the
Green Forest, peering up in the tree-tops and looking into the bushes until
his neck ached. But nowhere did he catch a glimpse of his old friend. The
longer he looked, the more excited he grew.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Jimmy Skunk, meeting Unc' Billy on the
Crooked Little Path near the top of the hill.
"Nuffin, nuffin, Sah! Ah'm just walking fo' mah health," replied Unc' Billy
over his shoulder, as he hurried on. You see he didn't like to tell any one
what he thought he had heard, for fear that it might not be true, and then
they would laugh at him.
"Didn't suppose Unc' Billy ever worried about his health," muttered Jimmy
Skunk with a puzzled look, as he watched Unc' Billy disappear.
Just as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun dropped out of sight behind the Purple
Hills, Unc' Billy gave it up and turned toward home. His neck ached from
looking up in the tree-tops, and his feet were sore from walking. And just
then Unc' Billy for the first time thought of that dinner that old Mrs.
Possum had sent him to get. Unc' Billy sat down and mopped his brow in
dismay.
"Ah 'specks Ah'm in fo' it this time, sho' enough!" he said.
IV
UNC' BILLY COMES HOME
Unc' Billy Possum crept along in the darkest shadows he could find as he
drew near to the great hollow tree which is his home.
"Ah 'specks Ah'm in fo' it. Ah 'specks Ah sho'ly am in fo' it this time,"
he kept muttering.
So Unc' Billy crept along in the black shadows until he got where he could
look up and see his own doorway. Then he sat down and watched a while. All
was still. There wasn't a sound in the great hollow tree.
"Perhaps mah ol' woman am out calling, and Ah can slip in and go to bed
before she gets back," said Unc' Billy hopefully to himself, as he started
to climb the great hollow tree.
But at the first scratch of his toe-nails on the bark the sharp face of old
Mrs. Possum appeared in the doorway.
"Good evening, mah dear," said Unc' Billy, in the mildest kind of a voice.
Old Mrs. Possum said nothing, but Unc' Billy felt as if her sharp black
eyes were looking right through him.
Unc' Billy grinned a sickly kind of grin as he said:
"Ah hopes yo'alls are feeling good tonight."
"Where's that dinner Ah sent yo' fo'?" demanded old Mrs. Possum sharply.
Unc' Billy fidgeted uneasily. "Ah done brought yo' two eggs from Farmer
Brown's hen-house," he replied meekly.
"Two eggs! Two eggs! How do yo' think Ah am going to feed eight hungry
mouths on two eggs?" snapped old Mrs. Possum.
Unc' Billy hung his head. He hadn't a word to say. He just couldn't tell
her that he had spent the whole day tramping through the Green Forest
looking for an old friend, whose voice he had thought he heard, when he
ought to have been helping her find a dinner for the eight little Possums.
No, Sir, Unc' Billy hadn't a word to say.
My, my, my, how old Mrs. Possum did scold, as she came down the great
hollow tree to get the two eggs. Unc' Billy knew that he deserved every bit
of it. He felt very miserable, and he was too tired to have a bit of spirit
left. So he just sat at the foot of the great hollow tree and said nothing,
while old Mrs. Possum bit a hole in the end of one egg and began to suck
it. All the time she was looking at Unc' Billy with those sharp eyes of
hers. When she had finished the egg, she pushed the other over to him.
"Yo' eat that!" she said shortly. "Yo' look as if yo' hadn't had anything
to eat to-day" (which was true). "Then yo' hustle up to bed; it's all ready
fo' yo'."
Unc' Billy did as he was bid, and as he tucked himself into his snug, warm
bed he murmured sleepily:
"Ol' Mrs. Possum has a sharp, sharp tongue,
But her bark is worse than her bite.
For Ol' Mrs. Possum has a soft, soft heart
Though she hides it way out of sight."
V
SAMMY JAY IS INDIGNANT
Sammy Jay was indignant. Yes, Sir, Sammy Jay was very much put out. In
fact, Sammy was just plain downright mad! It is bad enough to be found out
and blamed for the things you really do, but to be blamed for things that
you don't do and don't even know anything about is more than even Mr.
Jaybird can stand. It had begun when he met Jimmy Skunk early in the
morning.
"Hello, Sammy Jay! What were you doing up so late last night?" said Jimmy
Skunk.
"I wasn't up late; I went to bed at my usual hour, just after Mr. Sun went
to bed behind the Purple Hills," replied Sammy Jay.
"Oh, come, Sammy Jay, be honest for once in your life! It was a long, long,
long time after Mr. Sun went to bed that I heard you screaming and making a
great fuss over in the Green Forest. What was it all about?"
Sammy Jay stamped one foot. He was beginning to lose his temper. You know
he loses it very easily. "I am honest!" he screamed. "I tell you I went to
bed just as I always do, and I didn't wake up until this morning."
"Then you must talk something dreadful in your sleep," said Jimmy Skunk,
turning his back on Sammy Jay, who was so mad by this time that for a few
minutes he couldn't find his tongue. When he did, he flew off screaming at
the top of his lungs. He was still screaming when he flew over the Old
Briar-patch where Peter Rabbit was just beginning to doze off.
Peter was sleepy. He didn't like to have his morning nap disturbed.
"Hi, Sammy Jay! Didn't you make racket enough last night to give honest
folks a little peace and quiet to-day?" shouted Peter Rabbit.
Sammy Jay flew up into a young cherry tree on the edge of the Old
Briar-patch, and his eyes were fairly red with anger as he glared down at
Peter Rabbit.
"What's the joke, Peter Rabbit? That's the second time this morning that
I've been told that I was screaming last night, when all the time I was
fast asleep," said Sammy Jay.
"Then it's a funny way you have of sleeping," replied Peter Rabbit. "Come,
Sammy, be honest and tell me what you were yelling 'thief' for, over in the
Green Forest?"
"Peter Rabbit, you and Jimmy Skunk are crazy, just as crazy as loons!"
sputtered Sammy Jay. "I tell you I was asleep, and I guess I ought to
know!"
"And I guess I know your voice when I hear it!" replied Peter Rabbit. "It's
bad enough in daytime, but if I was you, I'd quit yelling in the night.
Some one of these times Hooty the Owl will hear you, and that will be the
end of you and your noise. Now go away; I want to sleep."
Sammy went. He was mad clear through, and yet he didn't know what to make
of it. Were they just trying to make him mad, or had he really been
screaming in his sleep? He flew over to the Smiling Pool. Jerry Muskrat
looked up and saw him.
"What were you yelling about in the night, Sammy Jay?" asked Jerry.
This was too much. Sammy Jay let his wings and his tail droop dejectedly
and hung his head.
"I don't know. I really don't know anything about it," he said.
VI
SAMMY JAY THINKS HE'S GOING CRAZY
"Sammy Jay screams all day long,
And now what do you think?
Why, Sammy sits and yells all night
And doesn't sleep a wink!"
Everywhere he went Sammy Jay heard that shouted after him. Dozens and
dozens of times a day he heard it. At first he lost his temper and was the
very maddest Jaybird ever seen on the Green Meadows or in the Green Forest.
"It isn't true! It isn't true! It isn't true!" he would scream at the top
of his lungs.
And then everybody within hearing would shout: "It _is_ true!"
Sammy would just dance up and down and scream and scream and scream, he was
so angry. And then he was sure to hear some one pipe up:
"Sammy's mad and we are glad,
And we know how to tease him!
But some dark night he'll get a fright,
For Hooty'll come and seize him!"
That really began to worry him. At first he had thought that it was all a
joke on the part of the little people of the Green Forest and the Green
Meadows, and that they had made up the story about hearing him in the
night. Then he began to think that it might be true that he did talk in his
sleep, and this worried him a whole lot. If he did that, Hooty the Owl
would surely find him sooner or later, and in the morning there wouldn't be
anything left of him but a few feathers from his fine coat.
The more he thought about it, the more worried Sammy Jay became. He lost
his appetite and began to grow thin. He kept out of sight whenever possible
and no longer screamed "Thief! thief!" through the Green Forest. In fact
his voice was rarely heard during the day. But it seemed that he must be
talking just as much as ever in the night. At least everybody said that he
was. Worse still, different ones said that they heard him in different
places in the Green Forest and even down on the Green Meadows. Could it be
that he was flying about as well as talking in his sleep? And nobody
believed him when he said that he was asleep all night. They thought that
he was awake and doing it purposely. They might have known that he couldn't
see in the night, for his eyes are made for daylight and not for darkness,
like the eyes of Boomer the Nighthawk and Hooty the Owl. But they didn't
seem to think of this, and insisted that almost every night they heard him
down in the alders along the Laughing Brook. Yet every morning when he
awoke, Sammy would find himself just where he went to sleep the night
before, safely hidden in the thickest part of a big pine-tree.
"If they are not all crazy, then I must be," said. Sammy Jay to himself, as
he turned away from the breakfast which he could not eat. Then he had a
happy idea. "Why didn't I think of it before? I'll sleep all day, and then
I'll keep awake all night and see what happens then!" he exclaimed.
So Sammy Jay hurried away to the darkest part of the Green Forest and tried
to sleep through the day.
VII
SAMMY JAY SITS UP ALL NIGHT
Sammy Jay sat in the dark and shivered. Sammy was lonely, more lonely than
he had ever supposed anybody could be. And to tell the truth Sammy Jay was
scared. Yes, Sir, that was just the way Sammy Jay felt--scared. Every time
a leaf rustled, Sammy jumped almost out of his skin. His heart went
pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat. He could hear it himself, or at least he
thought he could, and it seemed to him that if Hooty the Owl should happen
to come along, he would surely hear it.
You see it was the first time in all his life that Sammy Jay had not gone
to sleep just as soon as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had pulled his rosy
night-cap on and gone to bed behind the Purple Hills. But to-night Sammy
sat in the darkest, thickest part of a big pine-tree and kept blinking his
eyes to keep from going to sleep. He had made up his mind that he wouldn't
go to sleep at all that night, no matter how lonely and frightened he might
be. He just would keep his eyes and his ears wide open.
What was he doing it for? Why, because all the little meadow and forest
people insisted that every night lately Sammy Jay had spent a great part of
his time screaming in the harsh, unpleasant way he does during the day, and
some of them were very cross, because they said that he waked them up when
they wanted to sleep. Now Sammy knew better. He never in his life had
screamed in the night unless--well, unless he did it in his sleep and
didn't know it. So he had made up his mind to keep awake all of this night
and see if in the morning any one would say that he had waked them up.
He had watched the black shadows creep through the Green Forest and grow
blacker and blacker. The blacker they grew, the lonesomer he became. By and
by it was so dark that he couldn't see anything at all, and every little
noise made him shiver. It is easy to be brave in daylight, but in the dark,
when you cannot see a thing, every little sound seems twice as loud as it
really is and gives you such a creepy, creepy feeling. Sammy Jay had it
now. He felt so creepy that it seemed as if he would crawl right out of his
skin. He kept saying over and over to himself: "There's nothing to be
afraid of. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm just as safe as if I was
fast asleep." But still he shivered and shook.
By and by, looking up through the top of the big pine-tree, he saw the
little stars come out one by one. They seemed to be looking right down at
him and winking at him in the jolliest way. Somehow, he didn't feel quite
so lonely then, and he tried to wink back. Then little, soft, silvery bars
of light began to creep through the branches of the trees and along the
ground. They were moonbeams, and Sammy could see just a little, a very
little. He began to feel better.
"Whooo-hoo-hoo, whooo-hoo!"
It was a terrible sound, fierce and hungry. Sammy Jay nearly fell from his
perch. He opened his mouth to scream with fright. Then he remembered just
in time and closed it without a sound. It was the hunting-cry of Hooty the
Owl. Sammy Jay sat huddled in a little, forlorn, shivering heap, while
twice more that fierce cry rang through the Green Forest. Then a shadow
floated over the big pine-tree. Hooty the Owl had flown away without seeing
him, and Sammy breathed easier.
VIII
SAMMY JAY IS GLAD HE SAT UP ALL NIGHT
Sammy Jay was having no trouble in keeping awake now. Not a bit! He
couldn't have gone to sleep if he wanted to--not since Hooty the Owl had
frightened him almost out of his skin with his fierce, hungry hunting-call.
He was too frightened and shivery and creepy to sleep. But he didn't want
to, anyway.
So he sat in the thickest part of the big pine-tree, shivering and creepy
and miserable. He heard Bobby Coon go down the Lone Little Path on his way
to Fanner Brown's cornfield, where the corn was just beginning to get milky
and sweet. Out in a patch of bright moonlight he saw Peter Rabbit jumping
and dancing and having the greatest kind of a time all by himself. Pretty
soon Peter was joined by his cousin, Jumper the Hare. Such antics as they
did cut up! Sammy Jay almost laughed aloud as he watched. It was less
lonely with them there, and he did want to call to them dreadfully. But
that would never, never do, for no one must know that he was sitting up
awake all night.
By and by along came Jimmy Skunk, walking out into the patch of bright
moonlight. He touched noses with Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare, which is
one way of saying "good evening" in the Green Forest.
"Isn't it most time for Sammy Jay to scream in his sleep?" asked Peter
Rabbit.
Sammy pricked up his ears. "Scream in his sleep! Nonsense! Sammy Jay isn't
any more asleep than I am. He just screams out of pure meanness to wake up
and frighten good honest folks who want to sleep. For my part, I don't see
what any one wants to sleep for on such a fine night as this, anyway. It
serves 'em right if they do get waked up," replied Jimmy Skunk.
"But Sammy Jay says that he doesn't do it and doesn't know anything about
it," said Peter Rabbit. "Have you ever seen him scream in the night, Jimmy
Skunk?"
"No, I don't have to," replied Jimmy Skunk. "I guess I know his voice when
I hear it, and I've heard it enough times the last few nights, goodness
knows! Tell me this, Peter Rabbit: who else is there that cries 'Thief!
thief! thief!' and screams like Sammy Jay?"
Peter shook his head. "I guess you're right, Jimmy Skunk. I guess you're
right," he said.
"Of course I'm right. There, now!" Jimmy held up one hand to warn Peter to
keep still. Sure enough, there was Sammy Jay's voice, way over in the
alders beside the Laughing Brook, and it was screaming "Thief! thief!
thief!"
They all heard it. Sammy Jay heard it, too, and scratched himself to be
sure that he was awake and sitting there in the big pine-tree.
"It's my voice, and it isn't my voice, for I haven't made a sound, and it's
over in the alders while I'm here in my own big pine-tree," muttered Sammy
Jay to himself. "I'm glad I kept awake, but--
"Maybe I'm going crazy!
My wits are getting hazy!
That's surely me,
Yet here I be!
Oh, dear, I sure am crazy!"
IX
THE MYSTERY GROWS
"Can a body be a body,
Yet not a body be?
Tell a body, anybody,
Didst such a body see?"
Of course it was Sammy Jay who was humming such a foolish-sounding rhyme
as that. But really, it wasn't so foolish in Sammy's case, after all. He
had sat up wide awake all night just to try to find out why it was that all
the little meadow and forest people had complained that he spent part of
each night screaming "Thief! thief! thief!" just as he does in the daytime.
Now he knew. Sitting in the dark in his big pine-tree, he had heard his own
voice, or what sounded like his own voice, screaming down in the alders by
the Laughing Brook. Sammy had scratched himself to be sure that he was
really and truly awake and not dreaming, for there was his voice down in
the alders, and there was himself sitting in the big pine tree with his
mouth closed as tight as he could shut it. Did ever a Jaybird have anything
so queer as that to puzzle him?
Anyway, Sammy Jay knew that he didn't scream in his sleep, and there was a
whole lot of comfort in that. He could eat with a better appetite now. You
see, when he had been told that he was screaming in the night, Sammy had
been afraid that he was doing it in his sleep; and if he was doing that,
why, some dark night Hooty the Owl might hear him and find him, and that
would be the end of him. Now he knew that he could go to sleep in peace,
just as he always had.
Sammy Jay brushed and smoothed out his handsome blue coat and made himself
as pert and smart-appearing as possible. He had been so worried lately that
he hadn't taken much care of himself, which is very unusual for Sammy Jay.
Now, however, he felt so much better that he began to think about his
looks. When he had finished dressing, he started for the alders beside the
Laughing Brook just to have a look around. Of course he didn't expect to
find his voice down there, for who ever saw a voice? Still he thought that
he might find something that would explain the mystery.
He hunted all around in the thicket of alders beside the Laughing Brook,
but nothing unusual did he find. Then for a long time he sat as still as
still can be, studying and thinking. Finally he thought to himself: "I'll
just see how my voice really does sound down here," and opening his mouth
he screamed:
"Thief! thief! thief!"
Then out popped Jenny Wren, and she was so mad that she couldn't sit still
a second. My, my, my, how she did scold!
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Sammy Jay! You ought to be ashamed of
yourself!" she sputtered. "Isn't it enough to keep us awake half the night
without coming down and screaming all day?"
"I haven't been down here in the night, and I haven't kept anybody awake!"
replied Sammy Jay indignantly.
Jenny Wren came right up in front of Sammy Jay and hopped up and down. She
was so mad that with every word she jerked her funny little tail so that
Sammy Jay almost had to laugh.
"Don't tell that to me, Sammy Jay! Don't tell that to me!" she cried.
"Didn't I see you with my own eyes sitting in that alder over there? Don't
tell that to me! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
X
SAMMY JAY SEEKS ADVICE
Sammy Jay had a headache, such a headache! He had thought and thought and
thought, until now it seemed to him that the world surely had turned
topsy-turvy. His poor little head was all in a whirl, and that was what
made it ache. First he had been accused of screaming in the night to waken
and scare the little meadow and forest people who wanted to sleep. Then he
had kept awake all night to find out what it meant, and he had heard what
sounded like his own voice screaming "Thief! thief! thief!" down by the
Laughing Brook, when all the time he was sitting in the dark in his own big
pine-tree in the Green Forest.
That was bad enough, but to have Jenny Wren tell him that she had seen him
with her own eyes sitting in an alder tree and screaming, at the very time
that he had been back there in the big pine-tree, was more than Sammy Jay
could stand. It was no wonder that his head ached. Hardly any of the little
meadow and forest people would speak to him now. They just turned their
backs to him whenever he met them. He didn't mind this so much, because he
knew that none of them had ever liked him very well. You see he had played
too many mean tricks for any one to really like him. But he did hate to
have them blame him for something that he hadn't done.
"It's too much for me!" said Sammy Jay. "It's too much for me! I've thought
and thought, until my brain just goes round and round and makes me dizzy,
and my thoughts turn somersaults over each other. I must get help
somewhere. Now, who can I go to, so few will have anything to do with me?"
"Caw, caw, caw!"
Sammy Jay pricked up his ears and spread his wings. "My cousin, Blacky the
Crow!" he cried. "Why didn't I think of him before? He's very smart, is
Blacky the Crow, and perhaps he can tell me what to do."
So Sammy Jay hurried as fast as he could to lay his troubles before Blacky
the Crow. Blacky's eyes twinkled as he listened to Sammy Jay's tale of woe.
When Sammy had finished and had asked for Blacky's advice, Blacky went into
a black study. Sammy sat and waited patiently, for he felt certain that
Blacky's shrewd head would find some plan to solve the mystery.
"I don't know how you can find out who it is that's making you all this
trouble, but I'll tell you how you can prove that it isn't you that screams
in the night," said Blacky the Crow after a while.
"How?" asked Sammy Jay eagerly.
"Go away from the Green Meadows and the Green Forest and stay away for a
week," replied Blacky the Crow. "Go up to the far-away Old Pasture on the
edge of the mountain, where Reddy and Granny Fox are living. Have Boomer
the Nighthawk see you go to bed there, and then ask him to come straight
down here and tell Peter Rabbit just where you are. Peter will tell every
one else, for he can't keep his tongue still, and then they'll all know
that it isn't you that screams in the night."
"The very thing!" cried Sammy Jay. "I'll move at once!" And off he hurried
to prepare to move up to the Old Pasture.
XI
HOW BLACKY THE CROW'S PLAN WORKED OUT
"Thief! thief! thief!" Old Granny Fox, trotting along a cow-path in the Old
Pasture on the edge of the mountain, heard it and grinned. Reddy Fox,
sitting in the doorway of their new home under the great rocks in the midst
of the thickest clump of bushes and young trees, heard it, too, and he
grinned even more broadly than Granny Fox. It sounded good to him, did that
harsh scream, for it was the first time he had heard the voice of a single
one of the little meadow and forest people since he and Granny Fox had
moved up to the lonesome Old Pasture.
"Now I wonder what has brought Sammy Jay way up here?" said Reddy, as he
limped out to the edge of the thick tangle of bushes and young trees.
Pretty soon he caught sight of a wonderful coat of bright blue with white
trimmings.
"Hi, Sammy Jay! What are you doing up here?" shouted Reddy Fox.
Sammy Jay heard him and hurried over to where Reddy Fox was sitting.
"Hello, Reddy Fox! How are you feeling?" said Sammy Jay.
"Better, thank you. What are you doing way up here in this lonely place?"
replied Reddy.
"It's a long story," said Sammy Jay.
"Tell it to me," begged Reddy Fox.
So Sammy Jay told him all about the trouble he had had on the Green Meadows
and in the Green Forest, and how hardly any one would speak to him because
they said that he kept them awake by screaming in the night. He told how he
had sat up all night and had heard what sounded like his own voice, when
all the time he was sitting with his mouth shut as tight as tight could be.
Then he told about Blacky the Crow's plan, which was that Sammy should come
to the Old Pasture and live for a week. Then, if the little people of the
Green Meadows and the Green Forest heard screams in the night, they would
know that it was not Sammy Jay who was waking them up. Reddy Fox chuckled
as he listened. You know misery likes company, and it tickled Reddy to
think that some one else had been forced to leave the Green Meadows and the
Green Forest.
That night Sammy Jay found a comfortable place which seemed quite safe in
which to go to sleep. Just after jolly, round, red Mr. Sun went to bed
behind the Purple Hills, Sammy saw Boomer the Nighthawk circling round high
in the air catching his dinner. Sammy screamed twice. Boomer heard him and
down he came with a rush.
"Why, Sammy Jay, what under the sun are you doing way off here?" exclaimed
Boomer.
"Going to bed," replied Sammy. "Say, Boomer, will you do something for me?"
"That depends upon what it is," replied Boomer.
"It's just an errand," replied Sammy Jay, and then he asked Boomer to go
down to the Green Meadows and tell Peter Rabbit how he, Boomer, had seen
Sammy going to bed up in the far-away Old Pasture.
Boomer promised that he would, and off he started. He found Peter and told
him. Of course Peter was very much surprised and, because he cannot keep
his tongue still, he started off at once to tell everybody he could find,
just as Blacky the Crow had thought he would do.
XII
NO ONE BELIEVES PETER RABBIT
Peter Rabbit sat in his secret place in the middle of the Old Briar-patch.
Peter was doing some very hard thinking. He ought to have been asleep, for
he had been out the whole night long. But instead of sleeping, he was wide
awake and thinking and thinking.
You see early the night before Boomer the Nighthawk had told Peter that
Sammy Jay was up in the far-away Old Pasture. Boomer had seen him going to
bed there and had come straight down to tell Peter. This was great news,
and Peter could hardly wait for Boomer to stop talking, he was so anxious
to spread the news over the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest, for
Peter is a great gossip and cannot keep his tongue still.
So he had hurried this way and that way, telling every one he met how Sammy
Jay had moved away to the Old Pasture. But no one believed him.
"Wait and see! Wait and see!" said Jimmy Skunk.
"It's just a trick," said Bobby Coon.
"But Boomer the Nighthawk saw him up there going to bed and talked with
him!" cried Peter Rabbit.
"Perhaps he did and then again perhaps he didn't," replied Bobby Coon,
carefully washing an ear of sweet milky corn that he had brought down to
the Laughing Brook from Farmer Brown's corn-field, for Bobby Coon is very,
very neat and always washes his food before eating. "For my part," he
continued, "I believe that Boomer the Nighthawk just made up that story to
help Sammy Jay fool us."
"But that would be a wrong story, and I don't believe that Boomer would do
anything like that!" cried Peter.
Just then there was a shrill scream of "Thief! thief! thief!" over in the
alder bushes. It certainly sounded like Sammy Jay's voice.
"What did I tell you? Now what do you think?" cried Bobby Coon.
Peter didn't know what to think, and he said so. He left Bobby to eat his
corn and spent the rest of the night telling every one he met what Boomer
the Nighthawk had said, but of course no one believed it, and every one
laughed at him, for hadn't they heard Sammy Jay screaming that very night?
So now Peter sat in the Old Briar-patch thinking and thinking, when he
should have been asleep. Finally he yawned and stretched and then started
along one of his private little paths.
"I'll just run up to the Green Forest and try to find Sammy Jay," he said.
So Peter hunted and hunted all through the Green Forest for Sammy Jay, and
asked everybody he met if they had seen Sammy. But no one had, though every
one took pains to tell Peter that they had heard Sammy in the night. At
last Peter found Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. He was muttering and grumbling
to himself, and he didn't see Peter. Peter stopped to listen, which was, of
course, a very wrong thing to do, and what he heard gave Peter an idea.
XIII
STICKY-TOES THE TREE TOAD POURS OUT HIS TROUBLES
Sticky-toes was quite upset. There was no doubt about it. Either he had
gotten out of the wrong side of his bed that morning, or his breakfast had
disagreed with him, or something had happened to make him lose his temper
completely.
"Don't know what it means! Don't know what it means! Don't know what it
means!" croaked Sticky-toes the Tree Toad, over and over again. "Heard it
last night and the night before that and before that and before that and
before that, and I don't know what it means!"
"Don't know what what means?" asked Peter Rabbit, whose curiosity would not
let him keep still.
"Hello, Long-ears! I don't know that it's any of your business!" said
Sticky-toes.
Peter allowed that it wasn't, but that as he had so much on his own mind he
couldn't help being interested when he found that Sticky-toes had troubles
too. Then he told Sticky-toes all about how Boomer the Nighthawk had said
that he had seen Sammy Jay going to bed up in the far-away Old Pasture, and
how that very night Sammy Jay's voice had been heard screaming down in the
alders beside the Laughing Brook. Sticky-toes nodded his head.
"I heard it," said he.
"But how could Sammy Jay be down here if he went to bed way off there in
the Old Pasture? Tell me that, Sticky-toes?" said Peter Rabbit.
Sticky-toes shook his head. "Don't ask me! Don't ask me! Just tell me how
it is that I hear my own voice when I don't speak a word," said Sticky-toes
the Tree Toad.
"What's that?" exclaimed Peter Rabbit.
Then Sticky-toes poured out all his troubles to Peter Rabbit. They were
very much like the troubles of Sammy Jay. Every night Sticky-toes would
hear what sounded like his own voice coming from a tree in which he was not
sitting at all, and at a time when he was keeping his mouth shut as tight
as he knew how. In fact, he had been so worried that for several nights he
hadn't said a word, yet his neighbors had complained that he had been very
noisy. He was getting so worried that he couldn't eat.
Peter Rabbit listened with his mouth wide open. It was just the same kind
of a story that Sammy Jay had told. What under the sun could be going on?
Peter couldn't understand it at all. It certainly was very, very curious.
He just must find out about it!
XIV
PETER RABBIT MEETS UNC' BILLY POSSUM
After Sticky-toes the Tree Toad had poured out his troubles, Peter went
back to the Old Briar-patch, more puzzled than ever. If Sammy Jay was
asleep in the far-away Old Pasture on the edge of the mountain, how could
he be at the same time down in the Green Forest screaming? And if
Sticky-toes the Tree Toad sat all night with his mouth shut tight, how
could the voice of Sticky-toes be heard in an altogether different tree
than the one Sticky-toes was spending the night in? Wasn't it enough to
drive any one crazy?
The more Peter studied over it, the more puzzled he grew. The next night
he started out for the Green Forest with a new plan in his head. He would
hide down among the alders by the Laughing Brook. He would see for himself
who was screaming with the voice of Sammy Jay and talking with the voice of
Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. He just had to know!
So across the Green Meadows and up the Lone Little Path hurried Peter
Rabbit, so as to reach the Laughing Brook before jolly, round, red Mr. Sun
had wholly turned out his light, after going to bed behind the Purple
Hills. He was hurrying so that he almost ran into Unc' Billy Possum.
"Yo' seem to be in a powerful hurry, Brer Rabbit," said Unc' Billy.
"I am," replied Peter. "I must get down to the Laughing Brook before dark."
"'Pears to me it must be mighty impo'tant to make yo' hurry this way," said
Unc' Billy Possum.
"It is," replied Peter Rabbit. "It's to keep me from going crazy."
Unc' Billy looked at Peter very hard for a few minutes, just as if he
thought that Peter was crazy already. Then he put a hand behind one ear
just as if he was hard of hearing. "Ah beg yo' pardon, Brer Rabbit, but Ah
don' seem to have it quite right in mah haid what yo'all am going down to
the Laughing Brook for," said Unc' Billy in the politest way.
Peter chuckled in spite of himself, as he once more replied:
"It's to keep me from going crazy."
Then Peter told Unc' Billy all about Sammy Jay's troubles and all about the
troubles of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. It was the first Unc' Billy Possum
had heard about it, for Unc' Billy had been away from the Green Forest and
the Green Meadows for a visit and had just returned. He listened to all
that Peter Rabbit had to say, and a funny, pleased sort of look came into
his eyes.
"Ah reckon Ah will go along with yo'all," said he.
So Unc' Billy Possum went with Peter Rabbit to the Laughing Brook, where
they hid underneath the alders.
XV
PETER RABBIT AND UNC' BILLY POSSUM KEEP WATCH
"Now," said Peter Rabbit, as they settled themselves to watch, "we'll
see for ourselves whether Sammy Jay and Sticky-toes have been telling the
truth, or if they have been dreaming. If we hear Sammy Jay's voice down
here in the alders to-night, we ought to be able to see who is using it,
for pretty soon the moon will be up, and then we can see easily."
Unc' Billy Possum didn't say anything, not a word, but if Peter Rabbit had
noticed Unc' Billy's eyes, he would have seen a very knowing look there.
The fact is, Unc' Billy was thinking of the time when he thought he had
heard the voice of an old friend of his from way down South, and he was
beginning to suspect that he had been right, and that his old friend really
was somewhere in the Green Forest.
"Ah reckon he sho'ly is, and he's plumb full of his ol' tricks, just like
he used to be," muttered Unc' Billy.
"What's that?" asked Peter, pricking up his ears.
"Nothing, nothing, Brer Rabbit, nothing at all. Ah has a habit of just
talking foolishness to mahself," replied Unc' Billy.
Peter looked at him sharply, but Unc' Billy's shrewd little face looked so
innocent that Peter was ashamed to doubt what Unc' Billy said.
"I guess that we better not talk any more, for fear we might be heard and
have our watch for nothing," said Peter.
Unc' Billy agreed, and side by side they sat as still as if they were made
of wood or stone. The black shadows came early to the alders beside the
Laughing Brook, and soon it was very dark, so dark that Peter and Unc'
Billy, whose eyes are meant for seeing in the dark as well as in the light,
had hard work to make out much. It grew later and later, and still there
was not a sound of the voice of either Sammy Jay or Sticky-toes the Tree
Toad. Peter began to get hungry. The more he thought about it, the hungrier
he grew. He was just about ready to give it up, when the moonbeams began to
creep in among the alder trees just as they had crept through the Green
Forest the night that Sammy Jay kept awake all night.
The moonbeams crept farther and farther into the thicket of alder trees and
bushes where Peter Rabbit and Unc' Billy Possum were hiding. Then it was
that they heard the voice of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. At any rate, Peter
was sure that it was the voice of Sticky-toes until a fierce, angry whisper
came down to him from the branch of an alder just over his head. Peter
looked up. There sat Sticky-toes himself, but his voice was coming from an
alder on the other side of the Laughing Brook.
"Do you hear that? Do you hear that? There's my voice over there, and here
I am here! What do you make of it?" whispered Sticky-toes.
Peter didn't know what to make of it. All he could do was to gaze at
Sticky-toes as if he thought Sticky-toes was a ghost. Just then the voice
of Sammy Jay, or what sounded for all the world like Sammy's voice,
screamed "Thief! thief! thief!" from the very spot where they had just
heard the voice of Sticky-toes.
Peter turned to ask Unc' Billy Possum what he thought, but Unc' Billy
wasn't there.
XVI
UNC' BILLY POSSUM DOES A LITTLE SURPRISING HIMSELF
When Unc' Billy Possum first heard what sounded like the voice of
Sticky-toes the Tree Toad, he had thought, just as Peter Rabbit did, that
Sticky-toes was over in an alder tree on the other side of the Laughing
Brook. But when he heard a whisper right over their heads and looked up to
see Sticky-toes himself, Unc' Billy almost chuckled out loud.
"Yo' can't fool Uncle Billy,
So don't go fo' to try!
Ah knows yo', yes, Ah knows yo'--
Ah knows yo', Mistah Sly."
He said that to himself and quite under his breath, for all the time that
Peter Rabbit and Sticky-toes the Tree Toad were whispering together, Unc'
Billy Possum was stealing away under the alder bushes. Unc' Billy is very
soft-footed, oh, very soft-footed indeed, when he wants to be. You see one
must needs be very soft-footed to steal eggs in Farmer Brown's hen-house.
So Unc' Billy stole away without making a sound, and when Peter Rabbit
turned to speak to him, there was no Unc' Billy there.
Peter rubbed his eyes and stared all around, this way and that way, but no
sign of Unc' Billy could he see. This so surprised Peter Rabbit that he
felt queer all over. First there was the voice of Sticky-toes over on the
other side of the Laughing Brook, when all the time Sticky-toes wasn't
there at all. Now here Unc' Billy Possum had disappeared, just as if the
earth had swallowed him up.
"This isn't any place for me!" said Peter Rabbit, and off he started for
the Green Meadows as fast as he could go, lipperty-lipperty-lip!
All this time Unc' Billy Possum had been crawling along without the tiniest
sound. When he came to the Laughing Brook, he went up a way until he found
a big tree with a branch stretching clear across. Of course Unc' Billy
could have swum across, but he didn't feel like swimming that night, so he
climbed up the big tree, ran out along the branch, let himself down by the
tail, and then dropped. He was across the Laughing Brook without even
wetting his feet.
Unc' Billy didn't waste any time. Just as soft-footed as before, he crept
along in the darkest shadows, until he was right under the alder tree from
which the complaining voice of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad seemed to come.
Unc' Billy listened, and the longer he listened, the broader grew the smile
on Unc' Billy's shrewd face.
"Thief! thief! thief!"
It certainly sounded for all the world like Sammy Jay's voice, and it was
right over Unc' Billy's head. Unc' Billy peered up through the alders. The
leaves were so thick that he could not see very well, but what he did see
was enough. It was a long tail, a tail of feathers hanging down. It wasn't
Sammy Jay's tail, either.
"Don' yo'all think that yo'all have joked enough?" asked Unc' Billy, trying
hard to keep from chuckling aloud.
A cry of "Thief" stopped right in the middle, and two sharp eyes looked
down in surprise at Unc' Billy.
XVII
THE MEETING OF TWO OLD FRIENDS
"Why, Unc' Billy Possum! What are yo'all doing way up here?" cried the
owner of the long tail and sharp eyes.
"This is mah home now. Ah done moved up here," replied Unc' Billy. "'Pears
to me that the question is what am yo'all doing way off up here? Ah thought
Ah sho'ly done hear your voice the other day, and Ah most wore mah po' feet
out looking fo' yo'. Ah thought Ah was mistaken, but now Ah reckon that Ah
was right, after all. My, but Ah am right smart glad to see yo'!"
"Thank yo', Unc' Billy," replied the owner of the long tail and the sharp
eyes.
"Ah reckon yo' can't be any more glad to see me, than Ah am to see yo'.
Fact is, Ah was getting right smart lonesome. Ah done been lying low
daytimes, because, yo' know, Ah'm a stranger up here, and Ah was afraid
that strangers might not be welcome in the Green Forest and on the Green
Meadows."
"'Pears like if all Ah hear am true, that yo' haven't done much lying low
nights. Ah reckon yo' done make up fo' those lonesome feelings. Yes, Sah,
Ah reckon so. Mah goodness, man, yo' done set everybody to running around
like they was crazy!" exclaimed Unc' Billy.
The owner of the long tail and sharp eyes threw back his head and laughed,
and his laugh was like the most beautiful music. It made Unc' Billy feel
good just listening to it.