Buch lesen: «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."

CHAPTER II
CHEEKO IN DANGER

Mr. Bunny had paused in the midst of his story to laugh at the comical situation as described by himself, with Mr. Turtle clinging for dear life to Mr. Crow's leg, and the old bird screaming at the full strength of his lungs for help, while 'Squire Owl darted here and there blindly, growing more and more angry as Cheeko Squirrel continued to say disagreeable things.

"You see what made it altogether too funny was the way the 'Squire raved because he couldn't find Cheeko," Bunny continued as he wiped away with his ears the tears which had been caused by mirth. "If Cheeko only had a bit more sense, he wouldn't have carried on quite so bad, for he must have realized that the 'Squire would lay it up against him; but all he thought of at the time was the fun, and the way he talked to that old bird was something dreadful.

"Now you must remember that Mr. Crow didn't hold his tongue all this time, but kept on shouting for help until you would have thought he was afraid of his life, and we couldn't hear very much of what Mr. Turtle was trying to say. Cheeko didn't have time to pay attention to any one except 'Squire Owl, and danced from one branch to another screaming and chattering until, suddenly, down darted Professor Hawk with his mouth wide open.

"Oh me, oh my, how that squirrel did hustle! If the Professor had once got a grip on him, it was good-bye Cheeko, and nobody knew that better than Master Cheeko himself. He gave one leap for a lot of thorn bushes which grew near the old oak tree as if somebody had put them there for the especial benefit of us members of the fur section, and it seemed to me as if he alighted a good fifty feet from where he started. He must have torn his coat in more than one place, for when a fellow jumps like that he can't pick out just the right spot for stopping, as I know to my sorrow when I've been trying to give Mr. Fox the slip.

"Of course, Professor Hawk didn't stand any chance of getting at him once he was among the thorns, and he would have sailed off in a huff, but that the 'Squire shouted for him to stop. Then he came back to the angry old owl, and the two whispered together a long time without paying the least little bit of attention to poor Jimmy Crow. I knew the big fellows were hatching up some kind of plan to get the best of Cheeko, and at the first good chance I told him the wisest course for him was to get as far from Crow's Corner as his legs would carry him between then and sunset.

"It isn't of very much use to give Cheeko advice, for he always thinks he knows better than any one else, and this time, instead of thanking me for taking the trouble to find him among all those thorns, he said as pertly as any sparrow you ever heard:

"I want you to understand, Bunny Rabbit, that I'm not afraid of those two old fogies – no, nor of all their families. I've taken care of myself in these woods a good many years, and I'm not to be scared by an old owl now'

"'It's better to be scared than eaten, Cheeko,' I said as I rubbed two or three spots of blood from his coat, for it was in a shocking condition by this time. 'You can't stay here among the thorns very long, because Mr. Weasel is sure to hear all this row, and once he gets on your trail you're a gone squirrel.'

"'He tried to run me down last fall; but I gave him the slip all right,' Cheeko said quickly, puffing his chest way out because he was mighty proud of escaping from the bloodthirsty Mr. Weasel.

"'It isn't likely that a squirrel could get away more than once after Mr. Weasel had started for him,' I said, just a bit provoked because Cheeko Squirrel thought himself so smart, and then I left him all swelled up with pride, getting out from the bushes as Mr. Blue Jay came along screaming with anger on account of the hubbub in the club quarters where everything is usually conducted in the most seemly manner.

"Mr. Jay is a wise bird, and you can make a note of that. Just as soon as he saw that clay ball hanging to Mr. Crow's leg and understood what was beneath all the mud, he knew exactly how to fix things; but it was quite a while before he could make Mr. Crow and Mr. Turtle hear him, which is saying a good deal when you come to understand what a loud voice he has. After a while, however, he succeeded in making old Jimmy hold his peace and then he said, as if he were the president of the club instead of only a small-sized member:

"'You can't expect Mr. Turtle to tumble out of the tree just to please you, James Crow, for he would break himself to pieces and besides, if what Cock Robin tells me is true, he didn't come up here of his own free will.'

"'I'm not saying he did,' Mr. Crow snapped out short as pie crust. 'He took hold of my leg and I couldn't get here without him, and that's why the miserable creature is making so much trouble.'

"'I'm not doing a thing,' Mr. Turtle said, speaking as if the tears were just ready to run down his muddy cheeks. 'I'm too old to be tumbling around like a jumping-jack and if anybody is making trouble it's this wretched crow, who has put on more airs than a peacock since the club was started.'

"'How did he get hold of Crow's leg in the first place?' Mr. Jay asked as if he were a regular judge, and had a right to pry into other people's business.

"Then poor old Slowly told the whole story, while Cheeko snickered and screamed from his hiding place among the thorns, and, after Mr. Jay had studied the whole thing over, he said, bristling up the feathers on his head, 'There's only one fair thing for you to do, James Crow: Take old Slowly back to the shore of the pond and then he'll let go of your leg.'

"'But how will I get all this mud off my shell?' Mr. Turtle asked, speaking quite distinctly for a fellow who had his mouth full of crow's leg.

"'Soak yourself till it comes off,' Mr. Jay said with a laugh, and the president of the club asked, as if he were in a good deal of pain:

"'Will you open your mouth if I carry you back to the pond? It's going to be a dreadful job to fly such a distance with you hanging there; but I'm willing to make the try if you'll agree that what Mr. Jay has said will be the square thing.'

"Of course Mr. Turtle promised, for what else could he do while he was up a tree so far, and all the members of the club who had come to learn what was going on got out of the way to give Mr. Crow a fair chance. It was a good deal like work to fly while his leg was being pulled so badly; but he contrived to do it and, after watching until he settled down at the edge of the pond, I began to look around for Cheeko Squirrel.

"'Squire Owl and Professor Hawk had gone away, telling Mr. Porcupine they were off for a picnic; but that didn't seem reasonable to me, for the pair were not such very warm friends as all that, and I knew there was trouble in store for Cheeko if he didn't watch out a good deal sharper than I ever knew of his doing.

"I just wish you could have seen that squirrel when I found him sitting at the front door of Sonny Hedgehog's hole, ready to get under cover at the first sign of danger! Do you know, he really believed he had tired out the 'Squire and that there wasn't any danger he could come to harm!

"'You won't find me in a pickle, no matter how long you hunt,' he said, shaking his tail till it really made me seasick. 'I'd like to see the owl, or the hawk, for that matter, that I couldn't fool when I laid myself right out to do the job. They've run things their own way so long around here that they think everybody else must get off the earth when they say the word. I'll show 'em what an up-to-date squirrel can do.'

"'You'll be showing nothing mighty soon, Cheeko, if you don't take a tumble to yourself,' I said, and I couldn't help speaking a bit short, for it provoked me terribly to see him throwing out his chest as if he were second cousin to Senator Bear. 'You're letting the 'Squire and Professor Hawk shut your eye, that's what's the matter! I'm telling you that those two have had their heads together to your harm, and you'll soon know what they were talking about if you keep the idea in your head that you're the biggest little animal in the woods. Take my advice and get away from Crow's Corner for a while. There are some nice ears of corn over on Mr. Man's place now and it would be a pleasant little vacation to go there for a few days until this matter simmers down a bit.'

"'Do you suppose I'm going to let those old birds think I'm afraid of them?' Cheeko asked, bold as brass, and it was no use for me to try to keep my temper within bounds any longer.

"'Of course you're afraid of them!' I cried. 'It only proves that you've fallen in love with yourself, when you talk like that, and I'm not going to waste any more time on you.'

"'Nobody asked you for your time, you long-eared, bob-tailed old fraud!' Cheeko said, swinging his tail in the most impudent manner imaginable, and I hopped off, determined that I'd never raise a paw in his behalf, no matter how much trouble he might be in; but, of course, when it seemed certain he'd be made over into a pie, as I'm going to tell you about, I quite forgot that he had insulted me when I was trying to do him a favor.

"I left him at the door of Sonny Hedgehog's home and went down toward the pond to see what luck poor old Slowly had in scraping the mud off his shell; but before reaching there whom should I come across but the 'Squire and the Professor hunting for nuts. Now you know as well as I do that there isn't a member of either the Owl or the Hawk family who has a hankering for nuts. Of course there was some mischief in the wind and I had a pretty good idea that Cheeko was the particular nut they were looking for, so I hid behind a lot of ferns till I'd got at the root of their scheme.

"It was too early in the season to find nuts on the ground; but they didn't come to realize that until after searching around among the leaves a long while and then the Professor flew into the top of the walnut tree, where he nipped off two or three. Then he came down to where the 'Squire was waiting for him and said with a chuckle:

"'Just as soon as that fool crow gets back, all the members of the club will gather near the oak tree to hear what he has to say about the mix-up with Slowly Turtle. Of course Cheeko will be there too, for there is nothing going on around these woods that he doesn't try to have a paw in. We'll put the nuts where he'll see them, and you shall get in the shade where the sun won't hurt your eyes. Then, if he isn't your meat, I'll agree to furnish the dinners to-morrow.'

"The idea of two big bullies taking so much time to get the best of one little squirrel! I forgot all about Cheeko's impudence to me and, instead of looking after old Mr. Turtle, I scuttled back through the bushes to watch the villains while they laid their trap."