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diff --git a/37952-h/37952-h.htm b/37952-h/37952-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34fec07 --- /dev/null +++ b/37952-h/37952-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2429 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<HTML><HEAD> + <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> + <title>The Adventures Of Chatterer The Red Squirrel By Thornton W. Burgess A Project Gutenberg eBook</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + + +.smaller {font-size:small;} + +.larger {font-size:large;} + +.padtop {margin-top:4em;} + +.dropcap { + LINE-HEIGHT: 83%; PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; FLOAT: left; FONT-SIZE: 250% +} +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, by +Thornton W. Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Illustrator: Harrison Cady + +Release Date: November 7, 2011 [EBook #37952] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL *** + + + + +Produced by Hazel Batey and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h2>THE ADVENTURES OF<br>CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL</h2> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/icover.jpg" width="300" height="475" alt="" title=""> +</div><br><br> +<h3>THE ADVENTURES OF CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL</h3> +<div class="bbox"> +<p class='smaller center'>BOOKS BY</p> +<p class='larger center'>THORNTON W. BURGESS</p> +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">________________</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center"></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">THE BEDTIME STORY-BOOKS</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">1. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Reddy Fox</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Johnny Chuck</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">3. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Peter Cottontail</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">4. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Mr. Mocker</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">6. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">7. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">8. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Grandfather Frog</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">9. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Chatterer, the Red Squirrel</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">10. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Sammy Jay</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">11. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Buster Bear</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">12. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">13. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Prickly Porky</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">14. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Old Man Coyote</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">15. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">16. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">17. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Bobby Coon</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">18. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">19. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Bob White</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">20. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Ol' Mistah Buzzard</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">________________</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center"></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">MOTHER WEST WIND SERIES</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">1. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Old Mother West Wind</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind's Children</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">3. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind's Animal Friends</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">4. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind's Neighbors</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind "Why" Stories</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">6. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind "How" Stories</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">7. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind "When" Stories</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">8. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mother West Wind "Where" Stories</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">________________</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center"></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">GREEN MEADOW SERIES</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">1. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Happy Jack</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Peter Rabbit</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">3. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bowser the Hound</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">______________</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center"></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">THE BURGESS BIRD BOOK FOR CHILDREN</td></tr> +</table></div> +</div><br><br> + +<a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" width="300" height="409" alt="It seemed as if that little voice inside had fairly +shouted in his ears: "I am afraid." Frontispiece. See Page 118." title=""> +<span class="caption">It seemed as if that little voice inside had fairly +shouted in his ears: "I am afraid." Frontispiece. <a href="#afraid">See Page 118</a>.</span> +</div> + + + + +<p class='padtop smaller center'>BURGESS QUADDIES (<i>TRADE MARK</i>)</p> +<p class='smaller center'><b>The Bedtime Story-Books</b></p> +<hr style="width: 95%;"> +<h1>THE ADVENTURES OF<br>CHATTERER THE RED<br>SQUIRREL</h1> +<p class='padtop smaller center'>BY</p> +<p class='smaller center'>THORNTON W. BURGESS</p> + +<p class='smaller center'>Author of "Old Mother West Wind," "The Adventures of Johnny Chuck," "Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories," etc.</p> +<p class='padtop smaller center'><i>With Illustrations by</i></p> +<p class='smaller center'><i>HARRISON CADY</i> +<br><div class="figcenter" style="width: 101px;"> +<img src="images/decal.jpg" width="101" height="141" alt="" title=""> +</div> + +<p class='padtop larger center'>BOSTON</p> +<p class='larger center'>LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY</p> +<p class='larger center'>1920</p> +<p class='padtop smaller center'><i>Copyright, 1915</i></p> +<p class='smaller center'><span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company.</span></p> +<hr style="width: 15%;"> +<p class='smaller center'><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER</td><td align="left"></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#I">I.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer the Red Squirrel Runs for His Life</span></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#II">II</a>. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer's Last Chance</span></td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#III">III.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Tells Sammy Jay about Shadow the Weasel</span></td><td align="right">11</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#IV">IV.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Leaves the Green Forest</span></td><td align="right">17</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#V">V.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Finds a Home</span></td><td align="right">23</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#VI">VI.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Peter Rabbit Listens to the Wrong Voice</span></td><td align="right">28</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#VII">VII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">How Chatterer Had Fooled Peter Rabbit</span></td><td align="right">33</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Grows Careless</span></td><td align="right">38</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#IX">IX.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Grows too Curious</span></td><td align="right">43</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#X">X.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Old Mr. Trouble Gets Chatterer at Last</span></td><td align="right">49</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XI">XI.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">What Happened next to Chatterer</span></td><td align="right">53</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XII">XII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer is Sure that this is His Last Day</span></td><td align="right">57</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XIII">XIII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer is Put in Prison</span></td><td align="right">62</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XIV">XIV.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Decides to Live</span></td><td align="right">68</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XV">XV.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Farmer Brown's Boy Tries to Make Friends</span></td><td align="right">73</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XVI">XVI.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Has a Pleasant Surprise</span></td><td align="right">78</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XVII">XVII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sammy Jay's Sharp Eyes</span></td><td align="right">83</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XVIII">XVIII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer is Made Fun of</span></td><td align="right">88</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XIX">XIX.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Peter Rabbit Tries to Help</span></td><td align="right">93</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XX">XX.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Has Another Great Surprise</span></td><td align="right">99</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XXI">XXI.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Hears the Small Voice</span></td><td align="right">104</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XXII">XXII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Tommy Tit Makes Good His Boast</span></td><td align="right">110</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#XXIII">XXIII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chatterer Grows very, very Bold</span></td><td align="right">116</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">It seemed as if that little voice inside had fairly shouted in his ears, "I am afraid"</span></td><td align="left"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"What's that?" Sammy Jay asked sharply</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i023">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"Have you found a new home yet?" asked Peter</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i039">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Very cautiously Chatterer peeped inside the hole</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i081">67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"You tell Chatterer that I'll get him yet!" snarled Shadow</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i101">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">"I'd be willing to try it if it was of any use. But it isn't," said Prickly Porky</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#i115">97</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span> +<h2>THE ADVENTURES OF CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL</h2> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL RUNS FOR HIS LIFE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer the Red Squirrel had been scolding because there was no +excitement. He had even tried to make some excitement by waking Bobby +Coon and making him so angry that Bobby had threatened to eat him alive. +It had been great fun to dance around and call Bobby names and make fun +of him. Oh, yes, it had been great fun. You see, he knew all the time +that Bobby couldn't catch him if he should try. But now things were<span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span> +different. Chatterer had all the excitement that he wanted. Indeed, he +had more than he wanted. The truth is, Chatterer was running for his +life, and he knew it.</p> + +<p>It is a terrible thing, a very terrible thing to have to run for one's +life. Peter Rabbit knows all about it. He has run for his life often. +Sometimes it has been Reddy Fox behind him, sometimes Bowser the Hound, +and once or twice Old Man Coyote. Peter has known that on his long legs +his life has depended, and more than once a terrible fear has filled his +heart. But Peter has also known that if he could reach the old stone +wall or the dear Old Briar-patch first, he would be safe, and he always +has reached it. So when he has been running with that terrible fear in +his heart, there has always been hope there, too.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span>But Chatterer the Red Squirrel was running without hope. Yes, Sir, there +was nothing but fear, terrible fear, in his heart, for he knew not where +to go. The hollow tree or the holes in the old stone wall where he would +be safe from any one else, even Farmer Brown's boy, offered him no +safety now, for the one who was following him with hunger in his +anger-red eyes could go anywhere that he could go—could go into any +hole big enough for him to squeeze into. You see, it was Shadow the +Weasel from whom Chatterer was running, and Shadow is so slim that he +can slip in and out of places that even Chatterer cannot get through.</p> + +<p>Chatterer knew all this, and so, because it was of no use to run to his +usual safe hiding places, he ran in just the other direction. He didn't +know where he was going. He had just one thought: <span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span>to run and run as +long as he could and then, well, he would try to fight, though he knew +it would be of no use.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" he sobbed, as he ran out on the branch of a tree +and leaped across to the next tree, "I wish I had minded my own +business! I wish I had kept my tongue still. Shadow the Weasel wouldn't +have known where I was if he hadn't heard my voice. Oh, dear! oh, dear +me! What can I do? What can I do?"</p> + +<p>Now in his great fright Chatterer had run and jumped so hard that he was +beginning to grow very tired. Presently he found that he must make a +very long jump to reach the next tree. He had often made as long a jump +as this and thought nothing of it, but now he was so tired that the +distance looked twice as great as it really was. He <span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span>didn't dare stop to +run down the tree and scamper across. So he took a long breath, ran +swiftly along the branch, and leaped. His hands just touched the tip of +the nearest branch of the other tree. He tried his very best to hold on, +but he couldn't. Then down, down, down he fell. He spread himself out as +flat as he could, and that saved him a little, but still it was a +dreadful fall, and when he landed, it seemed for just a minute as if all +the breath was gone from his body. But it wasn't quite, and in another +minute he was scrambling up the tree.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span></p> +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER'S LAST CHANCE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer, still running for his life and without the least hope, +suddenly saw a last chance to escape from Shadow the Weasel. That is, he +saw something that might offer him a chance. He couldn't be sure until +he had tried, and even then he might escape from one danger only to run +right into another equally great. What Chatterer saw was a big brown +bunch near the top of a tall chestnut-tree, and he headed for that tree +as fast as ever he could go. What was that big brown bunch? Why it was +Redtail the Hawk, who was dozing there with his head drawn down between +his shoulders dreaming.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span>Now old Redtail is one of Chatterer's deadliest enemies. He is quite as +fond of Red Squirrel as is Shadow the Weasel, though he doesn't often +try to catch one, because there are other things to eat much easier to +get. Chatterer had had more than one narrow escape from old Redtail and +was very much afraid of him, yet here he was running up the very tree in +which Redtail was sitting. You see, a very daring idea had come into his +head. He had seen at once that Redtail was dozing and hadn't seen him at +all. He knew that Redtail would just as soon have Shadow the Weasel for +dinner as himself, and a very daring plan had popped into his head.</p> + +<p>"I may as well be caught by Redtail as Shadow," he thought, as he ran up +the tree, "but if my plan works out right, I won't be caught by either.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> +Anyway, it is my very last chance."</p> + +<p>Up the tree he scrambled, and after him went Shadow the Weasel. Shadow +had been so intent on catching Chatterer that he had not noticed old +Redtail, which was just as Chatterer had hoped. Up, up he scrambled, +straight past old Redtail, but as he passed, he pulled one of Redtail's +long tail feathers, and then ran on to the top of the tree, and with the +last bit of strength he had left, leaped to a neighboring spruce-tree +where, hidden by the thick branches, he stopped to rest and see what +would happen.</p> + +<p>Of course, when he felt his tail pulled, old Redtail was wide awake in a +flash; and of course he looked down to see who had dared to pull his +tail. There just below him was Shadow the Weasel, who had just that +minute <span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span>discovered who was sitting there. Old Redtail hissed sharply, +and the feathers on the top of his head stood up in a way they do when +he is angry. And he was angry—very angry.</p> + +<p>Shadow the Weasel stopped short. Then, like a flash, he dodged around to +the other side of the tree. He had no thought of Chatterer now. Things +were changed all in an instant, quite changed. Instead of the hunter, he +was now the hunted. Old Redtail circled in the air just overhead, and +every time he caught sight of Shadow, he swooped at him with great, +cruel claws spread to clutch him. Shadow dodged around the trunk of the +tree. He was more angry than frightened, for his sharp eyes had spied a +little hollow in a branch of the chestnut-tree, and he knew that once +inside of that, he would have nothing to fear. But he was angry <span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span>clear +through to think that he should be cheated out of that dinner he had +been so sure of only a few minutes before. So he screeched angrily at +old Redtail and then, watching his chance, scampered out to the hollow +and whisked inside, just in the nick of time.</p> + +<p>Chatterer, watching from the spruce-tree, gave a great sigh of relief. +He saw Redtail the Hawk post himself on the top of a tall tree where he +could keep watch of that hollow in which Shadow had disappeared, and he +knew that it would be a long time before Shadow would dare poke even his +nose outside. Then, as soon as he was rested, Chatterer stole softly, +oh, so softly, away through the tree-tops until he was sure that Redtail +could not see him. Then he hurried. He wanted to get just as far away +from Shadow the Weasel as he could.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span></p> +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER TELLS SAMMY JAY ABOUT SHADOW THE WEASEL</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer hurried through the Green Forest. He didn't know just where he +was going. He had but one thought, and that was to get as far away from +Shadow the Weasel as he could. It made him have cold shivers all over +every time he thought of Shadow.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me you are in a great hurry," said a voice from a pine-tree he +was passing.</p> + +<p>Chatterer knew that voice without looking to see who was speaking. +Everybody in the Green Forest knows that voice. It was the voice of +Sammy Jay.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span>"It looks to me as if you were running away from some one," jeered +Sammy.</p> + +<p>Chatterer wanted to stop and pick a quarrel with Sammy, as he usually +did when they met, but the fear of Shadow the Weasel was still upon him.</p> + +<p>"I—I—am," he said in a very low voice.</p> + +<p>Sammy looked as if he thought he hadn't heard right. Never before had he +known Chatterer to admit that he was afraid, for you know Chatterer is a +great boaster. It must be something very serious to frighten Chatterer +like that.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" Sammy asked sharply. "I always knew you to be a coward, +but this is the first time I have ever known you to admit it. Who are +you running away from?"</p> +<a name="i023" id="i023"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i023.jpg" width="300" height="413" alt=""What's that?" Sammy asked sharply." title=""> +<span class="caption">"What's that?" Sammy asked sharply.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Shadow the Weasel," replied Chatterer, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span>still in a very low voice, as +if he were afraid of being overheard. "Shadow the Weasel is back in the +Green Forest, and I have just had such a narrow escape!"</p> + +<p>"Ho!" cried Sammy, "this is important. I thought Shadow was up in the +Old Pasture. If he has come back to the Green Forest, folks ought to +know it. Where is he now?"</p> + +<p>Chatterer stopped and told Sammy all about his narrow escape and how he +had left Shadow the Weasel in a hollow of a chestnut-tree with Redtail +the Hawk watching for him to come out. Sammy's eyes sparkled when +Chatterer told how he had pulled the tail of old Redtail. "And he +doesn't know now who did it; he thinks it was Shadow," concluded +Chatterer, with a weak little grin.</p> + +<p>"Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!" laughed <span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span>Sammy Jay. "I wish I had been there +to see it."</p> + +<p>Then he suddenly grew grave. "Other folks certainly ought to know that +Shadow is back in the Green Forest," said he, "so that they may be on +their guard. Then if they get caught, it is their own fault. I think +I'll go spread the news." You see, for all his mean ways, Sammy Jay does +have some good in him, just as everybody does, and he dearly loves to +tell important news.</p> + +<p>"I—I wish you would go first of all and tell my cousin, Happy Jack the +Gray Squirrel," said Chatterer, speaking in a hesitating way.</p> + +<p>Sammy Jay leaned over and looked at Chatterer sharply. "I thought you +and Happy Jack were not friends," said he. "You always seem to be +quarreling."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span>Chatterer looked a little confused, but he is very quick with his +tongue, is Chatterer. "That's just it," he replied quickly. "That's just +it! If anything should happen to Happy Jack, I wouldn't have him to +quarrel with, and it is such fun to see him get mad!"</p> + +<p>Now of course the real reason why Chatterer wanted Happy Jack warned was +because down inside he was ashamed of a dreadful thought that had come +to him of leading Shadow the Weasel to Happy Jack's house, so that he +himself might escape. It had been a dreadful thought, a cowardly +thought, and Chatterer had been really ashamed that he should have ever +had such a thought. He thought now that if he could do something for +Happy Jack, he would feel better about it.</p> + +<p>Sammy Jay promised to go straight <span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span>to Happy Jack and warn him that +Shadow the Weasel was back in the Green Forest, and off he started, +screaming the news as he flew, so that all the little people in the +Green Forest might know. Chatterer listened a few minutes and then +started on.</p> + +<p>"Where shall I go?" he muttered. "Where shall I go? I don't dare stay in +the Green Forest, for now Shadow will never rest until he catches me."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span></p> +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER LEAVES THE GREEN FOREST</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer was in a peck of trouble. Yes, Sir, he was in a peck of +trouble. There was no doubt about it. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear! If only I had +kept my tongue still! If only I had kept my tongue still!" he kept +saying over and over to himself, as he hurried through the Green Forest. +You see, Chatterer was just beginning to realize what a lot of trouble +an unruly tongue can get one into. Here it was cold weather, the very +edge of winter, and Chatterer didn't dare stay in the Green Forest where +he had always made his home. His storehouses were full of nuts and seeds +and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span>corn, enough and more than enough to keep him in comfort all +winter, and now he must turn his back on them and go he didn't know +where, and all because of his mean disposition and bad tongue.</p> + +<p>If he hadn't called Bobby Coon names that morning at the top of his +voice, Shadow the Weasel might not have found him. He knew that Shadow +has a long memory, and that he would never forget the trick by which +Chatterer had escaped, and so the only way Chatterer would ever be able +to have a moment's peace would be to leave the Green Forest for as long +as Shadow the Weasel chose to stay there. Chatterer shivered inside his +warm, red fur coat as he thought of the long, cold winter and how hard +it would be to find enough to eat. Was ever any one else in such a +dreadful fix?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span>Presently he came to the edge of the Green Forest. He sat down to rest +in the top of a tree where he could look off over the Green Meadows. +Far, far away he could see the Purple Hills, behind which jolly, round, +red Mr. Sun goes to bed every night. He could see the old stone wall +that separates Farmer Brown's cornfield from the Green Meadows. He could +see Farmer Brown's house and barn and near them the Old Orchard where +Johnny Chuck had spent the summer with Polly Chuck and their baby +Chucks. He knew every nook and corner in the old stone wall and many +times he had been to the Old Orchard. It was there that he had stolen +the eggs of Drummer the Woodpecker. He grinned at the thought of those +eggs and how he had stolen them, and then he shivered as he remembered<span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> +how he had finally been caught and how sharp the bills of Drummer and +Mrs. Drummer were.</p> + +<p>But all that was in the past, and thinking about it wasn't going to help +him now. He had got to do something right away. Perhaps he might find a +place to live in the old stone wall, and there might, there just might, +be enough grains of corn scattered over the ground of the cornfield for +him to lay up a supply, if he worked very hard and fast. Anyway, he +would have a look. So he hurried down from the tree and out along the +old stone wall. His spirits began to rise as he whisked along, peering +into every hole and jumping from stone to stone. It really seemed as +though he might find a snug home somewhere here. Then he remembered +something that made his heart sink again. He remembered having<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span> seen +Shadow the Weasel more than once exploring that very wall. Just as +likely as not he would do it again, for it was so very near the Green +Forest. No, the old stone wall wouldn't do.</p> + +<p>Just then along came Peter Rabbit. Peter saw right away that something +was wrong with Chatterer, and he wanted to know what it was. Chatterer +told him. He felt that he had just got to tell some one. Peter looked +thoughtful. He scratched his long left ear with his long right hind +foot.</p> + +<p>"You know there is another old stone wall up there by the Old Orchard," +said he. "It is pretty near Farmer Brown's house, and Black Pussy hunts +there a great deal, but you ought to be smart enough to keep out of her +clutches."</p> + +<p>"I should hope so!" exclaimed Chatterer scornfully. "I have never<span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span> seen +a cat yet that I was afraid of! believe I'll go over and have a look at +that old wall, Peter Rabbit."</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you," said Peter, and off they started together.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span></p> +<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER FINDS A HOME</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When your plans are upset and all scattered about<br></span> +<span class="i0">Just make up your mind that you'll find a way out.<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="dropcap">P</span>eter rabbit went straight over to the old stone wall on the edge of the +Old Orchard, lipperty-lipperty-lip so fast that it didn't take him long +to get there. But Chatterer the Red Squirrel never feels really safe on +the ground unless there is something to climb close at hand, so he went +a long way round by way of the rail fence. He always did like to run +along a rail fence, and he wouldn't have minded it a bit this <span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span>morning +if he hadn't been in such a hurry. It seemed to him that he never would +get there. But of course he did.</p> + +<p>When he did get there, he found Peter Rabbit sitting on Johnny Chuck's +doorstep, staring down Johnny Chuck's long hall. "They're asleep," said +he, as Chatterer came up all out of breath. "I've thumped and thumped +and thumped, but it isn't the least bit of use. They are asleep, and +they'll stay asleep until Mistress Spring arrives. I can't understand it +at all. No, Sir, I can't understand how anybody can be willing to miss +this splendid cold weather."</p> + +<p>Peter shook his head in a puzzled way and continued to stare down the +long empty hall. Of course he was talking about Johnny and Polly Chuck, +who had gone to sleep for the winter. That sleeping business always +puzzles <span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span>Peter. It seems to him like a terrible waste of time. But +Chatterer had too much on his mind to waste time wondering how other +people could sleep all winter. He couldn't himself, and now that he had +been driven away from his own home in the Green Forest by fear of Shadow +the Weasel, he couldn't waste a minute. He must find a new home and then +spend every minute of daytime laying up a new store of food for the days +when everything would be covered with snow.</p> + +<p>Up and down the length of the stone wall he scampered, looking for a +place to make a home, but nothing suited him. You know he likes best to +make his home in a tree. He isn't like Striped Chipmunk, who lives in +the ground. Poor Chatterer! He just couldn't see how he was going to +live in the old stone wall. He sat on top of <span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span>a big stone to rest and +think it over. He was discouraged. Life didn't seem worth the living +just then. He felt as if his heart had gone way down to his toes. Just +then his eyes saw something that made his heart come up again with a +great bound right where it ought to be, and just then Peter Rabbit came +hopping along.</p> + +<p>"Have you found a new home yet?" asked Peter.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Chatterer, "I think I have.</p> + +<p>"That's good," replied Peter. "I was sure you would find one over here. +Where is it?"</p> +<a name="i039" id="i039"></a> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i039.jpg" width="300" height="408" alt=""Have you found a new home yet?" asked Peter." title=""> +<span class="caption">"Have you found a new home yet?" asked Peter.</span> +</div> + +<p>Chatterer opened his mouth to tell Peter and then closed it with a snap. +He remembered just in time how hard it is for Peter to keep a secret. If +he should tell Peter, it would be just like Peter to tell some one else +without <span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span>meaning to, and then it might get back to Shadow the Weasel.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to tell you now, Peter Rabbit," said he. "You see, I +don't want anybody to know where it is until I am sure that it will do. +But I'll tell you this much," he added, as he saw how disappointed Peter +looked, "I'm going to live right here."</p> + +<p>Peter brightened up right away. You see, he thought that of course +Chatterer meant that he had found a hole in the old stone wall, and he +felt very sure that he could find it by keeping watch. "That's good," he +said again. "I'll come see you often. But watch out for Black Pussy; her +claws are very sharp. Now I think I'll be going back to the Old +Briar-patch."</p> + +<p>"Don't tell where I am," called Chatterer.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span></p> +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h3> + +<h3>PETER RABBIT LISTENS TO THE WRONG VOICE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">P</span>eter Rabbit didn't play fair. No, Sir, Peter didn't play fair. People +who have too much curiosity about other people's affairs seldom do play +fair. He didn't mean to be unfair. Oh, my, no! Peter didn't mean to be +unfair. When he left Chatterer the Red Squirrel sitting on the old stone +wall on the edge of Farmer Brown's Old Orchard, he intended to go +straight home to the dear Old Briar-patch. He was a little disappointed, +was Peter, that Chatterer hadn't told him just where his new house was. +Not that it really mattered; he just wanted to know, that was all. With +every jump away from the old stone <span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span>wall, that desire to know just where +Chatterer's new house was seemed to grow. Peter stopped and looked back. +He couldn't see Chatterer now, because the bushes hid him. And if he +couldn't see Chatterer, why of course Chatterer couldn't see him.</p> + +<p>Peter sat down and began to pull his whiskers in a way he has when he is +trying to decide something. It seemed as if two little voices were +quarreling inside him. "Go along home like the good fellow you are and +mind your own business," said one. "Steal back to the old wall and watch +Chatterer and so find out just where his new house is; he'll never know +anything about it, and there'll be no harm done," said the other little +voice. It was louder than the first voice, and Peter liked the sound of +it.</p> + +<p>"I believe I will," said he, and without <span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span>waiting to hear what the first +little voice would say to that, he turned about and very carefully and +softly tiptoed back to the old stone wall. Right near it was a thick +little bush. It seemed to Peter that it must have grown there just to +give him a hiding place. He crawled under it and lay very flat. He could +see along the old stone wall in both directions. Chatterer was sitting +just where he had left him. He was looking in the direction that Peter +had gone when he had said good-by. Peter chuckled to himself. "He's +waiting to make sure I have gone before he goes to that new house of +his," thought Peter. "This is the time I'll fool him."</p> + +<p>"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Peter Rabbit; this is none of your +business," said that little small voice.</p> + +<p>"You're not doing a bit of harm. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span>Chatterer has no business to try to +keep his new house a secret, anyway," said the other little voice +inside. And because of his dreadful curiosity, Peter liked the sound of +that voice best and listened to it, and after a while the first voice +grew discouraged and stopped.</p> + +<p>Chatterer sat where he was for what seemed to Peter a very long time. +But by and by he gave a sudden funny little flirt of his tail and ran +along the old wall a little way. Then with a hasty look around, he +disappeared in a hole. A minute later he popped his head out for another +look around and then disappeared again. He did this two or three times +as if anxious.</p> + +<p>Peter chuckled to himself. "That's his new house right there," said he +to himself, "and now that I know where it is, I think I'll hurry along +home to the dear Old Briar-patch." He was <span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span>just getting ready to start +when Chatterer popped out of his hole and sat up on a big stone. He was +talking out loud, and Peter listened. Then his long ears began to burn, +for this is what he heard:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I'm glad that Peter's not a spy,<br></span> +<span class="i2">For spies are hateful as can be;<br></span> +<span class="i0">It's dreadful how some people try<br></span> +<span class="i2">Affairs of other folks to see."<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Chatterer whisked out of sight, and Peter hurried to get away. His ears +still burned, and somehow he didn't feel so tickled over the thought +that he had discovered Chatterer's secret as he had thought he would. +And over in the hole in the old stone wall Chatterer the Red Squirrel +was laughing as if there was some great joke. There was, and the joke +was on Peter Rabbit. You see he hadn't discovered Chatterer's new house +at all.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span></p> +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h3> + +<h3>HOW CHATTERER HAD FOOLED PETER RABBIT</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer the Red Squirrel is a scamp himself and not to be trusted. +Nobody in the Green Forest or on the Green Meadows trusts him. And +people who cannot be trusted themselves never trust any one else. +Chatterer never does. He is always suspicious. So when Peter Rabbit had +said good-by and started for the dear Old Briar-patch without knowing +where Chatterer's new house was, Chatterer had made up his mind right +away that Peter would never be satisfied until he knew, or thought he +knew, where that new house was. You see, he knew all about Peter's +dreadful curiosity.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span>He watched Peter out of sight, then he slipped down out of sight himself +between the stones of the old wall. "I know what Peter will do," said he +to himself. "Peter will come sneaking back, and hide where he can watch +me, and so find out where my new house is. I'll just stay here long +enough to give him a chance to hide, and then I'll fool him."</p> + +<p>You see, Chatterer knew that if he had been in Peter's place, he would +have done just that thing. So he waited a little while and then went +back to the place where Peter had left him. There he sat and pretended +to be looking in the direction in which Peter had gone, as if to make +sure that Peter was really on his way home. But all the time Chatterer +was watching out of the corners of his eyes to see if Peter was hiding +anywhere near. He didn't <span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span>see Peter, but he didn't have the least doubt +that Peter was somewhere about.</p> + +<p>After a while, he ran over to a hole between the stones of the old wall +and pretended to be very busy there, just as if it really were the new +house he had found. He kept popping in and out and looking around as if +afraid that some one was watching him. He even got some dry leaves and +took them inside, as if to make a bed. All the time, although he hadn't +seen a sign of Peter, he didn't have the least doubt in the world that +Peter was watching him. When he grew tired, a new idea popped into his +shrewd little head. He popped out of the hole and sat up on the wall. +Then he said aloud that verse which had made Peter's ears burn so. He +had meant to make Peter's ears burn. He said that verse just as if he +really did believe that Peter was not spying <span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span>on him and was glad of it. +When he had finished, he whisked out of sight again to give Peter a +chance to get away. But this time Chatterer did some peeking himself. He +hid where Peter couldn't see him, but where he himself could see both +ways along the old stone wall, and so it was that he saw Peter crawl out +from under the little bush where he had been hiding and sneak away in +the direction of the Old Briar-patch. And he knew that this time Peter +had gone for good.</p> + +<p>Then Chatterer laughed and laughed to think how he had fooled Peter +Rabbit, and wished that he could pat himself on the back for being so +smart. He didn't once think of how dishonest and mean it was of Peter to +spy on him, because, you see, he would have done the same thing himself. +"One has to have one's wits very sharp these <span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span>days to keep a secret," +chuckled Chatterer.</p> + +<p>But over in the old Briar-patch that afternoon Peter Rabbit sat very +thoughtful and very much ashamed. The thought that he had found out +where Chatterer's new house was didn't give him the pleasure that he had +thought it would. His ears still burned, for he thought that Chatterer +supposed him honest when he wasn't.</p> + +<p>"I believe I'll go over to-morrow and tell Chatterer all about it and +how mean I have been," said he at last. And when he had made up his mind +to do this, he felt better.</p> + +<p>And all the time he hadn't found Chatterer's new house at all. You see, +it was the old home of Drummer the Woodpecker in an old apple-tree which +Chatterer had decided to live in.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span></p> +<h3><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER GROWS CARELESS</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When you grow careless even though<br></span> +<span class="i2">It be in matters small,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Old Mr. Trouble you will find<br></span> +<span class="i2">Is bound to make a call.<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>ome people never seem to learn that. You would suppose that after all +the trouble and worry Chatterer the Red Squirrel had had, he would have +learned a lesson. For a while it seemed as if he had. Morning after +morning, before anybody was up in Farmer Brown's house, he visited +Farmer Brown's corn-crib, taking the greatest care not to be seen and to +get back to his home in the Old Orchard before it was time for Farmer +Brown's <span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span>boy to come out and do his morning's work. And in the corn-crib +he took the greatest care to steal only where what he took would not be +missed. The empty cobs from which he had eaten the corn he hid in the +darkest corner behind the great pile of yellow corn, where they would +not be found until nearly all the corn had been taken from the crib. Oh, +he was very sly and crafty, was Chatterer the Red Squirrel—at first.</p> + +<p>But after a while, when nothing happened, Chatterer grew careless. At +first it had seemed very dangerous to go over to the corn-crib, but +after he had been there often, it didn't seem dangerous at all. Once +inside, he would just give himself up to having a good time. He raced +about over the great pile of beautiful yellow corn and found the +loveliest hiding places in it. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span>Down in a dark corner he made a splendid +bed from pieces of husk which hadn't been stripped from some of the +ears. It was quite the nicest place he had ever dreamed of, was Farmer +Brown's corn-crib. He got to feeling that it was his own and not Farmer +Brown's at all.</p> + +<p>The more that feeling grew, the more careless Chatterer became. He +dropped a grain of corn now and then and was too lazy to go down and +pick it up, or else didn't think anything about it. Farmer Brown's boy, +coming every morning for corn for the hens, noticed these grains, but +supposed they were some that had been rubbed from the ears during the +handling of them. Then one morning Chatterer dropped a cob from which he +had eaten all the corn. He meant to get it and hide it, as he had hidden +other <span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span>cobs, but he didn't want to do it just then. And later—well, +then he forgot all about it. Yes, Sir, he forgot all about it until he +had reached his home in the Old Orchard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," thought Chatterer, "it doesn't matter. I can get it and hide +it to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Now a corn-cob is a very simple thing. Farmer Brown's boy knew where +there was a whole pile of them. He added to that pile every day, after +shelling enough corn for the biddies. So it would seem that there was +nothing about a corn-cob to make him open his eyes as he did that +morning, when he saw the one left by Chatterer the Red Squirrel. But you +see he knew that a bare corn-cob had no business inside the corn-crib, +and suddenly those scattered grains of corn had a new meaning for him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span>"Ha, ha!" he exclaimed, "A thief has been here, after all! I thought we +were safe from rats and mice, and I don't see now how they got in, for I +don't, I really don't, see how they could climb the stone legs of the +corn-crib. But some one with sharp teeth certainly has been in here. It +must be that I have left the door open some time, and a rat has slipped +in. I'll just have to get after you, Mr. Rat or Mr. Mouse. We can't have +you in our corn-crib."</p> + +<p>With that he went into the house. Presently he came back, and in one +hand was a rat-trap and in the other a mouse-trap.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span></p> +<h3><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER GROWS TOO CURIOUS</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>verybody knows how curious Peter Rabbit is. He is forever poking his +wobbly little nose in where it has no business to be, and as a result +Peter is forever getting into trouble. Whenever Chatterer the Red +Squirrel has heard a new story about Peter and the scrapes his curiosity +has got him into, Chatterer has said that Peter got no more than he +deserved. As for himself, he might be curious about a thing he saw for +the first time, but he had too much sense to meddle with it until he +knew all about it. So Chatterer has come to be thought very smart, quite +too smart to be caught in <span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span>a trap—at least to be caught in an ordinary +trap.</p> + +<p>Now a great many people manage to make their neighbors think they are a +great deal smarter than they really are, and Chatterer is one of this +kind. If some of his neighbors could have peeped into Farmer Brown's +corn-crib the morning after Farmer Brown's boy found the telltale +corn-cob so carelessly dropped by Chatterer, they would have been +surprised. Yes, Sir, they would have been surprised. They would have +seen Chatterer the Red Squirrel, the boaster, he of the sharp wits, +showing quite as much curiosity as ever possessed Peter Rabbit.</p> + +<p>Chatterer had come over to the corn-crib as usual to get his daily +supply of corn. As usual, he had raced about over the great pile of +yellow corn. Quite suddenly his sharp eyes spied <span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span>something that they +hadn't seen before. It was down on the floor of the corn-crib quite near +the door. Chatterer was sure that it hadn't been there the day before. +It was a very queer looking thing, very queer indeed. And then he spied +another queer looking thing near it, only this was very much smaller. +What could they be? He looked at them suspiciously. They looked harmless +enough. They didn't move. He ran a few steps towards them and scolded, +just as he scolds at anything new he finds out of doors. Still they +didn't move. He ran around on a little ledge where he could look right +down on the queer things. He was sure now that they were not alive. The +biggest one he could see all through. Inside was something to eat. The +littlest thing was round and flat with funny bits of wire on top. It<span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span> +looked as if it were made of wood, and in the sides were little round +holes too small for him to put his head through.</p> + +<p>"Leave them alone," said a small voice inside of Chatterer.</p> + +<p>"But I want to see what they are and find out all about them," said +Chatterer.</p> + +<p>"No good ever comes of meddling with things you don't know about," said +the small voice.</p> + +<p>"But they are such queer looking things, and they're not alive. They +can't hurt me," said Chatterer.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he ran back to the pile of corn and tried to eat. Somehow +he had lost his appetite. He couldn't take his eyes off those two queer +things down on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Better keep away," warned the small voice inside.</p> + +<p>"It won't do any harm to have a <span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span>closer look at them," said Chatterer.</p> + +<p>So once more he scrambled down from the pile of corn and little by +little drew nearer to the two queer things. The nearer he got, the more +harmless they looked. Finally he reached out and smelled of the +smallest. Then he turned up his nose.</p> + +<p>"Smells of mice," muttered Chatterer, "just common barn mice." Then he +reached out a paw and touched it. "Pooh!" said he, "it's nothing to be +afraid of." Just then he touched one of the little wires, and there was +a sudden snap. It frightened Chatterer so that he scurried away. But he +couldn't stay away. That snap was such a funny thing, and it hadn't done +any harm. You see, he hadn't put his paw in at one of the little holes, +or it might have done some harm.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon he was back again, meddling <span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span>with those little wires on top. +Every once in a while there would be a snap, and he would scamper away. +It was very scary and great fun. By and by the thing wouldn't snap any +more, and then Chatterer grew tired of his queer plaything and began to +wonder about the other queer thing. No harm had come from the first one, +and so he was sure no harm could come from the other.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span></p> +<h3><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h3> + +<h3>OLD MR. TROUBLE GETS CHATTERER AT LAST</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>f course you have guessed what it was that Chatterer had been meddling +with. It was a mouse-trap, and he had sprung it without getting hurt. +Chatterer didn't know that it was a trap. He ought to have known, but he +didn't. You see, it was not at all like the traps Farmer Brown's boy had +sometimes set for him in the Green Forest. He knew all about those traps +and never, never went near them. Now that there was nothing more +exciting about the mouse-trap, Chatterer turned his attention to the +other queer thing. He walked all <span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span>around it and looked at it from every +side. It certainly was queer. Yes, Sir, it certainly was queer! It +looked something like a little house only he could see all through it. +He put one paw out and touched it. Nothing happened. He tried it again. +Then he jumped right on top of it. Still nothing happened. He tried his +sharp teeth on it, but he couldn't bite it. You see, it was made of +stout wire.</p> + +<p>Inside was something that looked good to eat. It smelled good, too. +Chatterer began to wonder what it would taste like. The more he +wondered, the more he wanted to know. There must be some way of getting +in, and if he could get in, of course he could get out again. He jumped +down to the floor and ran all around the queer little wire house. At +each end was a sort of little wire hallway. Chatterer <span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span>stuck his head in +one. It seemed perfectly safe. He crept a little way in and then backed +out in a hurry. Nothing happened. He tried it again. Still nothing +happened.</p> + +<p>"Better keep away," said a small voice down inside of him.</p> + +<p>"Pooh! Who's afraid!" said Chatterer. "This thing can't hurt me."</p> + +<p>Then he crept a little farther in. Right in front of him was a little +round doorway with a little wire door. Chatterer pushed the little door +with his nose, and it opened a teeny, weeny bit. He drew back +suspiciously. Then he tried it again, and this time pushed the little +door a little farther open. He did this two or three times until finally +he had his head quite inside, and there, right down below him, was that +food he so wanted to taste.</p> + +<p>"I can hop right down and get it <span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span>and then hop right up again," thought +Chatterer.</p> + +<p>"Don't do it," said the small voice inside. "Corn is plenty good enough. +Besides, it is time you were getting back to the Old Orchard."</p> + +<p>"It won't take but a minute," said Chatterer, "and I really must know +what that tastes like."</p> + +<p>With that he jumped down. Snap! Chatterer looked up. The little wire +door had closed. Old Mr. Trouble had got Chatterer at last. Yes, Sir, he +certainly had got Chatterer this time. You see, he couldn't open that +little wire door from the inside. He was in a trap—the wire rat-trap +set by Farmer Brown's boy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h3> + +<h3>WHAT HAPPENED NEXT TO CHATTERER</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>ere you ever terribly, terribly frightened? That was the way Chatterer +felt. He was caught; there was no doubt about it! His sharp teeth were +of no use at all on those hard wires. He could look out between them, +but he couldn't get out. He was too frightened to think. His heart +pounded against his sides until it hurt. He forgot all about that queer +food he had so wanted to taste, and which was right before him now. +Indeed, he felt as if he never, never would want to eat again. What was +going to happen to him now? What would Farmer Brown's boy do to him when +he found him there?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span>Hark! What was that? It was a step just outside the door of the +corn-crib. Farmer Brown's boy was coming! Chatterer raced around his +little wire prison and bit savagely at the hard wires. But it was of no +use, no use at all. It only hurt his mouth cruelly. Then the door of the +corn-crib swung open, a flood of light poured in, and with it came +Farmer Brown's boy.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" exclaimed Farmer Brown's boy, as he caught sight of Chatterer. +"So you are the thief who has been stealing our corn, and I thought it +was a rat or a mouse. Well, well, you little red rascal, didn't you know +that thieves come to no good end? You're pretty smart, for I never once +thought of you, but you were not so smart as you thought. Now I wonder +what we had better do with you."</p> + +<p>He picked up the trap with Chatterer <span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span>in it and stepped out into the +beautiful great out-of-doors. Chatterer could see across the dooryard to +the Old Orchard and the familiar old stone wall along which he had +scampered so often. They looked just the same as ever, and yet—well, +they didn't look just the same, for he couldn't look at them without +seeing those cruel wires which were keeping him from them.</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown's boy put the trap down on the ground and then began to +call. "Puss, Puss, Puss," called Farmer Brown's boy. Chatterer's heart, +which had been thumping so, almost stopped beating with fright. There +was Black Pussy, whom he had so often teased and made fun of. Her yellow +eyes had a hungry gleam as she walked around the trap and sniffed and +sniffed. Never had Chatterer heard <span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span>such a terrible sound as those +hungry sniffs so close to him! Black Pussy tried to put a paw between +the wires, and Chatterer saw the great, cruel claws. But Black Pussy +couldn't get her paw between the wires.</p> + +<p>"How would you like him for breakfast?" asked Farmer Brown's boy.</p> + +<p>"Meow," said Black Pussy, arching her back and rubbing against his legs.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that means that you would like him very much," laughed Farmer +Brown's boy. "Do you think you can catch him if I let him out?"</p> + +<p>"Meow," replied Black Pussy again, and to poor Chatterer it seemed the +awfullest sound he ever had heard.</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll see about it by and by," said Farmer Brown's boy. "There's +the breakfast bell, and I haven't fed the biddies yet."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER IS SURE THAT THIS IS HIS LAST DAY</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>here was no hope, not the teeniest, weeniest ray of hope in the heart +of Chatterer, as Farmer Brown's boy picked up the wire rat-trap and +started for the house, Black Pussy, the cat, following at his heels and +looking up at Chatterer with cruel, hungry eyes. Chatterer took a +farewell look at the Old Orchard and way beyond it the Green Forest, +from which he had been driven by fear of Shadow the Weasel. Then the +door of the farmhouse closed and shut it all out. If there had been any +hope in Chatterer's heart, the closing of that <span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span>door would have shut the +last bit out. But there wasn't any hope. Chatterer was sure that he was +to be given to Black Pussy for her breakfast.</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown's boy put the trap on a table. "What have you there?" +called a great voice. It was the voice of Farmer Brown himself, who was +eating his breakfast.</p> + +<p>"I've got the thief who has been stealing our corn in the crib," replied +Farmer Brown's boy, "and who do you think it is?"</p> + +<p>"One of those pesky rats," replied Farmer Brown. "I'm afraid you've been +careless and left the door open some time, and that is how the rats have +got in there."</p> + +<p>"But it isn't a rat, and I don't believe that there is a rat there," +replied Farmer Brown's boy in triumph. "It's that little scamp of a red +squirrel <span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span>we've seen racing along the wall at the edge of the Old +Orchard lately. I can't imagine how he got in there, but there he was, +and now here he is."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with him?" asked Farmer Brown, coming over to +look at Chatterer.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Farmer Brown's boy, "unless I give him to Black +Puss for her breakfast. She has been teasing me for him ever since I +found him."</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown's boy looked over to the other side of the table as he said +this, and his eyes twinkled with mischief.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mustn't do that! That would be cruel!" cried a soft voice. "You +must take him down to the Green Forest and let him go." A gentle face +with pitying eyes was bent above the trap. "Just see how frightened the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span>poor little thing is! You must take him straight down to the Green +Forest right after breakfast."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that just like Mother?" cried Farmer Brown's boy. "I believe it +would be just the same with the ugliest old rat that ever lived. She +would try to think of some excuse for letting it go."</p> + +<p>"God made all the little people who wear fur, and they must have some +place in his great plan," said Mrs. Brown.</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown laughed a big, hearty laugh. "True enough, Mother!" said +he. "The trouble is, they get out of place. Now this little rascal's +place is down in the Green Forest and not up in our corn-crib."</p> + +<p>"Then put him back in his right place!" was the prompt reply, and they +all laughed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span>Now all this time poor Chatterer was thinking that this surely was his +last day. You see, he knew that he had been a thief, and he knew that +Farmer Brown's boy knew it. He just crouched down in a little ball, too +miserable to do anything but tremble every time any one came near. He +was sure that he had seen for the last time the Green Forest and the +Green Meadows and jolly Mr. Sun and all the other beautiful things he +loved so, and it seemed as if his heart would burst with despair.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER IS PUT IN PRISON</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who ever does a deed that's wrong<br></span> +<span class="i2">Will surely find some day<br></span> +<span class="i0">That for that naughty act of his<br></span> +<span class="i2">He'll surely have to pay.<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>hat was the way with Chatterer. Of course he had had no business to +steal corn from Farmer Brown's corn-crib. To be sure he had felt that he +had just as much right to that corn as Farmer Brown had. You see, the +little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest feel that +everything that grows belongs to them, if they want it and are smart +enough to get it before some one else does. But it is just there that +Chatterer <span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span>went wrong. Farmer Brown had harvested that corn and stored +it in his corn-crib, and so, of course, no one else had any right to it. +Right down deep in his heart Chatterer knew this. If he hadn't known it, +he wouldn't have been so sly in taking what he wanted. He knew all the +time that he was stealing, but he tried to make himself believe that it +was all right. So he had kept on stealing and stealing until at last he +was caught in a trap, and now he had got to pay for his wrong-doing.</p> + +<p>Chatterer was very miserable, so miserable and frightened that he could +do nothing but sit huddled up in a little shivery ball. He hadn't the +least doubt in the world that this was his very last day, and that +Farmer Brown's boy would turn him over to cruel Black Pussy for her +breakfast. Farmer Brown's boy had left him in the trap <span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span>in the house and +had gone out. For a long time Chatterer could hear pounding out in the +woodshed, and Farmer Brown's boy was whistling as he pounded. Chatterer +wondered how he could whistle and seem so happy when he meant to do such +a dreadful thing as to give him to Black Pussy. After what seemed a very +long time, ages and ages, Farmer Brown's boy came back. He had with him +a queer looking box.</p> + +<p>"There," said he, "is a new home for you, you little red imp! I guess it +will keep you out of trouble for a while."</p> + +<p>He slid back a little door in the top of the box, and then, putting on a +stout glove and opening a little door in the trap, he put in his big +hand and closed it around Chatterer.</p> + +<p>Poor little Chatterer! He was sure <span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span>now that this was the end, and that +he was to be given to Black Pussy, who was looking on with hungry, +yellow eyes. He struggled and did his best to bite, but the thick glove +gave his sharp little teeth no chance to hurt the hand that held him. +Even in his terror, he noticed that that big hand tried to be gentle and +squeezed him no tighter than was necessary. Then he was lifted out of +the trap and dropped through the little doorway in the top of the queer +box, and the door was fastened. Nothing terrible had happened, after +all.</p> + +<p>At first, Chatterer just sulked in one corner. He still felt sure that +something terrible was going to happen. Farmer Brown's boy took the box +out into the shed and put it where the sun shone into it. For a little +while he stayed watching, but Chatterer still sulked and sulked. By and +by he went <span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span>away, taking Black Pussy with him, and Chatterer was alone.</p> + +<p>When he was quite sure that no one was about, Chatterer began to wonder +what sort of a place he was in, and if there wasn't some way to get out. +He found that one side and the top were of fine, stout wire, through +which he could look out, and that the other sides and the bottom were of +wood covered with wire, so that there was no chance for his sharp teeth +to gnaw a way out. In one corner was a stout piece of an apple-tree, +with two little stubby branches to sit on, and half way up a little +round hole. Very cautiously Chatterer peeped inside the hole. Inside was +a splendid hollow. On the floor of the box was a little heap of shavings +and bits of rag. And there was a little pile of yellow corn. How<span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span> +Chatterer did hate the sight of that corn! You see, it was corn that had +got him into all this trouble. At least, that is the way Chatterer felt +about it. When he had examined everything, he knew that there was no way +out. Chatterer was in a prison, though that is not what Farmer Brown's +boy called it. He said it was a cage.</p> +<a name="i081" id="i081"></a> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i081.jpg" width="300" height="409" alt="Very cautiously Chatterer peeped inside the hole." title=""> +<span class="caption">Very cautiously Chatterer peeped inside the hole.</span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER DECIDES TO LIVE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>t first Chatterer decided that he had rather die than live in a prison, +no matter how nice that prison might be. It was a very foolish thing to +do, but he made up his mind that he just wouldn't eat. He wouldn't touch +that nice, yellow corn Farmer Brown's boy had put in his prison for him. +He would starve himself to death. Yes, Sir, he would starve himself to +death. So when he found that there was no way to get out of his prison, +he curled up in the little hollow stump in his prison, where no one +could see him, and made up his mind that he would stay there until he +died. Life <span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span>wasn't worth living if he had got to spend all the rest of +his days in a prison. He wouldn't even make himself comfortable. There +was that little heap of nice shavings and bits of rag for him to make a +nice comfortable bed of, but he didn't touch them. No, Sir, he just +tried to make himself miserable.</p> + +<p>Not once that long day did he poke so much as the tip of his nose out of +his little round doorway. Ever so many times Farmer Brown's boy came to +see him, and whistled and called softly to him. But Chatterer didn't +make a sound. At last night came, and the woodshed where his prison was +grew dark and darker and very still. Now it was about this time that +Chatterer's stomach began to make itself felt. Chatterer tried not to +notice it, but his stomach would be noticed, and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span>Chatterer couldn't +help himself. His stomach was empty, and it kept telling him so.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to starve to death," said Chatterer to himself over and over.</p> + +<p>"I'm empty, and there is plenty of food to fill me up, if you'll only +stop being silly," whispered his stomach.</p> + +<p>The more Chatterer tried not to think of how good something to eat would +taste, the more he did think of it. It made him restless and uneasy. He +twisted and squirmed and turned. At last he decided that he would have +one more look to see if he couldn't find some way to get out of his +prison. He poked his head out of the little round doorway. All was still +and dark. He listened, but not a sound could he hear. Then he softly +crept out and hurriedly examined all the inside of his prison once<span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span> +more. It was of no use! There wasn't a single place where he could use +his sharp teeth.</p> + +<p>"There's that little pile of corn waiting for me," whispered his +stomach.</p> + +<p>"I'll never touch it!" said Chatterer fiercely.</p> + +<p>Just then he hit something with his foot, and it rolled. He picked it up +and then put it down again. It was a nut, a plump hickory nut. Two or +three times he picked it up and put it down, and each time it was harder +than before to put it down.</p> + +<p>"I—I—I'd like to taste one more nut before I starve to death," +muttered Chatterer, and almost without knowing it, he began to gnaw the +hard shell. When that nut was finished, he found another; and when that +was gone, still another. Then he just had <span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span>to taste a grain of corn. The +first thing Chatterer knew, the nuts and the corn were all gone, and his +stomach was full. Somehow he felt ever so much better. He didn't feel +like starving to death now.</p> + +<p>"I—I believe I'll wait a bit and see what happens," said he to himself, +"and while I'm waiting, I may as well be comfortable."</p> + +<p>With that he began to carry the shavings and rags into the hollow stump +and soon had as comfortable a bed as ever he had slept on. Chatterer had +decided to live.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h3> + +<h3>FARMER BROWN'S BOY TRIES TO MAKE FRIENDS</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nobody lives who's wholly bad;<br></span> +<span class="i2">Some good you'll find in every heart.<br></span> +<span class="i0">Your enemies will be your friends.<br></span> +<span class="i2">If only you will do your part.<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>ll his life Chatterer the Red Squirrel had looked on Farmer Brown's boy +as his enemy, just as did all the other little people of the Green +Meadows, the Green Forest, and the Smiling Pool. They feared him, and +because they feared him, they hated him. So whenever he came near, they +ran away. Now at first, Farmer Brown's boy used to run after them for +just one thing—because he wanted to <span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span>make friends with them, and he +couldn't see how ever he was going to do it unless he caught them. After +a while, when he found that he couldn't catch them by running after +them, he made up his mind that they didn't want to be his friends, and +so then he began to hunt them, because he thought it was fun to try to +outwit them. Of course, when he began to do that, they hated him and +feared him all the more. You see, they didn't understand that really he +had one of the kindest hearts in the world; and he didn't understand +that they hated him just because they didn't know him.</p> + +<p>So when Chatterer had been caught in the trap in Farmer Brown's +corn-crib, he hadn't doubted in the least that Farmer Brown's boy would +give him to Black Pussy or do something equally cruel; and even when he +found <span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span>that he was only to be kept a prisoner in a very comfortable +prison, with plenty to eat and drink, he wasn't willing to believe any +good of Farmer Brown's boy. Indeed, he hated him more than ever, if that +were possible.</p> + +<p>But Farmer Brown's boy was very patient. He came to Chatterer's prison +ever so many times a day and whistled and clucked and talked to +Chatterer. And he brought good things to eat. It seemed as if he were +all the time trying to think of some new treat for Chatterer. He never +came without bringing something. At first, Chatterer would hide in his +hollow stump as soon as he saw Farmer Brown's boy coming and wouldn't so +much as peek out until he had gone away. When he was sure that the way +was clear, he would come out again, and always he found some delicious +fat nuts or some <span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span>other dainty waiting for him. After a little, as soon +as he saw Farmer Brown's boy coming, Chatterer would begin to wonder +what good thing he had brought this time, and would grow terribly +impatient for Farmer Brown's boy to go away so that he could find out.</p> + +<p>By and by it got so that he couldn't wait, but would slyly peep out of +his little, round doorway to see what had been brought for him. Then one +day Farmer Brown's boy didn't come at all. Chatterer tried to make +himself believe that he was glad. He told himself that he hated Farmer +Brown's boy, and he hoped that he never, never would see him again. But +all the time he knew that it wasn't true. It was the longest day since +Chatterer had been a prisoner. Early the next morning, before Chatterer +was out of bed, he heard <span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span>a step in the woodshed, and before he thought +what he was doing, he was out of his hollow stump to see if it really +was Farmer Brown's boy. It was, and he had three great fat nuts which he +dropped into Chatterer's cage. It seemed to Chatterer that he just +couldn't wait for Farmer Brown's boy to go away. Finally he darted +forward and seized one. Then he scampered to the shelter of his hollow +stump to eat it. When it was finished, he just had to have another. +Farmer Brown's boy was still watching, but somehow Chatterer didn't feel +so much afraid. This time he sat up on one of the little branches of the +stump and ate it in plain sight. Farmer Brown's boy smiled, and it was a +pleasant smile.</p> + +<p>"I believe we shall be friends, after all," said he.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER HAS A PLEASANT SURPRISE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer the Red Squirrel, the mischief maker of the Green Forest, had +never been more comfortable in his life. No matter how rough Brother +North Wind roared across the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest, +piling the snow in great drifts, he couldn't send so much as one tiny +shiver through the little red coat of Chatterer. And always right at +hand was plenty to eat—corn and nuts and other good things such as +Chatterer loves. No, he never had been so comfortable in all his life. +But he wasn't happy, not truly happy. You see, he was in prison, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span>and no +matter how nice a prison may be, no one can be truly happy there.</p> + +<p>Since he had been a prisoner, Chatterer had learned to think very +differently of Farmer Brown's boy from what he used to think. In fact, +he and Farmer Brown's boy had become very good friends, for Farmer +Brown's boy was always very gentle, and always brought him something +good to eat.</p> + +<p>"He isn't at all like what I had thought," said Chatterer, "and if I +were free, I wouldn't be afraid of him at all. I—I'd like to tell some +of the other little Green Forest people about him. If only—"</p> + +<p>Chatterer didn't finish. Instead a great lump filled his throat. You +see, he was thinking of the Green Forest and the Old Orchard, and how he +used to race through the tree-tops and along the stone wall. Half the +fun in life had <span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span>been in running and jumping, and now there wasn't room +in this little prison to stretch his legs. If only he could run—run as +hard as ever he knew how—once in a while, he felt that his prison +wouldn't be quite so hard to put up with.</p> + +<p>That very afternoon, while Chatterer was taking a nap in his bed in the +hollow stump, something was slipped over his little round doorway, and +Chatterer awoke in a terrible fright to find himself a prisoner inside +his hollow stump. There was nothing he could do about it but just lie +there in his bed, and shake with fright, and wonder what dreadful thing +was going to happen next. He could hear Farmer Brown's boy very busy +about something in his cage. After a long, long time, his little round +doorway let in the light once more. The door had been <span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span>opened. At first +Chatterer didn't dare go out, but he heard the soft little whistle with +which Farmer Brown's boy always called him when he had something +especially nice for him to eat, so at last he peeped out. There on the +floor of the cage were some of the nicest nuts. Chatterer came out at +once. Then his sharp eyes discovered something else. It was a queer +looking thing made of wire at one end of his cage.</p> + +<p>Chatterer looked at it with great suspicion. Could it be a new kind of +trap? But what would a trap be doing there, when he was already a +prisoner? He ate all the nuts, all the time watching this new, queer +looking thing. It seemed harmless enough. He went a little nearer. +Finally he hopped into it. It moved. Of course that frightened him, and +he started to run up. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span>But he didn't go up. No, Sir, he didn't go up. +You see, he was in a wire wheel; and as he ran, the wheel went around. +Chatterer was terribly frightened, and the faster he tried to run, the +faster the wheel went around. Finally he had to stop, because he was out +of breath and too tired to run another step. When he stopped, the wheel +stopped.</p> + +<p>Little by little, Chatterer began to understand. Farmer Brown's boy had +made that wheel to give him a chance to run all he wanted to and +whenever he wanted to. When he understood this, Chatterer was as nearly +happy as he could be in a prison. It was such a pleasant surprise! He +would race and race in it until he just had to stop for breath. Farmer +Brown's boy looked on and laughed to see how much happier he had made +Chatterer.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h3> + +<h3>SAMMY JAY'S SHARP EYES</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>verybody knows that Sammy Jay has sharp eyes. In fact, there are very +few of the little forest people whose eyes are as sharp as Sammy's. That +is because he uses them so much. A long time ago he found out that the +more he used his eyes, the sharper they became, and so there are very +few minutes when Sammy is awake that he isn't trying to see something. +He is always looking. That is the reason he always knows so much about +what is going on in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadows.</p> + +<p>Now of course Chatterer the Red <span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span>Squirrel couldn't disappear without +being missed, particularly by Sammy Jay. And of course Sammy couldn't +miss Chatterer and not wonder what had become of him. At first, Sammy +thought that Chatterer was hiding, but after peeking and peering and +watching in the Old Orchard for a few days, he was forced to think that +either Chatterer had once more moved or else that something had happened +to him.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Shadow the Weasel has caught him, after all," thought Sammy, +and straightway flew to a certain place in the Green Forest where he +might find Shadow the Weasel. Sure enough, Shadow was there. Now of +course it wouldn't do to ask right out if Shadow had caught Chatterer, +and Sammy was smart enough to know it.</p> +<a name="i101" id="i101"></a> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i101.jpg" width="300" height="407" alt=""You tell Chatterer that I'll get him yet!" snarled +Shadow." title=""> +<span class="caption">"You tell Chatterer that I'll get him yet!" snarled +Shadow.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Chatterer the Red Squirrel sends his respects and hopes you are +enjoying <span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span>your hunt for him," called Sammy.</p> + +<p>Shadow looked up at Sammy, and anger blazed in his little, red eyes. +"You tell Chatterer that I'll get him yet!" snarled Shadow.</p> + +<p>Sammy's eyes sparkled with mischief. He had made Shadow angry, and he +had found out what he wanted to know. He was sure that Shadow had not +caught Chatterer.</p> + +<p>"But what can have become of him?" thought Sammy. "I've got no love for +him, but just the same I miss him. I really must find out. Yes, Sir, I +really must."</p> + +<p>So every minute that he could spare, Sammy Jay spent trying to find +Chatterer. He asked every one he met if they had seen Chatterer. He +peeked and peered into every hollow and hiding place he could think of. +But look as he would and ask as he would, he <span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span>could find no trace of +Chatterer. At last he happened to think of Farmer Brown's corn-crib. +Could it be that Chatterer had moved over there or had come to some +dreadful end there? Very early the next morning, Sammy flew over to the +corn-crib. He looked it all over with his sharp eyes and listened for +sounds of Chatterer inside. But not a sound could he hear. Then he +remembered the hole under the edge of the roof through which Chatterer +used to go in and out. Sammy hurried to look at it. It was closed by a +stout board nailed across it. Then Sammy knew that Farmer Brown's boy +had found it.</p> + +<p>"He's killed Chatterer, that's what he's done!" cried Sammy, and flew +over to the Old Orchard filled with sad thoughts. He meant to wait until +Farmer Brown's boy came out and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span>then tell him what he thought of him. +After that, he would fly through the Green Forest and over the Green +Meadows to spread the sad news.</p> + +<p>After a while, the door of the farmhouse opened, and Farmer Brown's boy +stepped out. Sammy had his mouth open to scream, when his sharp eyes saw +something queer. Farmer Brown's boy had a queer looking box in his arms +which he put on a shelf where the sun would shine on it. It looked to +Sammy as if something moved inside that box. He forgot to scream and say +the bad things he had planned to say. He waited until Farmer Brown's boy +had gone to the barn. Then Sammy flew where he could look right into the +queer box. There was Chatterer the Red Squirrel!</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER IS MADE FUN OF</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">"H</span>a, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! Smarty caught at last!" Sammy Jay fairly +shrieked with glee, as he peered down from the top of an apple-tree at +Chatterer, in the cage Farmer Brown's boy had made for him. Sammy was so +relieved to think that Chatterer was not dead, and he was so tickled to +think that Chatterer, who always thought himself so smart, should have +been caught, that he just had to torment Chatterer by laughing at him +and saying mean things to him, until Chatterer lost his temper and said +things back quite in the old way. This tickled Sammy more than ever, for +it sounded so exactly <span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span>like Chatterer when he had been a free little imp +of mischief in the Green Forest, that Sammy felt sure that Chatterer had +nothing the matter with him.</p> + +<p>But he couldn't stop very long to make fun of poor Chatterer. In the +first place Farmer Brown's boy had put his head out the barn door to see +what all the fuss was about. In the second place, Sammy fairly ached all +over to spread the news through the Green Forest and over the Green +Meadows. You know he is a great gossip. And this was such unusual news. +Sammy knew very well that no one would believe him. He knew that they +just couldn't believe that smart Mr. Chatterer had really been caught. +And no one did believe it.</p> + +<p>"All right," Sammy would reply. "It doesn't make the least bit of +difference <span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span>in the world to me whether you believe it or not. You can go +up to Farmer Brown's house and see him in prison yourself, just as I +did."</p> + +<p>So late that afternoon, when all was quiet around the farmyard, +Chatterer saw something very familiar behind the old stone wall at the +edge of the Old Orchard. It bobbed up and then dropped out of sight +again. Then it bobbed up again, only to drop out of sight just as +quickly.</p> + +<p>"It looks to me very much as if Peter Rabbit is over there and feeling +very nervous," said Chatterer to himself, and then he called sharply, +just as when he was free in the Green Forest. Right away Peter's head +bobbed up for all the world like a jack-in-the-box, and this time it +stayed up. Peter's eyes were round with surprise, as he stared across at +Chatterer's prison.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span>"Oh, it's true!" gasped Peter, as if it were as hard work to believe his +own eyes as it was to believe Sammy Jay. "I must go right away and see +what can be done to get Chatterer out of trouble." And then, because it +was broad daylight, and he really didn't dare stay another minute, Peter +waved good-by to Chatterer and started for the Green Forest as fast as +his long legs could take him.</p> + +<p>A little later who should appear peeping over the stone wall but Reddy +Fox. It seemed very bold of Reddy, but really it wasn't nearly as bold +as it seemed. You see, Reddy knew that Farmer Brown's boy and Bowser the +Hound were over in the Old Pasture, and that he had nothing to fear. He +grinned at Chatterer in the most provoking way. It made Chatterer angry +just to see him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Smarty, Smarty, Mr. Smarty,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Glad to see you looking hearty!<br></span> +<span class="i0">Weather's fine, as you can see;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Won't you take a walk with me?"<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So said Reddy Fox, knowing all the time that Chatterer couldn't take a +walk with any one. At first Chatterer scolded and called Reddy all the +bad names he could think of, but after a little he didn't feel so much +like scolding. In fact, he didn't half hear the mean things Reddy Fox +said to him. You see, it was coming over him more and more that nothing +could take the place of freedom. He had a comfortable home, plenty to +eat, and was safe from every harm, but he was a prisoner, and having +these visitors made him realize it more than ever. Something very like +tears filled his eyes, and he crept into his hollow stump where he +couldn't see or be seen.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h3> + +<h3>PETER RABBIT TRIES TO HELP</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">P</span>eter Rabbit is one of the kindest hearted little people of the Green +Forest or the Green Meadows. He is happy-go-lucky, and his dreadful +curiosity is forever getting him into all kinds of trouble. Perhaps it +is because he has been in so many scrapes himself that he always feels +sorry for others who get into trouble. Anyway, no sooner does Peter hear +of some one in trouble, than he begins to wonder how he can help them. +So just as soon as he found out for himself that Sammy Jay had told the +truth about Chatterer the Red Squirrel, and that Chatterer really was in +a <span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span>prison at Farmer Brown's house, he began to think and think to find +some way to help Chatterer.</p> + +<p>Now of course Peter didn't know what kind of a prison Chatterer was in. +He remembered right away how Prickly Porky the Porcupine had gnawed a +great hole in the box in which Johnny Chuck's lost baby was kept by +Farmer Brown's boy. Why shouldn't Prickly Porky do as much for +Chatterer? He would go see him at once. The trouble with Peter is that +he doesn't think of all sides of a question. He is impulsive. That is, +he goes right ahead and does the thing that comes into his head first, +and sometimes this isn't the wisest or best thing to do. So now he +scampered down into the Green Forest as fast as his long legs would +carry him, to hunt for Prickly Porky. It was no trouble at all to find +him, for <span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span>he had only to follow the line of trees that had been stripped +of their bark.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, Prickly Porky. Have you heard the news about +Chatterer?" said Peter, talking very fast, for he was quite out of +breath.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Prickly Porky. "Serves him right. I hope it will teach +him a lesson."</p> + +<p>Peter's heart sank. "Don't you think it is dreadful?" he asked. "Just +think, he will never, never be able to run and play in the Green Forest +again, unless we can get him out."</p> + +<p>"So much the better," grunted Prickly Porky. "So much the better. He +always was a nuisance. Never did see such a fellow for making trouble +for other people. No, Sir, I never did. The rest of us can have some +peace now. Serves him right." Prickly <span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span>Porky went on chewing bark as if +Chatterer's trouble was no concern of his.</p> + +<p>Peter's heart sank lower still. He scratched one long ear slowly with a +long hind foot, which is a way he has when he is thinking very hard. He +was so busy thinking that he didn't see the twinkle in the dull little +eyes of Prickly Porky, who really was not so hard-hearted as his words +sounded. After a long time, during which Peter thought and thought, and +Prickly Porky ate and ate, the latter spoke again.</p> + +<p>"What have you got on your mind, Peter?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I—I was just thinking how perfectly splendid it would be if you would +go up there and gnaw a way out of his prison for Chatterer," replied +Peter timidly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span>"Huh!" grunted Prickly Porky. "Huh! Some folks think my wits are pretty +slow, but even I know better than that. Put on your thinking cap again, +Peter Rabbit."</p> + +<p>"Why can't you? You are not afraid of Bowser the Hound or Farmer Brown's +boy, and everybody else is, excepting Jimmy Skunk," persisted Peter.</p> + +<p>"For the very good reason that if I could gnaw into his prison, +Chatterer could gnaw out. If he can't gnaw his way out with those sharp +teeth of his, I certainly can't gnaw in. Where's your common sense, +Peter Rabbit?"</p> + +<p>"That's so. I hadn't thought of that," replied Peter slowly and +sorrowfully. "I must try to think of some other way to help Chatterer."</p> + +<p>"I'd be willing to try if it was of any use. But it isn't," said +Prickly <span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span>Porky, who didn't want Peter to think that he really was as +hard-hearted as he had seemed at first.</p> +<a name="i115" id="i115"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/i115.jpg" width="300" height="413" alt=""I'd be willing to try it if it was of any use. But it +isn't," said Prickly Porky." title=""> +<span class="caption">"I'd be willing to try it if it was of any use. But it +isn't," said Prickly Porky.</span> +</div> + +<p>So Peter bade Prickly Porky good-by and started for the dear old +Briar-patch to try to think of some other way to help Chatterer. On the +way he waked up Unc' Billy Possum and Bobby Coon, but they couldn't give +him any help. "There really doesn't seem to be any way I can help," +sighed Peter. And there really wasn't.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER HAS ANOTHER GREAT SURPRISE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>hatterer had never had so many surprises—good surprises—in all his +life, as since the day he had been caught in a trap in Farmer Brown's +corn-crib. In the first place, it had been a great surprise to him that +he had not been given to Black Pussy, as he had fully expected to be. +Then had come the even greater surprise of finding that Farmer Brown's +boy was ever and ever so much nicer than he had thought. A later +surprise had been the wire wheel in his cage, so that he could run to +his heart's content. It was such a pleasant and wholly unexpected +surprise that it had quite changed Chatterer's <span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span>feelings towards Farmer +Brown's boy.</p> + +<p>The fact is, Chatterer could have been truly happy but for one thing—he +was a prisoner. Yes, Sir, he was a prisoner, and he couldn't forget it +for one minute while he was awake. He used to watch Farmer Brown's boy +and wish with all his might that he could make him understand how +dreadful it was to be in a prison. But Farmer Brown's boy couldn't +understand what Chatterer said, no matter how hard Chatterer tried to +make him. He seemed to think that Chatterer was happy. He just didn't +understand that not all the good things in the world could make up for +loss of freedom—that it is better to be free, though hungry and cold, +than in a prison with every comfort.</p> + +<p>Chatterer had stood it pretty well and made the best of things until<span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown's boy noticed it, and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span>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 <span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span>wasn't on +the usual shelf at all! It was on the snow-covered stone wall at the +edge of the Old Orchard.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Chickaree! Chickaree! Chickaree!" he shouted as he ran.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER HEARS THE SMALL VOICE</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he 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.</p> + +<p>Yes, Sir, Tommy was very busy, indeed. He was so busy that, sharp as his +bright little eyes are, he had not <span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span>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!"</p> + +<p>"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. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Dee, dee, dee," laughed Tommy Tit. "I've been telling a lot of you +fellows that for a long time, but none <span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said Tommy Tit. "Pooh! I'd just as soon eat out of his hand."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Can't now," replied Tommy. "I've <span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span>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."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha! Go it, you little red scamp!" shouted a voice behind him.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h3> + +<h3>TOMMY TIT MAKES GOOD HIS BOAST</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">"D</span>ee, 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 <span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span>Chatterer the Red Squirrel, but Chatterer was scolding +just from habit, and his voice was not pleasant to hear.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span> +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.</p> +<p></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Dee, dee, dee, chickadee! See me! See me!" called Tommy Tit, and his +voice sounded cheerier than ever and merrier than ever.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Phoe-be," whistled Farmer Brown's boy again.</p> + +<p>"Phoe-be," replied Tommy Tit, and it was hard to say which whistle was +the softest and sweetest.</p> + +<p>"Phoe-be," whistled Farmer Brown's boy once more and held out <span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span>his hand. +In it was a cracked hickory nut.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span></p> +<h3><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h3> + +<h3>CHATTERER GROWS VERY, VERY BOLD</h3> + + +<p><span class="dropcap">"I</span>'m not afraid. I am afraid. I'm not afraid. I am afraid. I'm not +afraid."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It may have been brave of me to do it the first time," thought he to<span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span> +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."</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span>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. <a name="afraid" id="afraid"></a>It seemed as if that little voice inside had +fairly shouted in his ears: "I am afraid."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Coward! Coward! Coward!"</p> + +<p>It was Sammy Jay speaking.</p> + +<p>Now it is one thing to tell yourself <span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span>that you are afraid, and it is +quite another thing to be told by some one else that you are afraid.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I did it! I did it! I did it!" boasted Chatterer.</p> + +<p>"You don't dare do it again, though!" said Sammy Jay, in the most +provoking and unpleasant way.</p> + +<p>"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 <span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span>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.</p> + +<p>"Why," thought Chatterer, "if I would have let him, he would have been +my friend long ago!" And so he would have.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Chatterer the Red +Squirrel, by Thornton W. 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