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diff --git a/5844-0.txt b/5844-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2335472 --- /dev/null +++ b/5844-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2306 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Johnny Chuck, 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 Johnny Chuck + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5844] +This file was first posted on September 11, 2002 +Last Updated: March 10, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK + +THE BEDTIME STORY BOOKS + +By Thornton W. Burgess + + +Author of “Old Mother West Wind,” “The Adventures of Reddy Fox,” etc. + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I. GENTLE SISTER SOUTH WIND ARRIVES + +II. JOHNNY CHUCK RECEIVES CALLERS + +III. THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL + +IV. JOHNNY CHUCK FINDS OUT WHO THE SWEET SINGERS ARE + +V. JOHNNY CHUCK BECOMES DISSATISFIED + +VI. JOHNNY CHUCK TURNS TRAMP + +VII. JOHNNY'S FIRST ADTENTURE + +VIII. JOHNNY HAS ANOTHER ADVENTURE + +IX. ANOTHER STRANGE CHUCK + +X. WHY JOHNNY CHUCK DIDN'T FIGHT + +XI. THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD + +XII. JOHNNY CHUCK PROVES HIS LOVE + +XIII. POLLY AND JOHNNY CHUCK GO HOUSE HUNTING + +XIV. A NEW HOME AT LAST + +XV. SAMMY JAY FINDS THE NEW HOME + +XVI. SAMMY JAY PLANS MISCHIEF + +XVII. MORE MISCHIEF + +XVIII. FARMER BROWN'S BOY MAKES A DISCOVERY + +XIX. JOHNNY CHUCK'S PRIDE + +XX. SAMMY JAY UNDERSTANDS + +XXI. SAMMY JAY HAS A CHANGE OF HEART + +XXII. JOHNNY CHUCK IS KEPT BUSY + +XXIII. THE SCHOOL IN THE OLD ORCHARD + +XXIV. SAMMY JAY PROVES THAT HE IS NOT ALL BAD + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (not available in this file) + +JOHNNY CHUCK BADE CHATTERER GOOD-BY AND STARTED ON Frontispiece + +“IS IT REALLY AND TRULY YOU, JOHNNY CHUCK?” HE CRIED + +“HO, HO, HO! THAT'S THE BEST JOKE THIS SPRING!” SHOUTED JERRY MUSKRAT + +WITH A SQUEAL OF RAGE, JOHNNY SPRANG AT THE GRAY OLD CHUCK + +IF POLLY WANTED TO LIVE THERE SHE SHOULD + +“HAVE YOU CALLED ON JOHNNY CHUCK AT HIS NEW HOME YET?” ASKED SAMMY JAY + + + + +I. GENTLE SISTER SOUTH WIND ARRIVES + + +“Good news, good news for every one, above or down below, For Master +Winsome Bluebird's come to whistle off the snow!” + +All the Green Meadows and all the Green Forest had heard the news. Peter +Rabbit had seen to that. And just as soon as each of the little meadow +and forest folks heard it, he hurried out to listen for himself and +make sure that it was true. And each, when he heard that sweet voice of +Winsome Bluebird, had kicked up his heels and shouted “Hurrah!” + +You see they all knew that Winsome Bluebird never is very far ahead of +gentle Sister South Wind, and that when she arrives, blustering, rough +Brother North Wind is already on his way back to the cold, cold land +where the ice never melts. + +Of course Winsome Bluebird doesn't really whistle off the snow, but +after he comes, the snow disappears so fast that it seems as if he did. +It is surprising what a difference a little good news makes. Of course +nothing had really changed that first day when Winsome Bluebird's +whistle was heard on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest, but it +seemed as if everything had changed. And it was all because that sweet +whistle was a promise, a promise that every one knew would come true. +And so there was joy in all the hearts on the Green Meadows and in the +Green Forest. Even grim old Granny Fox felt it, and as for Reddy Fox, +why, Reddy even shouted good-naturedly to Peter Rabbit and hoped he was +feeling well. + +And then gentle Sister South Wind arrived. She came in the night, and in +the morning there she was, hard at work making the Green Meadows and the +Green Forest ready for Mistress Spring. She broke the icy bands that had +bound the Smiling Pool and the Laughing Brook so long; and the Smiling +Pool began to smile once more, and the Laughing Brook to gurgle and then +to laugh and finally to sing merrily. + +She touched the little banks of snow that remained, and straightway +they melted and disappeared. She kissed the eight babies of Unc' Billy +Possum, and they kicked off the bedclothes under which old Mrs. Possum +had tucked them and scrambled out of the big hollow tree to play. + +She peeped in at the door of Johnny Chuck and called softly, and Johnny +Chuck awoke from his long sleep and yawned and began to think about +getting up. She knocked at the door of Digger the Badger, and Digger +awoke. She tickled the nose of Striped Chipmunk, who was about half +awake, and Striped Chipmunk sneezed and then he hopped out of bed +and hurried up to his doorway to shout good morning after her, as she +hurried over to see if Bobby Coon was still sleeping. + +Peter Rabbit followed her about. He couldn't understand it at all. Peter +had smiled to himself when he heard how softly she had called at the +doorway of Johnny Chuck's house, for many and many a time during the +long winter Peter had stopped at Johnny Chuck's house and shouted down +the long hall at the top of his voice without once waking Johnny Chuck. +Now Peter nearly tumbled over with surprise, as he heard Johnny Chuck +yawn at the first low call of gentle Sister South Wind. + +“How does she do it? I don't understand it at all,” said Peter, as he +scratched his long left ear with his long left hind leg. + +Gentle Sister South Wind smiled at Peter. “There are a lot of things in +this world that you will never understand, Peter Rabbit. You will just +have to believe them without understanding them and be content to know +that they are so,” she said, and hurried over to the Green Forest to +tell Unc' Billy Possum that his old friend, Ol' Mistah Buzzard, was on +his way up from ol' Virginny. + + + + +II. JOHNNY CHUCK RECEIVES CALLERS + + +The morning after gentle Sister South Wind arrived on the Green Meadows, +Peter Rabbit came hopping and skipping down the Lone Little Path from +the Green Forest. Peter was happy. He didn't know why. He just was +happy. It was in the air. Everybody else seemed happy, too. Peter had +to stop every few minutes just to kick up his heels and try to jump over +his own shadow. He had felt just that way ever since gentle Sister South +Wind arrived. + + “I simply have to kick and dance! + I cannot help but gaily prance! + Somehow I feel it in my toes + Whenever gentle South Wind blows.” + +So sang Peter Rabbit as he hopped and skipped down the Lone Little Path. +Suddenly he stopped right in the middle of the verse. He sat up very +straight and stared down at Johnny Chuck's house. Some one was sitting +on Johnny Chuck's door-step. It looked like Johnny Chuck. No, it looked +like the shadow of Johnny Chuck. Peter rubbed his eyes and looked again. +Then he hurried as fast as he could, lipperty-lipperty-lip. The nearer +he got, the less like Johnny Chuck looked the one sitting on Johnny +Chuck's door-step. Johnny Chuck had gone to sleep round and fat and +roly-poly, so fat he could hardly waddle. This fellow was thin, even +thinner than Peter Rabbit himself. He waved a thin hand to Peter. + +“Hello, Peter Rabbit! I told you that I would see you in the spring. How +did you stand the long winter?” + +That certainly was Johnny Chuck's voice. Peter was so delighted that in +his hurry he fell over his own feet. “Is it really and truly you, Johnny +Chuck?” he cried. + +“Of course it's me; who did you think it was?” replied Johnny Chuck +rather crossly, for Peter was staring at him as if he had never seen him +before. + +“I--I--I didn't know,” confessed Peter Rabbit. “I thought it was you and +I thought it wasn't you. What have you been doing to yourself, Johnny +Chuck? Your coat looks three sizes too big for you, and when I last saw +you it didn't look big enough.” Peter hopped all around Johnny Chuck, +looking at him as if he didn't believe his own eyes. + +{Illustration: “Is it really and truly you, Johnny Chuck?” he cried.} + +“Oh, Johnny's all right. He's just been living on his own fat,” said +another voice. It was Jimmy Skunk who had spoken, and he now stood +holding out his hand to Johnny Chuck and grinning good-naturedly. He had +come up without either of the others seeing him. + +Peter's big eyes opened wider than ever. “Do you mean to say that he has +been eating his own fat?” he gasped. + +Johnny Chuck and Jimmy Skunk both laughed. “No,” said Jimmy Skunk, “he +didn't eat it, but he lived on it just the same while he was asleep all +winter. Don't you see he hasn't got a particle of fat on him now?” + +“But how could he live on it, if he didn't eat it?” asked Peter, staring +at Johnny Chuck as if he had never seen him before. + +Jimmy Skunk shrugged his shoulders. “Don't ask me. That is one of Old +Mother Nature's secrets; you'll have to ask her,” he replied. + +“And don't ask me,” said Johnny Chuck, “for I've been asleep all the +time. My, but I'm hungry!” + +“So am I!” said another voice. There was Reddy Fox grinning at them. +Johnny Chuck dove into the doorway of his house with Peter Rabbit at his +heels, for there was nowhere else to go. Jimmy Skunk just stood still +and chuckled. He knew that Reddy Fox didn't dare touch him. + + + + +III. THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL + + +Mistress Spring was making everybody happy on the Green Meadows and in +the Green Forest and around the Smiling Pool. With her gentle fingers +she wakened one by one all the little sleepers who had spent the long +winter dreaming of warm summer days and not knowing anything at all of +rough, blustering Brother North Wind or Jack Frost. As they wakened, +many began to sing for joy. But the clearest, loudest singers of all +lived in the Smiling Pool. + +It was a long time before Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck knew where they +lived. Every night just before going to bed, Johnny Chuck would sit on +his door-step just to listen, and as he listened somehow he felt better +and happier; and he always had pleasant dreams after listening to the +sweet singers of the Smiling Pool. Even after he had curled himself up +for the night deep down in his snug bedroom, he could hear those sweet +voices, and whenever he waked up in the night he would hear them. + + “Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! + Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring! + So gentle, so loving, so sweet and so fair! + Oh, who can be cross when there's love in the air? + Be happy! Be joyful! And join in our song + And help us to send the glad tidings along! + Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! + Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!” + +When Johnny Chuck had first heard them, he had looked in all the +tree-tops for the singers, but not one could he see. Then he had thought +that they must be hidden in the bushes; but when he went to look, he +found that the sweet singers were not there. It was very mysterious. +Finally he asked Peter Rabbit if he knew who the sweet singers were and +where they were. Peter didn't know, but he was willing to try to find +out. Peter is always willing to try to find out about things he doesn't +already know about. So Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit started out to find +the sweet singers. + +“I believe they are down in the old bulrushes around the Smiling Pool,” + said Peter Rabbit, as he stood listening with a hand behind one long +ear. + +So over to the Smiling Pool they hurried. The nearer they got, the +louder became the voices singing: + + “Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring! + Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!” + +But look as they would, they couldn't see a single singer among the +brown bulrushes. It was very strange, very strange indeed! It seemed as +if the voices came right out of the Smiling Pool itself! + +When Peter Rabbit made a little noise, as he hopped out on the bank +where he could look all over the Smiling Pool, the singing stopped. +After he had sat perfectly still for a little while, it began again. +There was no doubt about it this time; those voices came right out of +the water. + +Johnny Chuck stared at Peter Rabbit, and Peter stared at Johnny Chuck. +Nobody was to be seen in the Smiling Pool, and yet there were those +voices--oh, so many of them--coming right out of the water. + +“How can birds stay under water and still sing?” asked Johnny Chuck. + +“Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!” + +Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck whirled around, to find Jerry Muskrat +peeping up at them from a hole in the bank almost under their feet. + +{Illustration: “Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!” shouted +Jerry Muskrat.} + +“Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!” shouted Jerry Muskrat, +and laughed until he had to hold his sides. “Birds under water! Ho, ho, +ho!” + + + + +IV. JOHNNY CHUCK FINDS OUT WHO THE SWEET SINGERS ARE + + +Johnny Chuck couldn't keep away from the Smiling Pool. No, Sir, Johnny +Chuck couldn't keep away from the Smiling Pool. Ever since he and Peter +Rabbit had gone over there looking for the sweet singers, who every +night and part of the day told all who would listen how glad they were +that Mistress Spring had come to the Green Meadows and the Green Forest, +Johnny Chuck had had something on his mind. And this is why he couldn't +keep away from the Smiling Pool. + +You see it was this way: Johnny and Peter had thought that of course the +sweet singers were birds. They hadn't dreamed of anything else. So of +course they went looking for birds. When they reached the Smiling Pool, +the voices came right out of the water. Johnny knew that some birds, +like many of the cousins of Mrs. Quack, can stay under water a long +time, and so he didn't know but some other birds might. + +Jerry Muskrat was always watching for Johnny, whenever he came to the +Smiling Pool, and his eyes would twinkle as he would gravely say: + +“Hello, Johnny Chuck! Have you seen the birds sing under water yet?” + +Johnny would smile good-naturedly and reply: “Not yet, Jerry Muskrat. +Won't you point them out to me?” + +Then Jerry would reply: + + “Two eyes you have, bright as can be; + Perhaps some day you'll learn to see.” + +Then Johnny Chuck would sit as still as ever he knew how, and watch and +watch the Smiling Pool, but not a bird did he see in the water, though +the singers were still there. One day a sudden thought popped into his +head. Perhaps those singers were not birds at all! Why hadn't he thought +of that before? Perhaps it was because he was looking so hard for +birds that he hadn't seen anything else. Johnny began to look, not for +anything in particular, but to see everything that he could. + +Almost right away he saw some tiny little dark spots on the water. They +didn't look like much of anything. They were so small that he hadn't +noticed them before. One of them was quite close to him, and as Johnny +Chuck looked at it, it began to look like a tiny nose, and then--why, +just then, Johnny was very sure that one of those singing voices came +right from that very spot! + +He was so surprised that he hopped to his feet and excitedly beckoned +to Jerry Muskrat. The instant he did that, the voices near him stopped +singing, and the little spots on the water disappeared, leaving just the +tiniest of little rings, just such tiny little rings as drops of rain +falling on the Smiling Pool would make. And when that tiny spot nearest +to him that looked like a tiny nose disappeared, Johnny Chuck caught +just a glimpse of a little form under the water. + +“Why--why-e-e! The singers are Grandfather Frog's children!” cried +Johnny Chuck. + +“No, they're not, but they are own cousins to them; they are the +grandchildren of old Mr. Tree Toad! and they are called Hylas!” said +Jerry Muskrat, laughing and rubbing his hands in great glee. “I told you +that if you used your eyes, you'd learn to see.” + +“My, but they've got voices bigger than they are!” said Johnny Chuck, +as he started home across the Green Meadows. “I'm glad I know who the +singers of the Smiling Pool are, and I mustn't forget their name--Hylas. +What a funny name!” But Farmer Brown's boy, listening to their song that +evening, didn't call them Hylas. He said: “Hear the peepers! Spring is +surely here.” + + + + +V. JOHNNY CHUCK BECOMES DISSATISFIED + + +Johnny Chuck was unhappy. Here it was the glad springtime, when +everybody is supposed to be the very happiest, and Johnny Chuck was +unhappy. Why was he unhappy? Well, he hardly knew himself. He had slept +comfortably all the long winter. He had awakened very, very hungry, but +now he had plenty to eat. All about him the birds were singing or busily +at work building new homes. And still Johnny Chuck felt unhappy. It was +dreadful to feel this way and not have any good reason for it. + +One bright morning Johnny Chuck sat on his door-step watching Drummer +the Woodpecker building a new home in the old apple-tree. Drummer's red +head flew back and forth, back and forth, and his sharp bill cut out +tiny bits of wood. It was slow work; it was hard work. But Drummer +seemed happy, very happy indeed. It was watching Drummer that started +Johnny Chuck to thinking about his own home. He had always thought it a +very nice home. He had built it just as he wanted it. From the doorstep +he could look in all directions over the Green Meadows. It had a front +door and a hidden back door. Yes, it was a very nice home indeed. + +But now, all of a sudden, Johnny Chuck became dissatisfied with his +home. It was too near the Lone Little Path. Too many people knew where +it was. It wasn't big enough. The front door ought to face the other +way. Dear me, what a surprising lot of faults a discontented heart can +find with things that have always been just right! It was so with Johnny +Chuck. That house in which he had spent so many happy days, which had +protected him from all harm, of which he had been so proud when he first +built it, was now the meanest house in the world. If other people had +new houses, why shouldn't he? The more he thought about it, the more +dissatisfied and discontented he became and of course the more unhappy. +You know one cannot be dissatisfied and discontented and happy at the +same time. + +Now dissatisfied and discontented people are not at all pleasant to have +around. Johnny Chuck had always been one of the best natured of all the +little meadow people, and everybody liked him. So Jimmy Skunk didn't +know quite what to make of it, when he came down the Lone Little Path +and found Johnny Chuck so out of sorts that he wouldn't even answer when +spoken to. + +Jimmy Skunk was feeling very good-natured himself. He had just had a +fine breakfast of fat beetles and he was at peace with all the world. +So he sat down beside Johnny Chuck and began to talk, just as if Johnny +Chuck was his usual good-natured self. + +“It's a fine day,” said Jimmy Skunk. + +Johnny Chuck just sniffed. + +“You're looking very fine,” said Jimmy. + +Johnny just scowled. + +“I think you've got the best place on the Green Meadows for a house,” + said Jimmy, pretending to admire the view. + +Johnny scowled harder than ever. + +“And such a splendid house!” said Jimmy. “I wish I had one like it.” + +“I'm glad you like it! You can have the old thing!” snapped Johnny +Chuck. + +“What's that?” demanded Jimmy Skunk, opening his eyes very wide. + +“I said that you can have it. I'm going to move,” replied Johnny Chuck. + +Now he really hadn't thought of moving until that very minute. And he +didn't know why he had said it. But he had said it, and because he is an +obstinate little fellow he stuck to it. + +“When can I move in?” asked Jimmy Skunk, his eyes twinkling. + +“Right away, if you want to,” replied Johnny Chuck, and swaggered off +down the Lone Little Path, leaving Jimmy Skunk to stare after him as if +he thought Johnny Chuck had suddenly gone crazy, as indeed he did. + + + + +VI. JOHNNY CHUCK TURNS TRAMP + + +Johnny Chuck had turned tramp. Yes, Sir, Johnny Chuck had turned tramp. +It was a funny thing to do, but he had done it. He didn't know why he +had done it, excepting that he had become dissatisfied and discontented +and unhappy in his old home. And then, almost without thinking what he +was doing, he had told Jimmy Skunk that he could have the house he had +worked so hard to build the summer before and of which he had been so +proud. Then Johnny Chuck had swaggered away down the Lone Little Path +without once looking back at the home he was leaving. + +Where was he going? Well, to tell the truth, Johnny didn't know. He was +going to see the world, and perhaps when he had seen the world, he would +build him a new house. So as long as he was in sight of Jimmy Skunk, he +swaggered along quite as if he was used to traveling about, without any +snug house to go to at night. But right down in his heart Johnny Chuck +didn't feel half so bold as he pretended. + +You see, not since he was a little Chuck and had run away from old +Mother Chuck with Peter Rabbit, had he ever been very far from his own +door-step. He had always been content to grow fat and roly-poly right +near his own home, and listen to the tales of the great world from Jimmy +Skunk and Peter Rabbit and Bobby Coon and Unc' Billy Possum, all of whom +are great travelers. + +But now, here he was, actually setting forth, and without a home to come +back to! You see, he had made up his mind that no matter what happened, +he wouldn't come back, after having given his house to Jimmy Skunk. + +When he had reached a place where he thought Jimmy Skunk couldn't see +him, Johnny Chuck turned and looked back, and a queer little feeling +seemed to make a lump that filled his throat and choked him. The fact +is, Johnny Chuck already began to feel homesick. But he swallowed very +hard and tried to make himself think that he was having a splendid time. +He stopped looking back and started on, and as he tramped along, he +tried to sing a song he had once heard Jimmy Skunk sing: + + “The world may stretch full far and wide-- + What matters that to me? + I'll tramp it up; I'll tramp it down! + For I am bold and free.” + +It was a very brave little song, but Johnny Chuck didn't feel half so +brave and bold as he tried to think he did. Already he was beginning to +wonder where he should spend the night. Then he thought of old Whitetail +the Marshhawk, who had given him such a fright and had so nearly caught +him when he was a little fellow. The thought made him look around +hastily, and there was old Whitetail himself, sailing back and forth +hungrily just ahead of him. A great fear took possession of Johnny +Chuck, and he made himself as flat as possible in the grass, for there +was no place to hide. He made up his mind that anyway he would fight. + +Nearer and nearer came old Whitetail! Finally he passed right over +Johnny Chuck. But he didn't offer to touch him. Indeed, it seemed to +Johnny that old Whitetail actually grinned and winked at him. And right +then all his fear left him. + +“Pooh!” said Johnny Chuck scornfully. “Who's afraid of him!” He suddenly +realized that he was no longer a helpless little Chuck who couldn't take +care of himself, but big and strong, with sharp teeth with which his old +enemy had no mind to make a closer acquaintance, when there were mice +and snakes to be caught without fighting. So he puffed out his chest and +went on, and actually began to enjoy himself, and almost wished for a +chance to show how big and strong he was. + + + + +VII. JOHNNY'S FIRST ADVENTURE + + +After old Whitetail the Marshhawk passed Johnny Chuck without offering +to touch him, Johnny began to feel very brave and bold and important. He +strutted and swaggered along as much as his short legs would let him. +He held his head very high. Already he felt that he had had an adventure +and he longed for more. He forgot the terrible lonesome feeling of a +little while before. He forgot that he had given away the only home he +had. He didn't know just why, but right down deep inside he had a sudden +feeling that he really didn't care a thing about that old home. In fact, +he felt as if he wouldn't care if he never had another home. Yes, Sir, +that is the way that Johnny Chuck felt. Do you know why? Just because he +had just begun to realize how big and strong he really was. + +Now it is a splendid thing to feel big and strong and brave, a very +splendid thing! But it is a bad thing to let that feeling turn to pride, +foolish pride. Of course old Whitetail hadn't really been afraid of +Johnny Chuck. He had simply passed Johnny with a wink, because there +was plenty to eat without the trouble of fighting, and Whitetail doesn't +fight just for the fun of it. + +But foolish Johnny Chuck really thought that old Whitetail was afraid of +him. The more he thought about it, the more tickled he felt and the more +puffed up he felt. He began to talk to himself and to brag. Yes, Sir, +Johnny Chuck began to brag: + + “I'm not afraid of any one; + They're all afraid of me! + I only have to show my teeth + To make them turn and flee!” + +“Pooh!” said a voice. “Pooh! It would take two like you to make me run +away!” + +Johnny Chuck gave a startled jump. There was a strange Chuck glaring at +him from behind a little bunch of grass. He was a big, gray old Chuck +whom Johnny never had seen on the Green Meadows before, and he didn't +look the least bit afraid. No, Sir, he didn't look the teeniest, +weeniest bit afraid! Somehow, Johnny Chuck didn't feel half so big and +strong and brave as he had a few minutes before. But it wouldn't do to +let this stranger know it. Of course not! So, though he felt very small +inside, Johnny made all his hair bristle up and tried to look very +fierce. + +“Who are you and what are you doing on my Green Meadows?” he demanded. + +“Your Green Meadows! Your Green Meadows! Ho, ho, ho! Your Green +Meadows!” The stranger laughed an unpleasant laugh. “How long since you +owned the Green Meadows? I have just come down on to them from the Old +Pasture, and I like the looks of them so well that I think I will stay. +So run along, little boaster! There isn't room for both of us here, and +the sooner you trot along the better.” The stranger suddenly showed all +his teeth and gritted them unpleasantly. + +Now when Johnny Chuck heard this, great anger filled his heart. A +stranger had ordered him to leave the Green Meadows where he had been +born and always lived! He could hardly believe his own ears. He, Johnny +Chuck, would show this stranger who was master here! + +With a squeal of rage, Johnny sprang at the gray old Chuck. Then began +such a fight as the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind +had never seen before. They danced around excitedly and cried: “How +dreadful!” and hoped that Johnny Chuck would win, for you know they +loved him very much. + +Over and over the two little fighters rolled, biting and scratching and +tearing and growling and snarling. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun hid +his face behind a cloud, so as not to see such a dreadful sight. The +stranger had been in many fights and he was very crafty. For a while +Johnny felt that he was getting the worst of it, and he began to wonder +if he really would have to leave the Green Meadows. The very thought +filled him with new rage and he fought harder than ever. + +Now the stranger was old and his teeth were worn, while Johnny was young +and his teeth were very sharp. After a long, long time, Johnny felt the +stranger growing weaker. Johnny fought harder than ever. At last the +stranger cried “Enough!” and when he could break away, started back +towards the Old Pasture. Johnny Chuck had won! + + + + +VIII. JOHNNY HAS ANOTHER ADVENTURE + + +Johnny Chuck lay stretched out on the cool, soft grass of the Green +Meadows, panting for breath. He was very tired and very sore. His +face was scratched and bitten. His clothes were torn, and he smarted +dreadfully in a dozen places. But still Johnny Chuck was happy. When +he raised his head to look, he could see a gray old Chuck limping off +towards the Old Pasture. Once in a while the gray old Chuck would +turn his head and show his teeth, but he kept right on towards the Old +Pasture. Johnny Chuck smiled. + +It had been a great fight, and more than once Johnny Chuck had thought +that he should have to give up. He thought of this now, and then he +thought with shame of how he had bragged and boasted just before the +fight. What if he had lost? He resolved that he would never again brag +or boast. But he also made up his mind that if any one should pick a +quarrel with him, he would show that he wasn't afraid. + +It was getting late in the afternoon when Johnny finally felt rested +enough to go on. He had got to find a place to spend the night. He +hobbled along, for he was very stiff and sore, until he came to the edge +of the Green Meadows, where they meet the Green Forest. + +Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun was almost ready to go down to his bed behind +the Purple Hills. Shadows were already beginning to creep through the +Green Forest. Somehow they gave Johnny Chuck that same lonesome feeling +that he had had when he first left his old home. You see he had always +lived out in the Green Meadows and somehow he was afraid of the Green +Forest in the night. + +So, instead of going into the Green Forest, he wandered along the edge +of it, looking for a place in which to spend the night. At last he came +to a hollow log lying just out on the edge of the Green Meadows. Very +carefully Johnny Chuck examined it, to be sure that no one else was +using it. + +“It's just the place I'm looking for!” he said aloud. + +Just then there was a sharp hiss, a very fierce hiss. Johnny Chuck felt +the hair on his neck rise as it always did when he heard that hiss, +and he wasn't at all surprised, when he turned his head, to find Mr. +Blacksnake close by. Mr. Blacksnake glided swiftly up to the old log and +coiled himself in front of the opening. Then he raised his head and ran +out his tongue in the most impudent way. + +“Run along, Johnny Chuck! I've decided to sleep here myself to-night!” + he said sharply. + +Now when Johnny Chuck was a very little fellow, he had been in great +fear of Mr. Blacksnake, as he had had reason to be. And because he +didn't know any better, he had been afraid ever since. Mr. Blacksnake +knew this and so now he looked as ugly as he knew how. But you see he +didn't know about the great fight that Johnny Chuck had just won. + +Now to win an honest fight always makes one feel very strong and very +sure of oneself. Johnny looked at Mr. Blacksnake and saw that Mr. +Blacksnake didn't look half as big as Johnny had always thought he did. +He made up his mind that as he had found the old log first, he had the +best right to it. + +“I found it first and I'm going to keep it!” snapped Johnny Chuck, +and with every hair on end and gritting his teeth, he walked straight +towards Mr. Blacksnake. + +Now Mr. Blacksnake is a great bluffer, while at heart he is really a +coward. With a fierce hiss he rushed right at Johnny Chuck, expecting +to see him turn tail and run. But Johnny stood his ground and showed all +his sharp teeth. Instead of attacking Johnny, Mr. Blacksnake glided past +him and sneaked away through the grass. + +Johnny Chuck chuckled as he crept into the hollow log. + +“Only a coward runs away without fighting,” he murmured sleepily. + + + + +IX. ANOTHER STRANGE CHUCK + + +Johnny Chuck awoke just as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun pulled his own +nightcap off. At first Johnny couldn't think where he was. He blinked +and blinked. Then he rolled over. “Ouch!” cried Johnny Chuck. You see he +was so stiff and sore from his great fight the day before, that it hurt +to roll over. But when he felt the smart of those wounds, he remembered +where he was. He was in the old hollow log that he had found on the edge +of the Green Meadows just before dark. It was the first time that Johnny +had ever slept anywhere, excepting underground, and as he lay blinking +his eyes, it seemed very strange and rather nice, too. + +“Well, well, well! What are you doing here?” cried a sharp voice. + +Johnny Chuck looked towards the open end of the old log. There, peeping +in, was a little face as sharp as the voice. + +“Hello, Chatterer!” cried Johnny. + +“I say, what are you doing here?” persisted Chatterer the Red Squirrel, +for it was he. + +“Just waking up,” replied Johnny, with a grin. + +“It's time,” replied Chatterer. “But that isn't telling me what you are +doing so far from home.” + +“I haven't any home,” said Johnny, his face growing just a wee bit +wistful. + +“You haven't any home!” Chatterer's voice sounded as if he didn't think +he had heard aright. “What have you done with it?” + +“Given it to Jimmy Skunk,” replied Johnny Chuck. + +Now Chatterer never gives anything to anybody, and how any one could +give away his home was more than he could understand. He stared at +Johnny as if he thought Johnny had gone crazy. Finally he found his +tongue. “I don't believe it!” he snapped. “If Jimmy Skunk has got your +old home, it's because he put you out of it.” + +“No such thing! I'd like to see Jimmy Skunk or anybody else put me out +of my home!” Johnny Chuck spoke scornfully. “I gave it to him because +I didn't want it any longer. I'm going to see the world, and then I'm +going to build me a new home. Everybody else seems to be building new +homes this spring; why shouldn't I?” + +“I'm not!” retorted Chatterer. “I know enough to know when I am well +off. + + “Who has a discontented heart + Is sure to play a sorry part.” + +Johnny Chuck crawled out of the old log and stretched himself somewhat +painfully. “That may be, but there are different kinds of discontent. + + Who never looks for better things + Will live his life in little rings. + +Well, I must be moving along, if I am to see the world.” So Johnny Chuck +bade Chatterer good-by and started on. It was very delightful to wander +over the Green Meadows on such a beautiful spring morning. The violets +and the wind-flowers nodded to him, and the dandelions smiled up at him. +Johnny almost forgot his torn clothes and the bites and scratches of his +great fight with the gray old Chuck the day before. It was fun to just +go where he pleased and not have a care in the world. + +He was thinking of this, as he sat up to look over the Green Meadows. +His heart gave a great throb. What was that over near the lone elm-tree? +It was--yes, it certainly was another Chuck! Could it be the old gray +Chuck come back for another fight? A great anger filled the heart of +Johnny Chuck, and he whistled sharply. The strange Chuck didn't answer. +Johnny ground his teeth and started for the lone elm-tree. He would show +this other Chuck who was master of the Green Meadows! + + + + +X. WHY JOHNNY CHUCK DIDN'T FIGHT + + + Anger is an awful thing; + It never stops to reason. + It boils right over all at once, + No matter what the season. + +It was so with Johnny Chuck. The minute he caught sight of the strange +Chuck over by the lone elm-tree, anger filled his heart and fairly +boiled over, until he was in a terrible rage. Of course it was foolish, +very foolish indeed. The strange Chuck hadn't said or done anything to +make Johnny Chuck angry, not the least thing in the world, excepting to +come down on to the Green Meadows. Now the Green Meadows are very broad, +and there is room for many Chucks. It was pure selfishness on the part +of Johnny Chuck to want to drive away every other Chuck. + +But anger never stops to reason. It didn't now. Johnny Chuck hurried as +fast as his short legs could take him towards the lone elm-tree, and in +his mind was just one thought--to drive that strange Chuck off the Green +Meadows and to punish him so that he never, never would dare even think +of coming back. So great was Johnny's anger that every hair stood on +end, and as he ran he chattered and scolded. + +“I'll fix him! These are my Green Meadows, and no one else has any +business here unless I say so! I'll fix him! I'll fix him!” + +Then Johnny would grind his teeth, and in his eyes was the ugliest look. +He wasn't nice to see, not a bit nice. The Merry Little Breezes of Old +Mother West Wind didn't know what to make of him. Could this be the +Johnny Chuck they had known so long, the good-natured, happy Johnny +Chuck whom everybody loved? They drew away from him, for they didn't +want anything to do with any one in such a frightful temper. But Johnny +Chuck didn't even notice, and if he had he wouldn't have cared. That +is the trouble with anger. It crowds out everything else, when it once +fills the heart. + +When Johnny had first seen the stranger, he had thought right away that +it was the old gray Chuck with whom he had had such a terrible fight the +day before and whom he whipped. Perhaps that was one reason for Johnny +Chuck's terrible anger now, for the old gray Chuck had tried to drive +Johnny Chuck off the Green Meadows. + +But when he had to stop for breath and sat up to look again, he saw that +it wasn't the old gray Chuck at all. It was a younger Chuck and much +smaller than the old gray Chuck. It was smaller than Johnny himself. + +“He'll be all the easier to whip,” muttered Johnny, as he started on +again, never once thinking of how unfair it would be to fight with one +smaller than himself. That was because he was so angry. Anger never is +fair. + +Pretty soon he reached the lone elm-tree. The stranger wasn't to be +seen! No, Sir, the stranger wasn't anywhere in sight. Johnny Chuck sat +up and looked this way and looked that way, but the stranger was nowhere +in sight. + +“Pooh!” said Johnny Chuck, “He's afraid to fight! He's a coward. But +he can't get away from me so easily. He's hiding, and I'll find him and +then---” Johnny didn't finish, but he ground his teeth, and it wasn't a +pleasant sound to hear. + +So Johnny Chuck hunted for the stranger, and the longer he hunted the +angrier he grew. Somehow the stranger managed to keep out of his +sight. He was almost ready to give up, when he almost stumbled over the +stranger, hiding in a little clump of bushes. And then a funny thing +happened. What do you think it was? + +Why, all the anger left Johnny Chuck. His hair no longer stood on end. +He didn't know why, but all of a sudden he felt foolish, very foolish +indeed. + +“Who are you?” he demanded gruffly. + +“I--I'm Polly Chuck,” replied the stranger, in a small, timid voice. + + + + +XI. THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD + + +Johnny Chuck had begun to think about his clothes. Yes, Sir, he spent a +whole lot of time thinking about how he looked and wishing that he had +a handsomer coat. For the first time in all his life he began to envy +Reddy Fox, because of the beautiful red coat of which Reddy is so proud. +It seemed to Johnny that his own coat was so plain and so dull that no +one would look at it twice. Besides, it was torn now, because of the +great fight Johnny had had with the old gray Chuck who came down from +the Old Pasture. Johnny smoothed it down and brushed it carefully and +tried to make himself look as spick and span as he knew how. + +“Oh, dear!” he sighed. “I don't see why Old Mother Nature didn't give me +as handsome a coat as she did Reddy Fox. And there are Jimmy Skunk +and Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and--and--why, almost every one has a +handsomer coat than I have!” Now this wasn't at all like Johnny Chuck. +First he had been discontented with his house and had given it to Jimmy +Skunk. Now he was discontented with his clothes. What was coming over +Johnny Chuck? He really didn't know himself. At least, he wouldn't have +admitted that he knew. But right down deep in his heart was a great +desire--the desire to have Polly Chuck admire him. Yes, Sir, that is +what it was! And it seemed to him that she would admire him a great deal +more if he wore fine clothes. You see, he hadn't learned yet what Peter +Rabbit had learned a long time ago, which is that + + Fine clothes but catch the passing eye; + Fine deeds win love from low and high. + +So Johnny Chuck wished and wished that he had a handsome suit, but as he +didn't, and no amount of wishing would bring him one, he just made the +one he did have look as good as he could, and then went in search of +Polly Chuck. + +Sometimes she would not notice him at all. Sometimes he would find her +shyly peeping at him from behind a clump of grass. Then Johnny Chuck +would try to make himself look very important, and would strut about as +if he really did own the Green Meadows. + +Sometimes she would hide from him, and when he found her she would run +away. Other times she would be just as nice to him as she could be, and +they would have a jolly time hunting for sweet clover and other nice +things to eat. Then Johnny Chuck's heart would swell until it seemed to +him that it would fairly burst with happiness. + +Instead of wanting to drive Polly Chuck away from the Green Meadows, +as he had the old gray Chuck, Johnny began to worry for fear that Polly +Chuck might not stay on the Green Meadows. Whenever he thought of that, +his heart would sink way, way down, and he would hurry to look for her +and make sure that she was still there. + +When he was beside her, he felt very big and strong and brave and longed +for a chance to show her how brave he was. She was such a timid little +thing herself that the least little thing frightened her, and Johnny +Chuck was glad that this was so, for it gave him a chance to protect +her. + +When he wasn't with her, he spent his time looking for new patches of +sweet clover to take her to. At first she wouldn't go without a great +deal of coaxing, but after a while he didn't have to coax at all. She +seemed to delight to be with him as much as he did to be with her. + +So Johnny Chuck grew happier and happier. He was happier than he had +ever been in all his life before. You see Johnny Chuck had found the +greatest thing in the world. Do you know what it is? It is called love. + + + + +XII. JOHNNY CHUCK PROVES HIS LOVE + + +These spring days were beautiful days on the Green Meadows. It seemed +to Johnny Chuck that the Green Meadows never had been so lovely or the +songs of the birds so sweet. He had forgotten all about his old friends, +Jimmy Skunk and Peter Rabbit and the other little meadow people. + +You see, he couldn't think of anybody but Polly Chuck, and he didn't +want to be with anybody but Polly Chuck. He had even forgotten that he +had started out to see the world. He didn't care anything more about +the world. All he wanted was to be where Polly Chuck was. Then he was +perfectly happy. That was because Johnny Chuck had found the greatest +thing in the world, which is love. But Johnny still had one great wish, +the wish that he might show Polly Chuck just how brave and strong he was +and how well he could take care of her. + +One morning they were feasting in a patch of sweet clover over near an +old stone wall. It was the same stone wall in which Johnny Chuck had +escaped from old Whitetail the Marshhawk, when Johnny was a very little +fellow. + +Suddenly Polly gave a little scream of fright. Johnny Chuck looked up to +see a dog almost upon her. Johnny's first thought was to run to the old +stone wall. He was nearer to it than Polly was. Then he saw that that +dreadful dog would catch Polly before she could reach the stone wall. + +A great rage filled Johnny's heart, just as it had when he had fought +the old gray Chuck. Every hair stood on end, not with fear, but with +anger, and he sprang in front of Polly. + +“Run, Polly, run!” he cried, and Polly ran. + +But Johnny didn't run. Oh, my, no! Johnny didn't run. He drew himself +together ready to spring. He showed all his sharp teeth and ground them +savagely. Little sparks of fire seemed to snap out of his eyes. There +was no sign of fear in Johnny Chuck then, not the least little bit. Just +in front of him the dog stopped and barked. He was a little dog, a young +and foolish dog, and he was terribly excited. He barked until he almost +lost his breath. He didn't like the looks of Johnny Chuck's sharp teeth. +So he circled around Johnny, trying to get behind him. But Johnny turned +as the dog circled, and always the little dog found those sharp teeth +directly in front of him. He barked and barked, until it seemed as if he +would bark his head off. + +Finally the little dog, who was young and foolish, grew tired of just +dancing around and barking. “Pooh!” said he to himself. “He's nothing +but a Chuck!” Then he stopped barking and sprang straight at Johnny with +an ugly growl. + +Johnny Chuck was ready for him and he was quicker than the little dog. +His sharp teeth closed on one of the little dog's ears, and he held on +while with his stout claws he scratched and tore. + +The little dog, who was young and foolish and hadn't yet learned how +to fight, couldn't get hold of Johnny Chuck anywhere. Then he tried to +shake Johnny Chuck off, but he couldn't, because Johnny held on to that +ear with his sharp teeth. + +“Kiyi-yi-yi-yi!” yelled the little dog, for those teeth hurt dreadfully. +“Kiyi-yi-yi-yi!” + +Over and over they rolled and tumbled, the little dog trying to get +away, and Johnny Chuck holding on to the little dog's ear. Finally +Johnny had to let go to get his breath. The little dog sprang to his +feet and started for home across the Green Meadows as fast as he could +run. + +Johnny Chuck shook himself and grinned, as he heard the little dog's +“Kiyi-yi-yi” grow fainter and fainter. “I'm glad it wasn't Bowser the +Hound,” muttered Johnny Chuck, as he started towards the old stone wall. +There he found Polly Chuck peeping out at him, and all of a tremble with +fright. + +“My, how brave you are!” said Polly Chuck. + +“Pooh, that's nothing!” replied Johnny Chuck. + + + + +XIII. POLLY AND JOHNNY CHUCK GO HOUSE HUNTING + + +Johnny Chuck was happy. Yes, Sir, Johnny Chuck was happy--so happy that +he felt like doing foolish things. You see Johnny Chuck loved Polly +Chuck and he knew now that Polly Chuck loved him. He had known it +ever since he had fought with the foolish little dog who had dared to +frighten Polly Chuck. + +After the fight was over, and the little dog had been sent home +kiyi-yi-ing, Polly Chuck had crept out of the old stone wall where she +had been hiding and snuggled up beside Johnny Chuck and looked at him +as if she thought him the most wonderful Chuck in all the world, as, +indeed, she did. And Johnny had felt his heart swell and swell with +happiness until it almost choked him. + +So now once more Johnny Chuck began to think of a new home. He had +forgotten all about seeing the world. All he wanted now was a new house, +built just so, with a front door and a hidden back door, and big enough +for two, for no more would Johnny Chuck live alone. So, with shy little +Polly Chuck by his side, he began to search for a place to make a new +home. + +The more he thought about it, the more Johnny wanted to build his house +over by the lone elm-tree where he had first seen Polly Chuck. It was a +splendid place. From it you could see a great way in every direction. +It would be shady on hot summer days. It was near a great big patch of +sweet clover. It seemed to Johnny Chuck that it was the best place on +all the Green Meadows. He whispered as much to Polly Chuck. She turned +up her nose. + +“It's too low!” said she. + +“Oh!” replied Johnny, and looked puzzled, for really it was one of the +highest places on the Green Meadows. + +“Yes,” said Polly, in a brisk, decided way, “it's altogether too low. +Probably it is wet.” + +“Oh!” said Johnny once more. Of course he knew that it wasn't wet, but +if Polly didn't want to live there, he wouldn't say a word. Of course +not. + +“Now there's a place right over there,” continued Polly. “I think we'll +build our house right there.” + +Johnny opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it again without +speaking and meekly trotted after Polly Chuck to the place she had +picked out. It was in a little hollow. Johnny knew before he began to +dig that the ground was damp, almost wet. But if Polly wanted to live +there she should, and Johnny began to dig. By and by he stopped to rest. +Where was Polly? He looked this way and that way anxiously. Just as he +was getting ready to go hunt for her, she came hurrying back. + +{Illustration: If Polly wanted to live there she should} + +“I've found a perfectly lovely place for our new home!” she cried. + +Johnny looked ruefully at the hole he had worked so hard to dig; then he +brushed the dirt from his clothes and followed her. This time Johnny +had no fault to find with the ground. It was high and dry. But Polly had +chosen a spot close to a road that wound down across the Green Meadows. +Johnny shook his head doubtfully, but he began to dig. This time, +however, he kept one eye on Polly Chuck, and the minute he found that +she was wandering off, he stopped digging and chuckled as he watched +her. It wasn't long before back she came in great excitement. She had +found a better place! + +So they wandered over the Green Meadows, Polly leading the way. Johnny +had learned by this time to waste no time digging. And he had made up +his mind to one thing. What do you think it was? It was this: He would +follow Polly until she found a place to suit him, but when she did find +such a place she shouldn't have a chance to change her mind again. + + + + +XIV. A NEW HOME AT LAST + + + Home, no matter where it be, + Or it be big or small, + Is just the one place in the world + That dearest is of all. + +Johnny Chuck was thinking of this as he worked with might and main. It +was a new house that he was building, but already he felt that it was +home, and every time he thought of it he felt a queer little tugging at +his heart. You see, while it was his home, it was Polly Chuck's home, +too, and that made it doubly dear to Johnny Chuck, even before it was +finished. + +And where do you think Johnny was building his new home? It was clear +way over on the edge of Farmer Brown's old orchard! Yes, Sir, after all +the fuss Johnny Chuck had made over any other Chuck living on the Green +Meadows, and after driving the old gray Chuck back to the Old Pasture, +Johnny Chuck had left the Green Meadows himself! + +It wasn't of his own accord that Johnny Chuck had left the Green +Meadows. No, indeed! He loved them too well for that. But he loved Polly +Chuck more, and although he had grumbled a little, he had followed her +up to the old orchard, and now they were going to stay there. Sometimes +Johnny shivered when he thought how near were Farmer Brown and Farmer +Brown's boy and Bowser the Hound. + +He had never been so far from his old home on the Green Meadows before, +and it was all very strange up here. It was very lovely, too. Besides, +it was in this very old orchard that Polly Chuck had been born, and she +knew every part of it. Johnny felt better when he found that out. So +he set to work to build a home, and this time he meant business. Polly +Chuck could change her mind as many times as she pleased; that was going +to be their home and that was where they were going to live. + +Now Johnny Chuck had grown wise in the ways of the world since he first +ran away from the home where he was born. Twice since then he had built +a new home, and now this would be better than either of the others. He +paid no heed to Polly, when she pouted because he did not dig where she +wanted him to. He went from tree to tree, big old apple-trees they were, +and at the very last tree, way down in a corner near a tumbled-down +stone wall, he found what he wanted--two spreading roots gave him a +chance to dig between them. + +Polly watched him get ready for work and she pouted some more. + +“It would be a lot nicer out in that grassy place, and a lot easier to +dig,” said she. + +Johnny Chuck smiled and made the dirt fly. “It certainly would be easier +to dig,” said he, when he stopped for breath, “easier for me and easier +for Bowser the Hound or for old Granny Fox, if either wanted to dig us +out. Now, these old roots are just far enough apart for us to go in +and out. They make a beautiful doorway. But Bowser the Hound cannot get +through if he tries, and he can't make our doorway any larger. Don't you +see how safe it is?” + +Polly Chuck had to own up that it was safer than a home in the open +could possibly be, and Johnny went on digging. He made a long hall down +to the snuggest of bedrooms, deep, deep down under ground. Then he made +a long back hall, and all the sand from this he carried out the front +way. By and by he made a back door at the end of the back hall, and +it opened right behind a big stone fallen from the old stone wall. You +would never have guessed that there was a back door there. + +His new house was finished now, and Johnny Chuck and Polly Chuck sat on +the door-step and watched jolly, round, red Mr. Sun go to bed behind the +Purple Hills and were happy. + + + + +XV. SAMMY JAY FINDS THE NEW HOME + + +Johnny Chuck was missed from his old home on the Green Meadows. If he +had known how much he was missed, he certainly would have tried to go +back for at least a call on his old neighbors. There had been great +surprise when it had been discovered that Jimmy Skunk was living in +Johnny's old house, and at first some of the little meadow people were +inclined to look at Jimmy a wee bit distrustfully when he told how +Johnny Chuck had given away his house. + +When Johnny sent back word by the Merry Little Breezes that it was true, +they believed Jimmy Skunk and forgot the unpleasant things that they +had begun to hint at about him. But they one and all thought that Johnny +Chuck must be crazy. Yes, Sir, they thought that Johnny Chuck must be +crazy. They were sure of it when the Merry Little Breezes brought word +of how Johnny had started out to see the world. + +But everybody was so busy about their own affairs in the beautiful +bright spring-time that they couldn't spend much time wondering about +Johnny Chuck. They missed him every time they passed his old house and +then forgot him; that is, most of the little meadow people did. + +Peter Rabbit didn't. Peter used to stop every day to gossip with Johnny +Chuck and tell him all the news, and now that Johnny Chuck was no longer +there, Peter missed him greatly. Jimmy Skunk was always asleep or off +somewhere. Besides, he was such a traveler that he knew all the news +almost as soon as Peter himself. + +The Merry Little Breezes told Peter that Johnny Chuck was still on the +Green Meadows, hunting for a new home, so Peter made up his mind that +just as soon as Johnny got settled, Peter would hunt him up and call. +You see, he never dreamed that Johnny would leave the Green Meadows, and +he thought that of course the Merry Little Breezes would tell him just +where Johnny Chuck's new house was, whenever it was built. But there is +where Peter made a mistake. + +The Merry Little Breezes are the friends of all the little meadow and +forest people, but they wouldn't be very long if they told everything +that they find out. + + Their merry tongues they guard full well + And things they shouldn't never tell, + For long ago they learned the way + To keep a secret night and day. + +And so when they found Johnny Chuck's new house in the corner of Farmer +Brown's old orchard, they promised Johnny that they wouldn't tell +anybody, and they didn't. So it was a long time before any one else +found out what had become of Johnny Chuck, for no one thought of looking +in the corner of the old orchard. + +The Merry Little Breezes used to come every day and bring Johnny Chuck +the news, and he and Polly Chuck would laugh and tickle, as they thought +of Peter Rabbit hunting and hunting and never finding them. + +Then one morning, as Johnny Chuck sat on his door-step, half dozing in +the sun with his heart filled with contentment, he happened to look up +straight into two sharp eyes peering down at him from among the leaves +of the apple-tree under which he had built his house. He knew those +eyes. They were such sharp eyes that they were unpleasant. He didn't +even have to look for the blue and white coat of the owner to know who +had found his snug home. But he pretended to keep right on dozing, and +pretty soon the owner of the eyes disappeared without making a sound. + +“Oh, dear,” sighed Johnny Chuck, “now the whole world will know where +we live, for that was Sammy Jay.” Then his face brightened as he added: +“Anyway, he didn't see Polly Chuck, and he doesn't know anything about +her, so I'll keep twice as sharp a watch as before.” + + + + +XVI. SAMMY JAY PLANS MISCHIEF + + + Mischief may not mean to be really truly bad, + But somehow it seems to make other people sad; + Does a mean unpleasant thing and tries to think it fun; + Then, alas, it runs away when trouble has begun. + +Of all the little people who live in the Green Forest and on the Green +Meadows, none is more mischievous than Sammy Jay. It seems sometimes as +if there was more mischief under that pert little cap Sammy Jay wears +than in the heads of all the other little meadow and forest people put +together. When he isn't actually in mischief, Sammy Jay is planning +mischief. You see it has grown to be a habit with Sammy Jay, and habits, +especially bad habits, have a way of growing and growing. + +Now Sammy Jay had no quarrel with Johnny Chuck. Oh, my, no! He would +have told you that he liked Johnny Chuck. Everybody likes Johnny Chuck. +But just as soon as Sammy Jay found Johnny Chuck's new house, he began +to plan mischief. He didn't really want any harm to come to Johnny +Chuck, but he wanted to make Johnny uncomfortable. That is Sammy Jay's +idea of fun--seeing somebody else uncomfortable. So he slipped away to +a thick hemlock-tree in the Green Forest to try to think of some plan to +tease Johnny Chuck and make him uncomfortable. + +Of course he knew that Johnny had hidden his new house in the corner +of Farmer Brown's old orchard because he wanted it to be a secret. He +didn't know why Johnny wanted it a secret and he didn't care. If Johnny +wanted it a secret, it would be fun to tell everybody about it. As he +sat wondering who he should tell first; he saw Reddy Fox trotting down +the Lone Little Path. + +“Hi, Reddy Fox!” he shouted. + +Reddy looked up. “Hello, Sammy Jay! What have you got on your mind this +morning?” said Reddy. + +“Nothing much,” replied Sammy Jay. “What's the news?” + +Reddy grinned. “There isn't any news,” said he. “I was just going to ask +you the same thing.” + +It was Sammy Jay's turn to grin, “Just as if I could tell you any news, +Reddy Fox! Just as if I could tell you any news!” he exclaimed. “Why, +everybody knows that you are so smart that you find out everything as +soon as it happens.” + +Reddy Fox felt flattered. You know people who do a great deal of +flattering themselves are often the very easiest to flatter if you know +how. Reddy pretended to be very modest; but no one likes to be thought +smart and important more than Reddy Fox does, and it pleased him greatly +that Sammy Jay should think him so smart that no one could tell him any +news. Sammy knew this perfectly well, and he chuckled to himself as he +watched Reddy Fox pretending to be so modest. + +“Have you called on Johnny Chuck at his new home yet?” asked Sammy Jay, +in the most matter-of-fact way. + +“No,” replied Reddy, “but I mean to, soon.” He said this just as if he +knew all about Johnny Chuck's new home, when all the time he hadn't +the remotest idea in the world where it was. In fact he had hunted and +hunted for it, but hadn't found a trace of it. And all the time Sammy +Jay knew that Reddy didn't know where it was. But Sammy didn't let on +that he knew. + +“I just happened to be up in Farmer Brown's old orchard this morning, so +I thought I'd pay Johnny Chuck a call,” said Sammy, and chuckled as he +saw Reddy's ears prick up. “By the way, he thinks you don't know where +he lives now.” + +“Huh!” said Reddy Fox. “As if Johnny Chuck could fool me! Well, I must +be moving along. Good-by, Sammy Jay.” + +Reddy trotted off towards the Green Meadows, but the minute he was out +of sight of Sammy Jay, he turned towards Farmer Brown's old orchard, +just as Sammy Jay had known he would. + +“I guess Johnny Chuck will have a visitor,” chuckled Sammy Jay, as he +started to look for Jimmy Skunk. + + + + +XVII. MORE MISCHIEF + + + Mischief's like a snowball + Sent rolling down a hill; + With every turn it bigger grows + And bigger, bigger still. + +Sammy Jay had started mischief by telling Reddy Fox where Johnny Chuck's +new house was. If you had asked him, Sammy Jay would have said that he +hadn't told. All he had said was that he had happened to be up in Farmer +Brown's old orchard and so had called on Johnny Chuck in his new house. + +Now Reddy Fox is very sly, oh, very sly. He had pretended to Sammy Jay +that he knew all the time where Johnny Chuck was living. When he left +Sammy Jay, he had started in the direction of the Green Meadows, just as +if he had no thought of going over to Farmer Brown's old orchard. + +But Sammy Jay is just as sly as Reddy Fox. He wasn't fooled for one +minute, not one little minute. He chuckled to himself as he started to +look for Jimmy Skunk. Then he changed his mind. + +“I think I'll go up to the old orchard myself!” said Sammy Jay, and away +he flew. + +He got there first and hid in the top of a big apple-tree, where he +could see all that went on. It wasn't long before he saw Reddy Fox +steal out from the Green Forest and over to the old orchard. Reddy +was nervous, very nervous. You see, it was broad daylight, and the old +orchard was very near Farmer Brown's house. Reddy knew that he ought +to have waited until night, but he knew that then Johnny Chuck would be +fast asleep, Now, perhaps, Johnny Chuck, thinking that no one knew where +he lived, would not be on watch, and he might be able to catch Johnny. + +So Reddy, with one eye on Farmer Brown's house and one eye on the watch +for some sign of Johnny Chuck, stole into the old orchard. Every few +steps he would stop and look and listen. At every little noise he would +start nervously. Then Sammy Jay would chuckle under his breath. + +So Reddy Fox crept and tiptoed about through the old orchard. Every +minute he grew more nervous, and every minute he grew more disappointed, +for he could find no sign of Johnny Chuck's house. He began to think +that Sammy Jay had fooled him, and the very thought made him grind his +teeth. At last he decided to give it up. + +He was down in the far corner of the old orchard, close by the old stone +wall now, and he got all ready to jump over the old stone wall, when +he just happened to look on the other side of the big apple-tree he was +under, and there was what he was looking for--Johnny Chuck's new house! +Johnny Chuck wasn't in sight, but there was the new house, and Johnny +must be either inside or not far away. Reddy grinned. It was a sly, +wicked, hungry grin. He flattened himself out in the grass behind the +big apple-tree. + +“I'll give Johnny Chuck the surprise of his life!” muttered Reddy Fox +under his breath. + +Now Sammy Jay had been watching all this time. He knew that Johnny Chuck +was safely inside his house, for Johnny had seen Reddy when he first +came into the old orchard. And Sammy knew that Johnny Chuck knew that +when Reddy found that new house, he would hide just as he had done. + +“Johnny Chuck won't come out again to-day, and there won't be any +excitement at all,” thought Sammy Jay in disappointment, for he had +hoped to see a fight between Reddy Fox and Johnny Chuck. Just then Sammy +looked over to Farmer Brown's house, and there was Farmer Brown's boy +getting ready to saw wood. The imp of mischief under Sammy's pert cap +gave him an idea. He flew over to the old apple-tree, just over Reddy's +head, and began to scream at the top of his lungs. + +Farmer Brown's boy stopped work and looked over towards the old orchard. + +“When a jay screams like that there is usually a fox around,” he +muttered, as he unfastened Bowser the Hound. + + + + +XVIII. FARMER BROWN'S BOY MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +Reddy Fox glared up at Sammy Jay. “What's the matter with you?” snarled +Reddy Fox. “Why don't you mind your own affairs, instead of making +trouble for other people?” You see, Reddy was afraid that Johnny Chuck +would hear Sammy Jay and take warning. + +“Hello, Reddy Fox! I thought you had gone down to the Green Meadows!” + Sammy said this as if he was very much surprised to see Reddy there. He +wasn't, for you know he had been watching Reddy hunt for Johnny Chuck's +new house, but Reddy had pretended that he was going down to the Green +Meadows early that morning, and so now Sammy pretended that he had +thought that Reddy really had gone. + +“I changed my mind!” he snapped. “What are you screaming so for?” + +“Just to exercise my lungs, so as to be sure that I can scream when I +want to,” replied Sammy, screaming still louder. + +“Well, go somewhere else and scream; I want to sleep,” said Reddy +crossly. + +Now Sammy Jay knew perfectly well that Reddy Fox had no thought of +taking a nap but was hiding there to try to catch Johnny Chuck. And +Sammy knew that Farmer Brown's boy could hear him scream, and that he +knew that when Sammy screamed that way it meant there was a fox about. +Sitting in the top of the apple-tree, Sammy could see Farmer Brown's +boy starting for the old orchard, with Bowser the Hound running ahead of +him. + +Farmer Brown's boy had no gun, so Sammy knew that no harm would come to +Reddy, but that Reddy would get a dreadful scare; and that is what Sammy +wanted, just out of pure mischief. So he screamed louder than ever. + +Reddy Fox lost his temper. He sat up and called Sammy Jay all the bad +names he could think of. He forgot where he was. He told Sammy Jay what +he thought of him and what he would do to him if ever he caught him. + +Sammy Jay kept right on screaming. He made such a noise that Reddy +didn't hear footsteps coming nearer and nearer. Suddenly there was a +great roar right behind him. “Bow, wow, wow! Bow, wow, wow, wow!”--just +like that. + +Reddy was so frightened that he didn't even look to see where he was +jumping, and bumped his head against the apple-tree. Then he started for +the Green Forest, with Bowser the Hound at his heels. + +Sammy Jay laughed till he lost his breath and nearly tumbled off his +perch. Then he flew away, still laughing. He thought it the greatest +joke ever. + +Farmer Brown's boy had followed Bowser the Hound into the old orchard. + +“I wonder what a fox was doing up here in broad daylight,” said he, +talking to himself. “Perhaps one of my hens has stolen her nest down +here, and he has found it. I'll have a look, anyway.” + +So he walked on down to the far corner of the old orchard, straight to +the place from which he had seen Reddy Fox jump. When he got there, of +course he saw Johnny Chuck's new house right away. + +“Ho!” cried Farmer Brown's boy. “Brer Fox was hunting Chucks. I'll keep +my eye on this, and if Mr. Chuck makes any trouble in my garden, I'll +know where to catch him.” + + + + +XIX. JOHNNY CHUCK'S PRIDE + + +Ever since Farmer Brown's boy and Reddy Fox had found his new house in +the far corner of the old orchard, Johnny Chuck had been worried. It +was not that he was afraid for himself. Oh, my, no! Johnny Chuck felt +perfectly able to take care of himself. But there was Polly Chuck! He +was terribly afraid that something might happen to Polly Chuck. You see +she was not big and strong like him, and then Polly Chuck was apt to be +careless. So for a while Johnny Chuck worried a great deal. + +But Reddy Fox didn't come again in daytime. You see Bowser the Hound +had given him such a scare that he didn't dare to. He sometimes came +at night and sniffed hungrily at Johnny Chuck's doorway, but Johnny and +Polly were safe inside, and this didn't trouble them a bit. And Farmer +Brown's boy seemed to have forgotten all about the new house. So after +a while Johnny Chuck stopped worrying so much. The fact is Johnny Chuck +had something else to think about. He had a secret. Yes, Sir, Johnny +Chuck had a secret. + +Sammy Jay came up to the old orchard almost every morning. His sharp +eyes were not long in finding out that Johnny Chuck had a secret, but +try as he would he could not find out what that secret was. Whatever it +was, it made Johnny Chuck very happy. He would come out on his doorstep +and smile and sometimes give a funny little whistle of pure joy. + +It puzzled Sammy Jay a great deal. He couldn't see why Johnny Chuck +should be any happier than he ever was. To be sure it was a happy time +of year. Everybody was happy, for it was spring-time, and the Green +Forest and the Green Meadows, even the Old Pasture, were very lovely. +But somehow Sammy Jay felt sure that it was something more than this, a +secret that Johnny Chuck was keeping all to himself, that was making him +so happy. But what it was, Sammy Jay couldn't imagine. He spent so much +time thinking about it and wondering what it could be, that it actually +kept him out of mischief. + +One morning Johnny Chuck came out, looking happier than ever. He +chuckled and chuckled as only a happy Chuck can. Then he did foolish +things. He kicked up his heels. He rolled over and over in the grass. He +whistled. He even tried to sing, which is something no Chuck can do or +should ever try to do. Then suddenly he scrambled to his feet, carefully +brushed his coat, and tried to look very dignified. He strutted back +and forth in front of his doorway, as if he was very proud of something. +There was pride in the very way in which he took each step. There was +pride in the very way in which he held his head. It was too much for +Sammy Jay. + +“What are you so proud about, Johnny Chuck?” he demanded, in his harsh +voice, “If I didn't have a better looking coat than you've got, I +wouldn't put on airs!” + +You know Sammy Jay is very proud of his own handsome blue and white coat +and dearly loves to show it off. + +“It isn't that,” said Johnny Chuck. + +“Well, if it is because you think yourself so smart to hide yourself up +here in the old orchard, let me tell you that I found you out long ago, +and so did Reddy Fox, and Bowser the Hound, and Farmer Brown's boy,” + sneered Sammy Jay in the most disagreeable way. + +“It isn't that,” said Johnny Chuck. + +“Well, what is it, then?” snapped Sammy Jay. + +“That's for you to find out,” replied Johnny Chuck. + + “There's foolish pride and silly pride and pride of low degree; + A better pride is honest pride, and that's the pride for me.” + +And with that, Johnny Chuck disappeared in his new house. + + + + +XX. SAMMY JAY UNDERSTANDS + + +It was a beautiful morning. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had thrown his +bedclothes off very early and started to climb up the sky, smiling his +broadest. Old Mother West Wind had swept his path clear of clouds. The +Merry Little Breezes, who, you know, are Mother West Wind's children, +had danced across the Green Meadows up to the old orchard, where they +pelted each other with white and pink petals of apple blossoms until +the ground was covered. Each apple-tree was like a huge bouquet of +loveliness. Yes, indeed, it was very beautiful that spring morning. + +Sammy Jay had gotten up almost as early as Mr. Sun and Old Mother West +Wind. As soon as he had swallowed his breakfast, he flew up to the old +orchard and hid among the white and pink apple blossoms to watch for +Johnny Chuck. You see, he knew that Johnny Chuck had some sort of a +secret which filled Johnny with very great pride; but what it was Sammy +Jay couldn't even guess, and nothing troubles Sammy Jay quite so much as +the feeling that he cannot find out the secrets of other people. So he +sat very, very still among the apple blossoms and waited and watched. + +By and by Johnny Chuck appeared on his doorstep. He seemed very much +excited, did Johnny Chuck. He sat up very straight and looked this way +and looked that way. He looked up in the apple-trees, and Sammy Jay held +his breath, for fear that Johnny would see him. But Sammy was so well +hidden that, bright as Johnny Chuck's eyes are, they failed to see him. +Then Johnny Chuck actually climbed up on the old stone wall so as to see +better, and he sat there a long time, looking and looking. + +Sammy Jay grew impatient. “He seems to be terribly watchful this +morning. I never knew him to be so watchful before. I don't understand +it,” muttered Sammy to himself. + +After a while Johnny Chuck seemed quite satisfied that there was no one +about. He hopped down from the old stone wall and scampered over to +the doorway of his new house, and there he began to chatter. Sammy Jay +stretched his neck until it ached, trying to hear what Johnny Chuck was +saying, but he couldn't because Johnny's head was inside his doorway. + +Pretty soon Johnny Chuck backed out and sat up, and he looked very proud +and important. Then Sammy Jay saw something that nearly took his breath +away. It was the head of Polly Chuck peeping out of the doorway. It was +the first time that he had seen Polly Chuck. + +“Why,” gasped Sammy Jay, “it must be that Johnny Chuck has a mate, and I +didn't know a thing about it! So that's his secret and the reason he has +appeared so proud lately!” + +Polly Chuck came out on the doorstep. She looked just as proud as Johnny +Chuck, and at the same time she seemed terribly anxious. She sat up +beside Johnny Chuck, and she looked this way and that way, just as +Johnny had. Then she put her head in at the doorway and began to call in +the softest voice. + +In a minute Sammy Jay saw something more. It surprised him so that he +nearly lost his balance. It was another head peeping out of the doorway, +a head just like Johnny Chuck's, only it was a teeny-weeny one. Then +there was another and another! Polly kept talking and talking in the +softest voice, while Johnny Chuck swelled himself up until he looked as +if he would burst with pride. + +Sammy Jay understood now why Johnny Chuck had been so proud for the last +few days. It was because he had a family! Sammy looked down at the three +little Chucks sitting on the doorstep, trying to sit up the way Johnny +Chuck sat, and they looked so funny that Sammy forgot himself and +laughed right out loud. In a flash the three little Chucks and Polly +Chuck had disappeared inside the house, while Johnny Chuck looked up +angrily. He knew that his secret was a secret no longer. + + + + +XXI. SAMMY JAY HAS A CHANGE OF HEART + + + There's no one ever quite so bad + That somewhere way down deep inside + A little goodness does not find + A place wherein to creep and hide. + +It is so with Sammy Jay. Yes, Sir, it is so with Sammy Jay. You may +think that because Sammy Jay is vain, a trouble-maker and a thief, he +is all bad. He isn't. There is some good in Sammy Jay, just as there is +some good in everybody. If there wasn't, Old Mother Nature never, +never would allow Sammy Jay to go his mischievous way through the Green +Forest. He dearly loves to get other people into all kinds of trouble, +and this is one reason why nobody loves him. But if you watch out sharp +enough, you will find that hidden under that beautiful blue and white +coat of his there really is some good. You may have to look a long time +for it, but sooner or later you will find it. Johnny Chuck did. + +Sammy Jay had already made a lot of trouble for Johnny Chuck. You see he +had been the first of the little forest and meadow people to find Johnny +Chuck's new house. And then, just to make trouble for Johnny Chuck, he +had told Reddy Fox about it, and after that he had called Bowser the +Hound and Farmer Brown's boy over to it. Now he had discovered Johnny +Chuck's greatest secret--that Johnny had a family. What a chance to make +trouble now! + +Sammy started for the Green Forest as fast as his wings could take him. +He would tell Reddy Fox and Redtail the Hawk. They were very fond of +young Chucks. It would be great fun to see the fright of Johnny Chuck +and his family when Reddy Fox or Redtail the Hawk appeared. + +Sammy Jay chuckled wickedly as he flew. When he reached the Green +Forest and stopped in his favorite hemlock-tree to rest, he was still +chuckling. But by that time it was a different kind of a chuckle. Yes, +Sir, it was a different kind of a chuckle. It was a better chuckle to +hear. The fact is, Sammy Jay was no longer chuckling over the thought +of the trouble he could make. He was laughing at the memory of how funny +those three little baby Chucks had looked sitting up on Johnny Chuck's +doorstep and trying to do whatever Johnny Chuck did. The more he thought +about it, the more he tickled and laughed. + +Right in the midst of his laughter along came Redtail the Hawk. Sammy +Jay opened his mouth to call to Redtail and tell him about Johnny +Chuck's secret. Then he closed it again with a snap. + +“I won't tell him yet,” said Sammy to himself, “for he might catch one +of those baby Chucks, and they are such funny little fellows that that +would really be too bad. I guess I'll wait a while.” And with that, off +flew Sammy Jay to hunt for some other mischief. You see, he had had a +change of heart. The little goodness way down deep inside had come out +of hiding. + +But of course Johnny Chuck didn't know this, and over in his new house +in the far corner of the old orchard, he and Polly Chuck were worrying +and worrying, for they felt sure that now every one would know their +secret, and it wouldn't be safe for the dear little baby Chucks to so +much as put their funny little noses outside the door. + + + + +XXII. JOHNNY CHUCK IS KEPT BUSY + + +Johnny Chuck is naturally lazy. You see, Johnny has very simple tastes +and usually he is contented. He does not have to go far from his own +doorstep to get all he wants to eat. He does not have to hunt for his +food, as so many of the little meadow and forest people do, and so he +has a great deal of time to sit on his doorstep and watch the world go +by and dream pleasant daydreams and grow fat. Now people who do not have +to work usually become lazy. It is the easiest habit in the world to +learn and the hardest to get over. And so, because he seldom has to +work, Johnny Chuck quite naturally is lazy. + +But Johnny can work when there really is need of it. No one, unless +it is Digger the Badger or Miner the Mole, can dig faster than Johnny +Chuck. And when there is real need of working, Johnny works with a will. +When he was a very tiny Chuck, old Mother Chuck had taught him this: + + “When work there is that must be done + Don't fret and whine and spoil the day! + The quicker that you do your work + The longer time you'll have to play.” + +Johnny never has forgotten this, and when it is really necessary that he +should work, no one works harder than he does. But he always first makes +sure that it is necessary work and that he will not be wasting his time +in doing foolish, unnecessary things. + +And now Johnny Chuck was the busiest he had ever been in all his life. +If he felt lazy these beautiful spring days, he didn't have time to +think about it. No, Sir, he actually didn't have time to remember that +he is naturally lazy. You see, he had a family to look out for--three +babies to find sweet, tender young clover for and to teach all the +things that every Chuck should know, and to watch out for, that no harm +should come to them. So Johnny Chuck was busy, so busy that he hardly +had time to get enough to eat. + +Every morning Johnny would come out as soon as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun +began his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky. He would look this way +and look that way to make sure that Reddy Fox or Granny Fox or Redtail +the Hawk or Bowser the Hound or any other danger was nowhere near. And +he never forgot to look up in the apple-trees to make sure that Sammy +Jay was not there. Then he would call to Polly Chuck and the three baby +Chucks. + +Polly Chuck would come out with a very worried air, and after her would +come the three funny little baby Chucks, who would roll and tumble over +each other on the doorstep. When he thought they had played enough, +Johnny Chuck would lead the way along a little private path which he had +made through the grass. After him, one behind another, would trot the +three little Chucks, and behind them would march Polly Chuck, to see +that none went astray. + +When they reached the patch of tender, sweet, young clover, Johnny Chuck +would sit up very straight and still, watching as sharp as he knew how +for the least sign of danger. When the three little stomachs were full +of sweet, tender, young clover, he would proudly lead the way home +again, and then as before he would sit up very straight and watch for +danger, while the three baby Chucks sprawledout on the doorstep for a +sun-nap. + +Oh, those were busy days for Johnny Chuck, and anxious days, too! You +see he had not forgotten that Sammy Jay had found out his secret, and he +hadn't the least doubt in the world that Sammy Jay would tell Reddy Fox. +So, from the first thing in the morning until the very last thing at +night, Johnny Chuck was on the watch for danger. + +And all the time, though Johnny didn't know it, a pair of sharp +eyes were watching him from a snug hiding-place in one of the old +apple-trees. Whose were they? Why, Sammy Jay's, to be sure. You see, +Sammy Jay hadn't told Johnny Chuck's great secret, after all. + + + + +XXIII. THE SCHOOL IN THE OLD ORCHARD + + + Little Foxes, little Chucks, + Little Squirrels, Mice and Mink, + Just like little boys and girls, + Go to school to learn to think. + +You didn't know that, did you? Well, it's a fact. Yes, Sir, it's a +fact. All the babies born in the Green Forest or on the Green Meadows +or around the Smiling Pool have to go to school just as soon as they are +big enough to leave their own doorsteps. They go to the greatest school +in the world, and it is called the School of Experience. + +Old Mother Nature has charge of it, but the teachers usually are father +and mother for the first few weeks, anyway. After that Old Mother Nature +herself gives them a few lessons, and a very stern teacher she is. They +just HAVE to learn her lessons. If they don't, something dreadful is +almost sure to happen. + +Of course Sammy Jay knew all this, because he had had to go to school +when he was a little fellow. So Sammy was not much surprised when, from +his snug hiding-place in one of the old apple-trees, he discovered that +there was a school in Farmer Brown's old orchard. Johnny Chuck was the +teacher and his three baby Chucks were the pupils. Sammy Jay was so +interested in that funny little school in the old orchard that he quite +forgot to think about mischief. + +The very first lesson that the three little Chucks had to learn was +obedience. Johnny Chuck was very particular about that. You see he knew +that unless they learned this first of all, none of the other lessons +would do them much good. They must first learn to mind instantly, +without asking questions. Dear me, dear me, Johnny Chuck certainly did +have his hands full, teaching those three little Chucks to mind! They +were such lively little chaps, and there was so much that was new and +wonderful to see, that it was dreadfully hard work to sit perfectly +still, just because Johnny Chuck told them to. But if they didn't +mind instantly, they were sure to have their ears soundly boxed, and +sometimes were sent back to the house without a taste of the sweet, +tender, young clover of which they were so fond. + +After a few lessons of this kind, they found out that it was always best +to obey instantly, and then Johnny began to teach them other things, +things which it is very important that every Chuck should know. + +First, there were signals. When Johnny whistled a certain way, it meant +“A stranger in sight; possible danger!” + +Then each little Chuck would sit up very straight and not move the +teeniest, weeniest bit, so that from a little distance they looked for +all the world like tiny stumps. But all the time their sharp little eyes +would be looking this way and that way, to see what the danger might +be. After a while Johnny would give another little whistle, which meant +“Danger past.” Then they would once more begin to fill their little +stomachs with sweet, tender, young clover. + +Sometimes, however, Johnny would whistle sharply. That meant “Run!” Then +they would scamper as fast as they could along the nearest little path +to the house under the old apple-tree in the far corner, and never once +look around. They would dive head first, one after the other, in at the +doorway, and not show their noses outside again until Johnny or Polly +Chuck told them they could. + +Then there was a still different whistle. It meant “Danger very near; +lie low!” When they heard that, they flattened themselves right down in +the grass just wherever they happened to be, and held their breath and +didn't move until Johnny signaled that they might. Of course, there +never was any real danger. Johnny was just teaching them, so that when +danger did come, as it surely would, sooner or later, they would know +just what to do. + +It surely was a funny little school, and sometimes Sammy Jay had hard +work to keep from laughing right out. + + + + +XXIV. SAMMY JAY PROVES THAT HE IS NOT ALL BAD + + +Sammy Jay hadn't had so much fun for a long time as he found in watching +the funny little school in Farmer Brown's old orchard, where Johnny +Chuck was teaching his three baby Chucks the things that every little +Chuck must learn, if he would grow up into a big Chuck. When they had +learned to mind without waiting to ask why, and had learned the signals +which told them just what to do when danger was near, Johnny began to +lead them farther and farther away from home. + +He took them up along the old stone wall and showed them how to find +safe hiding-places among the stones. Then he took them off a little way +and suddenly gave the danger signal. It was funny, very funny indeed to +see the three little Chucks scamper for the old stone wall and crawl out +of sight. + +The first time, two of them tried to squeeze into the same hole +together, and each was in such a hurry that he wouldn't let the other +go first. Then both lost their tempers and they began to fight about it, +quite forgetting that if there was really any danger near, they surely +would come to harm. Such a scolding as Johnny Chuck did give those two +little Chucks! Then he made them try it all over again. + +Once he found a foot print which Reddy Fox had made in some soft earth +during the night, and made each little Chuck smell of it, while he told +them all about Reddy and old Granny Fox and how smart and sly they were +and how very, very fond they were of tender young Chucks for dinner. + +The three little Chucks shivered when they smelled of Reddy's track, and +the hair along their backs stood up in a way that was very funny to see. + +Then Johnny Chuck took them over to the edge of the old orchard, where +they could peep out over the Green Meadows. He pointed out old Whitetail +the Marshhawk, sailing back and forth over the meadows, and told them +how once, when he was a little Chuck and had run away from home, old +Whitetail had nearly caught him. He told them about Farmer Brown's boy +and about Bowser the Hound and a great many other things that little +Chucks should learn about. + +Now all the time that Johnny Chuck was teaching these things, he was +keeping the sharpest kind of a watch for danger, and there were many +times when he would give the danger signal. Then they would all lie flat +down in the grass and keep perfectly still, or else scamper as fast as +they could along the little paths which Johnny had made, to the safety +of the snug home under the old apple-tree. But even the most watchful +are surprised sometimes. + +One morning, when Johnny Chuck had led the three little Chucks farther +from home than usual, Farmer Brown's boy took it into his head to visit +the old orchard. Johnny Chuck did not see him coming. You see, the +orchard grass had grown so tall that even when he sat up his very +straightest, Johnny could not always see over the top of it. So this +morning he failed to see Farmer Brown's boy coming. + +But Sammy Jay, sitting in his snug hiding-place in the top of one of +the old apple-trees, saw him. At first Sammy Jay's sharp eyes twinkled. +There would be some fun now! Perhaps Farmer Brown's boy would catch one +of the little Chucks! Sammy Jay could picture to himself the fright of +Johnny Chuck and the three little Chucks. He fairly hugged himself in +delight, for you know Sammy Jay dearly loves to see other people in +trouble. + +Then he thought of all the fun he had had watching those three little +Chucks learn their lessons, and suddenly the thought of anything +happening to them made Sammy Jay feel uncomfortable. Almost without +stopping to think, he screamed at the top of his lungs: + +“Run, Johnny Chuck, run! Here comes Farmer Brown's boy!” + +And Johnny Chuck ran. He didn't wait to ask questions or even to look. +He started the three little Chucks ahead of him, and he nipped their +heels to make them run faster. And just in time they reached the snug +house under the old apple-tree in the far corner. + +Farmer Brown's boy was just in time to see them disappear. He watched +Sammy Jay flying over to the Green Forest and screaming “Thief! thief!” + as he flew. + +“I wonder now if that jay warned those chucks purposely,” said he, as he +scratched his head thoughtfully. + +If Peter Rabbit had been there, he could have told him that Sammy Jay +did, for he knows all about Sammy Jay and his tricks. But Peter wasn't +there. The fact is, Peter was very busy doing the most foolish of all +the foolish things he has ever done--trying to change his name. You +may read all about it in The Adventures of Peter Cottontail. You see it +takes a whole book to tell all about Peter and his doings. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Johnny Chuck, by +Thornton W. Burgess + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUCK *** + +***** This file should be named 5844-0.txt or 5844-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/8/4/5844/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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