"Oh!" cried Chatterer.
"Gr-r-r-r! I"ll eat you all up to the last hair on your tail!" growled Buster, scrambling a little nearer.
"Oh! Oh!" cried Chatterer, and ran out to the very tip of the little branch to which he had been clinging. Now if Chatterer had only known it, Buster Bear couldn"t reach him way up there, because the tree was too small at the top for such a big fellow as Buster. But Chatterer didn"t think of that. He gave one more frightened look down at those big teeth, then he shut his eyes and jumped--jumped straight out for the far-away ground.
It was a long, long, long way down to the ground, and it certainly looked as if such a little fellow as Chatterer must be killed. But Chatterer had learned from Old Mother Nature that she had given him certain things to help him at just such times, and one of them is the power to spread himself very flat. He did it now. He spread his arms and legs out just as far as he could, and that kept him from falling as fast and as hard as he otherwise would have done, because being spread out so flat that way, the air held him up a little. And then there was his tail, that funny little tail he is so fond of jerking when he scolds.
This helped him too. It helped him keep his balance and keep from turning over and over.
Down, down, down he sailed and landed on his feet. Of course, he hit the ground pretty hard, and for just a second he quite lost his breath. But it was only for a second, and then he was scurrying off as fast as a frightened Squirrel could. Buster Bear watched him and grinned.
"I didn"t catch him that time," he growled, "but I guess I gave him a good fright and taught him a lesson."
XVII
BUSTER BEAR GOES BERRYING
Buster Bear is a great hand to talk to himself when he thinks no one is around to overhear. It"s a habit. However, it isn"t a bad habit unless it is carried too far. Any habit becomes bad, if it is carried too far.
Suppose you had a secret, a real secret, something that n.o.body else knew and that you didn"t want anybody else to know. And suppose you had the habit of talking to yourself. You might, without thinking, you know, tell that secret out loud to yourself, and some one might, just might happen to overhear! Then there wouldn"t be any secret. That is the way that a habit which isn"t bad in itself can become bad when it is carried too far.
Now Buster Bear had lived by himself in the Great Woods so long that this habit of talking to himself had grown and grown. He did it just to keep from being lonesome. Of course, when he came down to the Green Forest to live, he brought all his habits with him. That is one thing about habits,--you always take them with you wherever you go. So Buster brought this habit of talking to himself down to the Green Forest, where he had many more neighbors than he had in the Great Woods.
"Let me see, let me see, what is there to tempt my appet.i.te?" said Buster in his deep, grumbly-rumbly voice. "I find my appet.i.te isn"t what it ought to be. I need a change. Yes, Sir, I need a change. There is something I ought to have at this time of year, and I haven"t got it.
There is something that I used to have and don"t have now. Ha! I know! I need some fresh fruit. That"s it--fresh fruit! It must be about berry time now, and I"d forgotten all about it. My, my, my, how good some berries would taste! Now if I were back up there in the Great Woods I could have all I could eat. Um-m-m-m! Makes my mouth water just to think of it. There ought to be some up in the Old Pasture. There ought to be a lot of "em up there. If I wasn"t afraid that some one would see me, I"d go up there."
Buster sighed. Then he sighed again. The more he thought about those berries he felt sure were growing in the Old Pasture, the more he wanted some. It seemed to him that never in all his life had he wanted berries as he did now. He wandered about uneasily. He was hungry--hungry for berries and nothing else. By and by he began talking to himself again.
"If I wasn"t afraid of being seen, I"d go up to the Old Pasture this very minute. Seems as if I could taste those berries." He licked his lips hungrily as he spoke. Then his face brightened. "I know what I"ll do! I"ll go up there at the very first peep of day to-morrow. I can eat all I want and get back to the Green Forest before there is any danger that Farmer Brown"s boy or any one else I"m afraid of will see me.
That"s just what I"ll do. My, I wish to-morrow morning would hurry up and come."
Now though Buster didn"t know it, some one had been listening, and that some one was none other than Sammy Jay. When at last Buster lay down for a nap, Sammy flew away, chuckling to himself. "I believe I"ll visit the Old Pasture to-morrow morning myself," thought he. "I have an idea that something interesting may happen if Buster doesn"t change his mind."
Sammy was on the lookout very early the next morning. The first Jolly Little Sunbeams had only reached the Green Meadows and had not started to creep into the Green Forest, when he saw a big, dark form steal out of the Green Forest where it joins the Old Pasture. It moved very swiftly and silently, as if in a great hurry. Sammy knew who it was: it was Buster Bear, and he was going berrying. Sammy waited a little until he could see better. Then he too started for the Old Pasture.
XVIII
SOMEBODY ELSE GOES BERRYING
Isn"t it funny how two people will often think of the same thing at the same time, and neither one know that the other is thinking of it? That is just what happened the day that Buster Bear first thought of going berrying. While he was walking around in the Green Forest, talking to himself about how hungry he was for some berries and how sure he was that there must be some up in the Old Pasture, some one else was thinking about berries and about the Old Pasture too.
"Will you make me a berry pie if I will get the berries to-morrow?"
asked Farmer Brown"s boy of his mother.
Of course Mrs. Brown promised that she would, and so that night Farmer Brown"s boy went to bed very early that he might get up early in the morning, and all night long he dreamed of berries and berry pies. He was awake even before jolly, round, red Mr. Sun thought it was time to get up, and he was all ready to start for the Old Pasture when the first Jolly Little Sunbeams came dancing across the Green Meadows. He carried a big tin pail, and in the bottom of it, wrapped up in a piece of paper, was a lunch, for he meant to stay until he filled that pail, if it took all day.
Now the Old Pasture is very large. It lies at the foot of the Big Mountain, and even extends a little way up on the Big Mountain. There is room in it for many people to pick berries all day without even seeing each other, unless they roam about a great deal. You see, the bushes grow very thick there, and you cannot see very far in any direction.
Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had climbed a little way up in the sky by the time Farmer Brown"s boy reached the Old Pasture, and was smiling down on all the Great World, and all the Great World seemed to be smiling back.
Farmer Brown"s boy started to whistle, and then he stopped.
"If I whistle," thought he, "everybody will know just where I am, and will keep out of sight, and I never can get acquainted with folks if they keep out of sight."
You see, Farmer Brown"s boy was just beginning to understand something that Peter Rabbit and the other little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest learned almost as soon as they learned to walk,--that if you don"t want to be seen, you mustn"t be heard. So he didn"t whistle as he felt like doing, and he tried not to make a bit of noise as he followed an old cow-path towards a place where he knew the berries grew thick and oh, so big, and all the time he kept his eyes wide open, and he kept his ears open too.
That is how he happened to hear a little cry, a very faint little cry.
If he had been whistling, he wouldn"t have heard it at all. He stopped to listen. He never had heard a cry just like it before. At first he couldn"t make out just what it was or where it came from. But one thing he was sure of, and that was that it was a cry of fright. He stood perfectly still and listened with all his might. There it was again--"Help! Help! Help"--and it was very faint and sounded terribly frightened. He waited a minute or two, but heard nothing more. Then he put down his pail and began a hurried look here, there, and everywhere.
He was sure that it had come from somewhere on the ground, so he peered behind bushes and peeped behind logs and stones, and then just as he had about given up hope of finding where it came from, he went around a little turn in the old cow-path, and there right in front of him was little Mr. Gartersnake, and what do you think he was doing? Well, I don"t like to tell you, but he was trying to swallow one of the children of Stickytoes the Tree Toad. Of course Farmer Brown"s Boy didn"t let him. He made little Mr. Gartersnake set Master Stickytoes free and held Mr. Gartersnake until Master Stickytoes was safely out of reach.
XIX
BUSTER BEAR HAS A FINE TIME
Buster Bear was having the finest time he had had since he came down from the Great Woods to live in the Green Forest. To be sure, he wasn"t in the Green Forest now, but he wasn"t far from it. He was in the Old Pasture, one edge of which touches one edge of the Green Forest. And where do you think he was, in the Old Pasture? Why, right in the middle of the biggest patch of the biggest blueberries he ever had seen in all his life! Now if there is any one thing that Buster Bear had rather have above another, it is all the berries he can eat, unless it be honey.
Nothing can quite equal honey in Buster"s mind. But next to honey give him berries. He isn"t particular what kind of berries. Raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries, either kind, will make him perfectly happy.
"Um-m-m, my, my, but these are good!" he mumbled in his deep grumbly-rumbly voice, as he sat on his haunches stripping off the berries greedily. His little eyes twinkled with enjoyment, and he didn"t mind at all if now and then he got leaves, and some green berries in his mouth with the big ripe berries. He didn"t try to get them out. Oh, my, no! He just chomped them all up together and patted his stomach from sheer delight. Now Buster had reached the Old Pasture just as jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had crept out of bed, and he had fully made up his mind that he would be back in the Green Forest before Mr. Sun had climbed very far up in the blue, blue sky. You see, big as he is and strong as he is, Buster Bear is very shy and bashful, and he has no desire to meet Farmer Brown, or Farmer Brown"s boy, or any other of those two-legged creatures called men. It seems funny but he actually is afraid of them. And he had a feeling that he was a great deal more likely to meet one of them in the Old Pasture than deep in the Green Forest.
So when he started to look for berries, he made up his mind that he would eat what he could in a great hurry and get back to the Green Forest before Farmer Brown"s boy was more than out of bed. But when he found those berries he was so hungry that he forgot his fears and everything else. They tasted so good that he just had to eat and eat and eat. Now you know that Buster is a very big fellow, and it takes a lot to fill him up. He kept eating and eating and eating, and the more he ate the more he wanted. You know how it is. So he wandered from one patch of berries to another in the Old Pasture, and never once thought of the time. Somehow, time is the hardest thing in the world to remember, when you are having a good time.
Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun climbed higher and higher in the blue, blue sky. He looked down on all the Great World and saw all that was going on. He saw Buster Bear in the Old Pasture, and smiled as he saw what a perfectly glorious time Buster was having. And he saw something else in the Old Pasture that made his smile still broader. He saw Farmer Brown"s boy filling a great tin pail with blueberries, and he knew that Farmer Brown"s boy didn"t know that Buster Bear was anywhere about, and he knew that Buster Bear didn"t know that Farmer Brown"s boy was anywhere about, and somehow he felt very sure that he would see something funny happen if they should chance to meet.
"Um-m-m, um-m-m," mumbled Buster Bear with his mouth full, as he moved along to another patch of berries. And then he gave a little gasp of surprise and delight. Right in front of him was a shiny thing just full of the finest, biggest, bluest berries! There were no leaves or green ones there. Buster blinked his greedy little eyes rapidly and looked again. No, he wasn"t dreaming. They were real berries, and all he had got to do was to help himself. Buster looked sharply at the shiny thing that held the berries. It seemed perfectly harmless. He reached out a big paw and pushed it gently. It tipped over and spilled out a lot of the berries. Yes, it was perfectly harmless. Buster gave a little sigh of pure happiness. He would eat those berries to the last one, and then he would go home to the Green Forest.
XX
BUSTER BEAR CARRIES OFF THE PAIL OF FARMER BROWN"S BOY
The question is, did Buster Bear steal Farmer Brown"s boy"s pail? To steal is to take something which belongs to some one else. There is no doubt that he stole the berries that were in the pail when he found it, for he deliberately ate them. He knew well enough that some one must have picked them--for whoever heard of blueberries growing in tin pails?
So there is no doubt that when Buster took them, he stole them. But with the pail it was different. He took the pail, but he didn"t mean to take it. In fact, he didn"t want that pail at all.
You see it was this way: When Buster found that big tin pail br.i.m.m.i.n.g full of delicious berries in the shade of that big bush in the Old Pasture, he didn"t stop to think whether or not he had a right to them.
Buster is so fond of berries that from the very second that his greedy little eyes saw that pailful, he forgot everything but the feast that was waiting for him right under his very nose. He didn"t think anything about the right or wrong of helping himself. There before him were more berries than he had ever seen together at one time in all his life, and all he had to do was to eat and eat and eat. And that is just what he did do. Of course he upset the pail, but he didn"t mind a little thing like that. When he had gobbled up all the berries that rolled out, he thrust his nose into the pail to get all that were left in it. Just then he heard a little noise, as if some one were coming. He threw up his head to listen, and somehow, he never did know just how, the handle of the pail slipped back over his ears and caught there.
This was bad enough, but to make matters worse, just at that very minute he heard a shrill, angry voice shout, "Hi, there! Get out of there!" He didn"t need to be told whose voice that was. It was the voice of Farmer Brown"s boy. Right then and there Buster Bear nearly had a fit. There was that awful pail fast over his head so that he couldn"t see a thing.
Of course, that meant that he couldn"t run away, which was the thing of all things he most wanted to do, for big as he is and strong as he is, Buster is very shy and bashful when human beings are around. He growled and whined and squealed. He tried to back out of the pail and couldn"t.