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 gra.s.s 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.
"h.e.l.lo, 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 b.u.mped 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 gra.s.s. 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.