And that made Jasper Jay scream all the louder. Then he stopped laughing and said "_Caw! caw!_" in a husky voice so like Mr. Crow"s own that the old gentleman spluttered and fumed and all but chased Jasper out of the woods where they were sitting at the time.
They never did get along well together--old Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay.
They were cousins, you know. But that fact did not help matters at all.
Perhaps they knew too much about each other.
"Don"t worry about me!" said Jasper Jay at last.
"Very well!" Mr. Crow replied stiffly. "But remember--I"ve warned you!"
he croaked. And then he flew away to his nest in a tall elm, overlooking the cornfield.
VIII
A BIT OF MISCHIEF
JASPER JAY did not heed Mr. Crow"s warning. When he learned that Mr.
Red-shouldered Hawk was angry with him because he had imitated Mr.
Hawk"s fierce cry, "_Kee-you! kee-you!_" Jasper was more pleased with himself than ever. Scaring Farmer Green"s hens with that piercing scream had been a good deal of fun. But making Mr. Hawk angry was still more.
So Jasper Jay began to visit the farmyard even oftener than before. If the mother-hens, with their chicks, did not happen to be scratching in the barnyard, there was always sport of some sort to be had.
One day when Jasper was on his way to Farmer Green"s place, he happened to meet a blue jay friend of his known as Noisy Jake, because he was not very quiet. In fact, one could almost always hear his voice ringing through the woods.
"You seem to be in a hurry," Noisy Jake bawled. "Where are you going?"
"S-sh!" said Jasper. "I"m going to the farmyard to have some fun scaring the hens. But I don"t want everybody to know it. Do you want to come along?"
Noisy Jake promptly said he did. So the two rascals hurried across the pasture and over the meadow toward the farm buildings.
"Now----" said Jasper Jay, when they had reached the farmyard--"now I"ll hide in this oak here and you can hide in that one there." He pointed to a tree a little further from the chicken house than the one where he intended to perch. Naturally, it was not like Jasper Jay to give the best seat to anybody else.
"What"ll we do then?" Noisy Jake asked.
"You see those hens," said Jasper. "I"m going to scream like Mr.
Red-shouldered Hawk. And you"ll laugh when the hens hurry their chicks out of the way.... If you want to, you may scream too--but not till after I have."
Noisy Jake agreed to Jasper"s plan. And he quickly disappeared among the branches of the oak to which Jasper had sent him.
Then Jasper just had to stop and laugh to himself over the fright he was going to give the old hens. He was about to open his mouth to imitate the cry of Mr. Hawk when something happened that made him terrible angry.
"_Kee-you! kee-you!_" The fierce scream rang out over the farmyard. And immediately the mother-hens called to their children, with frantic _clucks_, to run for their lives into the chicken house.
Jasper Jay did not laugh at all over the way the chicks scurried out of sight.
"Noisy Jake has played a mean trick on me!" he said to himself. "He went and screamed before it was his turn!"
Since he didn"t want to miss _all_ the fun, Jasper let out a blood-curdling "_Kee-you! kee-you!_" himself, just to hurry the last hen under cover. But, somehow, he had to confess to himself--though he wouldn"t have admitted it to anybody else--he had to confess that Noisy Jake"s cry sounded far more like Mr. Hawk"s than did his own.
Of course, that did not make Jasper feel any pleasanter. He wished he had not told Noisy Jake where he was going.
"I"ll punish him for his meddling!" Jasper exclaimed. And he flew straight for the tree where Noisy Jake had hidden.
But Jasper did not reach the tree.
"_Kee-you! kee-you!_" The cry came from above his head. And looking up, Jasper Jay saw Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk himself, dropping down like lightning out of the sky.
Mr. Hawk paid not the slightest attention to the frightened hens and their chicks. He seemed to have eyes only for Jasper Jay. And on his proud, cruel face there was a look of anger that made Jasper wish he had never, never imitated Mr. Hawk"s cry.
He was sorry now, that he had not heeded Mr. Crow"s warning. But his cousin, old Mr. Crow, was always looking solemn and croaking loudly about "trouble." It was no wonder that people paid little attention to what he said.
IX
JASPER HAS TO HIDE
WHEN Jasper Jay looked up and saw Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk darting down upon him from above, he dodged to one side and screamed loudly for help.
His friend Noisy Jake was known as a great fighter. And Jasper hoped that together they might be able to drive Mr. Hawk away.
But he was disappointed. Noisy Jake did not appear. And there was a good reason why he did not. At that very moment he was flying off across the meadow as fast as his beautiful wings could carry him. He had seen Mr.
Hawk circling above the barnyard. And he had lost no time in making his escape.
But Jasper Jay knew nothing of all that. And when he found that there was no one to help him he was just as frightened as the hens had been.
He knew that he was no match for Mr. Hawk. And he had no wish to make a meal for him. Jasper was quite willing to leave that pleasure to the frogs that splashed their time away along the banks of Black Creek.
For a few moments Jasper ducked first one way and then another. He had several narrow escapes. And there"s no telling what might have happened if he hadn"t suddenly decided that he would follow the hens" example.
So without even stopping to knock on the door he dashed into the chicken house and alighted on a roost in the darkest corner he could find.
For two excellent reasons Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk did not follow him.
First, he had always made it a rule never to go inside one of Farmer Green"s buildings. And second, he happened to catch a glimpse of Farmer Green running into the house through the kitchen door.
Mr. Hawk knew what that meant. Farmer Green was going for his gun! And so he winged his way swiftly toward Black Creek, hoping--as he went--that he had taught Jasper Jay a lesson.
Meanwhile, there was a great uproar in the chicken house. But Farmer Green paid no attention to that--supposing, of course, that it was merely because of the fright the hawk had given the hens.
For once there was more noise than even Jasper Jay liked. It appeared that there was a bold young rooster in the chicken house. And he objected to Jasper Jay"s presence.
"What do you mean by coming in here where you"re not wanted?" he screamed. "Where are your manners?"