"Oh! Naughty, naughty!" Mr. Crow cawed in a mocking voice. "You"ve been fighting."
"It"s all your fault," Fatty growled. "If you"d minded your own affairs Timothy Turtle would never have known anything about those eggs."
"Bless your heart!" old Mr. Crow cried. "Timothy Turtle would have seized you just the same, if you"d never touched his wife"s eggs. You don"t know him as well as I do."
"Perhaps not!" Fatty c.o.o.n replied. "And what"s more, I don"t want to. I never want to see Timothy Turtle again."
Old Mr. Crow laughed merrily at that speech. But Fatty c.o.o.n only turned his back on him.
_He_ was in no mood for laughter.
V
MR. TURTLE"S MISTAKE
Mr. Crow was in no hurry to leave Black Creek. And after Fatty c.o.o.n had limped away the old gentleman still sat in the tree which hung over the water. He hoped that Timothy Turtle would crawl out upon the bank and growl about Fatty.
The old black rascal was not disappointed. Fatty c.o.o.n had not been gone long when Timothy Turtle dragged himself out of the creek and stretched himself upon the sand in the warm sunshine.
"How"s your eye?" Mr. Crow asked him hoa.r.s.ely.
"It"s feeling better; but it"s a wonder that I can see with it at all,"
Timothy Turtle grumbled. "If I ever get hold of that fat young fellow again I"ll pull him under the water before he knows what"s happened to him. He doesn"t fight _fair_."
Old Mr. Crow chuckled.
"You"ll never have another chance to show him the right way," he remarked. "He won"t come near this creek, or my name"s not--ahem--Mr.
Crow."
"What"s your first name?" Timothy Turtle inquired, as he stared unpleasantly at the speaker.
"Never mind!" said the other. "Mr. Crow will do, if you want to attract my attention."
Timothy Turtle frowned.
"I don"t want to," he retorted. "The fact is, I"d rather be alone. I don"t care to have strangers peeping down at me when I"m enjoying a sun-bath."
"But I like to look at you," old Mr. Crow a.s.sured him solemnly. "You make me think of somebody I"ve known for a good many years."
"Ah! An old friend!" Timothy exclaimed.
"Well--not a _friend_, exactly," Mr. Crow explained. "He lives in the South, where I spend the winters. You look like him, in many ways."
"And his name?" Timothy Turtle said.
"Mr. Alligator!"
Timothy Turtle grunted.
"Humph!" he said. "I"ve never heard of him."
"That"s not strange," old Mr. Crow told him. "He stays all the time in the South and you stay all the time in the North. You couldn"t very well meet, you see."
"Your tail is a good deal like his," Mr. Crow continued. "And when you walk you have a trick of raising yourself sometimes on your hind legs, with your head and tail stretched out--a trick that reminds me of him."
For once Timothy seemed pleased.
"Anything else?" he demanded, with something that was almost like a smile. Unfortunately, he had pa.s.sed so many years with a constant frown on his face that smiling actually hurt him.
"Why, yes! There is something else," old Mr. Crow went on. "You and he have the same way of _snapping_ at things."
There was no doubt, now, that Timothy Turtle was gratified.
"He must be a fine bird--this Mr. Alligator!" he exclaimed.
Old Mr. Crow spluttered. And he had to hang on tight to save himself from tumbling off his perch.
A bird! Timothy Turtle thought that Mr. Alligator was a bird!
The mistake was so amusing that Mr. Crow wanted to laugh. But he knew that would never do--if he wanted any more fun with Timothy Turtle.
So he pretended to cough. And he wrapped his m.u.f.fler more snugly about his neck, remarking that there was a cold wind that day, even though the sun _was_ warm.
VI
MR. CROW"S KIND OFFER
"I suppose----" Timothy Turtle said to his young friend, old Mr.
Crow--"I suppose Mr. Alligator is a fine flier."
"He"s a very powerful fellow," old Mr. Crow replied with a sly smile.
"Did you ever try to follow him?" Timothy wanted to know.
Mr. Crow shook his head.
"No!" he answered. "I shouldn"t want to do that, because one never could tell when he might take a notion to jump into the water."
"Oh! Then he can swim, can he?"
"Certainly!" Mr. Crow a.s.sured him.