Turkey Proudfoot bade her, in an undertone, to be quiet.
"Go along about your business," he told the rooster. "She"s mistaken. I haven"t said I"d harm her."
"No! But he"s talking about eating one of my chicks! And that"s worse,"
Henrietta screamed. "If you"re as brave as I always supposed, Mr.
Rooster, you"ll defend my family."
Although the rooster was terribly frightened, and wanted to run away, he simply couldn"t desert Henrietta Hen.
"She"s a nuisance," he muttered as he marched across the farmyard. "I don"t see why she wanted to bring her chicks out here where Turkey Proudfoot would see them. She"s landed me in a sc.r.a.pe. There won"t be much left of me when that old gobbler gets through with me."
Nevertheless the rooster put on a bold front. Drawing himself up to look his tallest, he glared at Turkey Proudfoot and said shrilly, "What do you mean by annoying this lady?"
Turkey Proudfoot gulped. He wondered what had come over his neighbors.
The rooster had always acted afraid of him. Though small, the rooster was strongly built. And he had a sharp bill and sharp spurs, too. Turkey Proudfoot noted these details carefully.
"I won"t have to fight him," he thought. "I"ll behave so fiercely that the rooster will be glad to run off. And then I"ll run after him so folks will think I am chasing him."
Turkey Proudfoot then began to bl.u.s.ter. He gobbled loudly, without saying anything at all. He even made a few quick pa.s.ses at the rooster with his bill.
To his dismay, the rooster merely dodged. He didn"t turn tail and run, as Turkey Proudfoot had hoped he would.
"I"ll have to try something else," Turkey Proudfoot said to himself. So he flapped his wings and jumped up and down and around the rooster.
The rooster was very ill at ease. But he didn"t let Turkey Proudfoot know that. He kept turning about, so that he faced Turkey Proudfoot all the time. And he said to Henrietta Hen: "Gather your chicks and get them out of the way. There"s going to be trouble here."
Henrietta Hen obeyed him without a word. And she had no sooner shooed her youngsters into the chicken house than Turkey Proudfoot gave a loud laugh--a somewhat forced, yet loud laugh.
"You"re just the sort of bird I like," he told the rooster. "I"ve been testing you to see if you were brave. I"m delighted to find that you are. And I suggest that you and I stand by each other and run things in this yard to suit ourselves. When folks don"t do as I tell them to, you and I will attend to them."
"Agreed!" cried the rooster. He was greatly flattered. "We"ll make the neighbors step lively." And off he went, to find Henrietta Hen and tell her how he and Turkey Proudfoot were going to help each other.
"You"re even sillier than I supposed," she informed the rooster, to his great astonishment. He had expected nothing but praise from her.
He left her hurriedly. And he felt quite glum.
"She"s just like the whole Hen family," he grumbled. "You never can tell what they"re going to do or what they"re going to say. They may squawk and cross the road; they may cross the road and not squawk; they may squawk and not cross the road; they may not cross the road and not squawk. I don"t believe they know themselves what they are going to do next."
XII
MR. CROW"S NEWS
There was no denying that the rooster at Farmer Green"s place had handsome tail feathers. But they were as nothing, compared with Turkey Proudfoot"s. Not only were the rooster"s fewer in number; but he couldn"t spread them, fan-fashion.
Mr. Grouse, who lived in the woods, beyond the pasture, could spread his tail. But he was a much smaller bird than Turkey Proudfoot and his tail wasn"t nearly as big.
Turkey Proudfoot often remarked that he had no rival. To be sure, there were young gobblers on the farm. But in the matter of tails, Turkey Proudfoot outshone them all.
Farmer Green once had another turkey c.o.c.k that bade fair to have as fine a tail as Turkey Proudfoot"s. And for a time this gentleman made Turkey Proudfoot feel a bit uneasy.
"I"ll have to fight him and pull out some of his tail feathers," Turkey Proudfoot decided.
But on the very day, in the fall, when Turkey Proudfoot intended to pick a quarrel with this person--and spoil his fatal beauty--he was missing.
And oddly enough, n.o.body ever saw him around the farmyard again.
Turkey Proudfoot went so far as to hint that he had scared the fellow away. Not many believed that that was what happened, however. For old dog Spot claimed to have seen one of the missing gobbler"s wings hanging in the kitchen of the farmhouse.
"Mrs. Green uses it for a brush," Spot had explained.
When he heard that story Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed, "Nonsense! A Fox"s tail is a brush. But a Turkey"s wing is a wing. Old dog Spot doesn"t know what he"s talking about. No doubt Mrs. Green has a Fox"s brush hanging up beside her kitchen range."
Still, most of the farmyard folks insisted that the missing gobbler had met with an accident. Anyhow, the question as to what had become of him didn"t trouble Turkey Proudfoot. The fellow was gone. And there wasn"t another young gobbler on the farm that was likely to have a tail out of the ordinary. So Turkey Proudfoot was content.
His peace of mind lasted only a few days. He was ranging through the meadow one morning when he heard a great commotion in the farmyard. Old Mr. Crow soon came sailing over from the edge of the woods to see what was the matter. And after a while he went sailing back again. On his way he stopped to drop down into the meadow and speak to Turkey Proudfoot.
"You ought to hurry home," Mr. Crow croaked. "Johnnie Green has a new pet. You ought to see him."
"Johnnie Green"s pets don"t interest me," Turkey Proudfoot sniffed.
"He"s never owned a pet yet that had a tail worth looking at twice. As for his Guinea Pigs--well, they haven"t tails that you could look at even once. They haven"t any tails at all. I must say I don"t admire Johnnie Green"s taste in pets," said Turkey Proudfoot.
"Ah! This one is different," Mr. Crow told him with a hoa.r.s.e laugh.
"When you see his tail you"ll fold yours up in a hurry. And you"ll never spread it again."
"Impossible!" cried Turkey Proudfoot. "Impossible!" He was so angry with Mr. Crow that he couldn"t say anything more.
For all that, he strode away towards the farmyard. And he had a most uneasy feeling under his wishbone.
XIII
THE NEW PET
Turkey Proudfoot came hurrying back to the farmyard from the meadow where Mr. Crow had stopped and advised him to go home and see Johnnie Green"s new pet.
When Turkey Proudfoot scurried around the barn he found everybody all a-flutter. No one paid any attention to Turkey Proudfoot, though he spread his tail and strutted up to his neighbors with a most important air.
"What"s going on here?" Turkey Proudfoot demanded in his most lordly tone.
Henrietta Hen went out of her way to answer him. "Johnnie Green has a new pet," she explained. "He"s a wonderful creature."
"I don"t think much of him," said the rooster. He had a surly look, as if something--perhaps a pebble--had stuck in his crop.