Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin.

by Ben Field.

CHAPTER I

WHERE MISTER ROBERT ROBIN LIVED, AND SOMETHING ABOUT HIS NEIGHBORS

Mister and Mrs. Robert Robin lived in the big ba.s.swood tree which stood at the corner of Mister Tom Squirrel's woods.

Their nest was made of sticks, and gra.s.s, and mud, and was so well hidden in the largest fork of the tree that if you had been standing near the foot of the big ba.s.swood, you could not have seen Mister Robert Robin's nest at all. But if you had been able to fly up into the top of the big ba.s.swood tree, then you might have looked down and seen the nest and Mrs. Robert Robin's four greenish blue eggs, right in the middle of it.

But if Mister Robert Robin, or Mrs. Robert Robin had spied you up in their tree, they would have made a great fuss about it. They would have screamed with all their might, and if you had gone near their nest they would have flown right at you, and tried to frighten you away.

Many of Robert Robin's cousins, and aunts, and uncles lived in town.

They built their nests in the parks, and in the shade trees along the streets. Some of them even built their nests in the porches, and on the eaves troughs, and in barns, and sheds, and in the church steeples.

Others of Robert Robin's family lived out in the country, and had their nests around the farmer's buildings, in orchards, under bridges, in windmills, and in almost every other sort of a place, but Mister and Mrs. Robert Robin would rather live in their own tall ba.s.swood tree than any other place in the whole wide world.

Each Fall, when the weather grew cold, and the winds were chilly, and the leaves of the big ba.s.swood turned brown, and then blew away, Robert Robin and his whole family flew south, but each Spring when the weather grew warmer, Robert Robin and Mrs. Robin came hurrying back north, to build a new nest in their own ba.s.swood tree.

"No other place will ever seem like home to me!" said Mrs. Robin.

"I should never get over feeling homesick, if we should lose our tree!"

said Robert Robin.

So every Spring, before the snow banks in the gully were all melted, and before the yellow water had ceased running down the lane, Mister and Mrs. Robert Robin were back in their own tree, and were as busy as could be building a nice new nest.

When Gerald Pox, and Melancthon c.o.o.n, and Jim Crow, and Wellington Woodchuck, and Billy Rabbit, and Major Partridge saw Robert Robin flying through the bare woods, or heard him singing his clear notes from the top of his big ba.s.swood tree, they would say to themselves, "Robert Robin is back from the south, and Spring will soon be here." And the farmer's wife would say, "I heard a robin singing, it will soon be Spring!" Then she would get her box of garden seeds down from the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard and look to see if she had some tomato seeds, and celery seeds, and pepper seeds, and cabbage seeds to plant in a box by the south window.

Then it would not be long before the snow banks in the gully were all melted, and the farmer would be fixing his fences and getting ready to turn his stock out to pasture, and the farmer's wife's celery plants, and all her other kinds of plants would be up, and Mister Swallow, and Mister Swift, and Mister Bob-o-link, and all the other Mister Birds and their wives would be coming back north, and it would be plain to everybody that Spring was here and that Summer was on the way.

Even the big ba.s.swood tree seemed to wait for Robert Robin, and seemed to miss him when he was away. All Winter the beautiful tree waved his bare branches in the air, and when the frosty snow sparkled on the meadows, and the stars were shining in the winter sky, the chilling wind swept through the woods, and the branches of the tall ba.s.swood made a sound like a sigh. But almost as quickly as Robert Robin returned, the buds of the big ba.s.swood swelled with the green of new leaves, and soon the great tree was no longer bare, but dressed from his foot to his highest twig in broad leaves that fluttered in the summer breezes and made a sound like the whispering of children.

Early every morning as soon as the sun began to light the east, Mister Robert Robin was wide awake, and one of the first sounds that woke the woods in the very early morning was Robert Robin's morning song.

From the highest branch of his tall ba.s.swood tree he would sing his "hurry up song," and his clear cheery voice would echo through all the woods.

"Hurry up! Hurry up!

Hurry up! Hurry up!

It is time,-- It is time To get up--to get up!

Hurry up! Hurry up!"

Then Mister Tom Squirrel would come bounding out of his bed, and Major Partridge would start strutting around, and Mister Wren would shake the dew from his feathers and begin to sing, and in a few minutes all the birds and animals that had been sleeping all night would be frisking and flying around, the sun would begin to shine, the dew would go away, and it would be daylight in the woods.

After Robert Robin had sung everybody out of bed, he would get his breakfast, and then he would be ready for his day's work.

Robert Robin _did_ like to sing, but Mrs. Robin did not care to sing.

She was a very quiet sort of person, and did not like to appear in public. She would much rather sit on her pretty greenish-blue eggs. She sat on them to keep them warm so that the little baby robins that were inside the eggs would grow to be strong enough to break the blue sh.e.l.ls, and come out and grow up to be big robins.

One morning after Robert Robin had finished singing his "hurry up song"

and the woods were ringing with the chatter of squirrels, the songs of other birds, and the "Chip! Chip! Chip!" of Mister Gabriel Chipmunk, Robert Robin was just going to get his breakfast, when suddenly the squirrels stopped chattering, and the other birds stopped singing. It was still in the woods, except for Mister Chipmunk, who was sitting on a stump and screaming his "Chip! Chip! Chip!"

"There is danger around!" thought Robert Robin. "Something has frightened the birds and squirrels!" So Robert Robin flew down where Mrs. Robin was sitting on her nest.

Robert Robin perched on one of the big branches near Mrs. Robin, and then he sat perfectly still.

Jeremiah Yellowbird was sitting on another branch, and he was sitting perfectly still. Neither Robert Robin nor Jeremiah Yellowbird could tell what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels, but both of them were looking and listening with all their might.

A shadow fell from above, and Robert Robin c.o.c.ked his head on one side and looking up, saw Mister Jim Crow flying high above the top of the big ba.s.swood tree. Mister Crow was circling around, and around, and looking down into the woods, but he was not saying a word. He was trying to see what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels. Robert Robin could hear Jim Crow's wings go "Swish! Swish!" through the air.

Suddenly Mister Gabriel Chipmunk stopped screaming his "Chip! Chip!

Chip!" and Robert Robin could see him sitting on the stump. He was sitting so still that he looked like a little light brown knot.

David Songsparrow, who had his nest in the elderberry bush over by the fence, came flying into the woods. He perched on one of the big branches of Robert Robin's tree and started hopping around looking for a bug for his breakfast, but when he saw Robert Robin and Jeremiah Yellowbird sitting so very still, he became quiet too, but his bright little eyes were looking first one way, and then another, and he was listening with all his might.

Mrs. Sheep, out in the farmer's pasture, called to her little lamb, "Baa!" and the sound of her voice echoed through the woods until it seemed as if all the trees were saying "Baa!" to each other. Then the woods became so still that Robert Robin could hear the sound of the waterfalls in the brook which flowed past Melancthon c.o.o.n's tree, way over in the middle of the woods.

Out over the meadow, merry Mister Bob-o-link was singing his "Spingle!

Spangle! Song" and his voice sounded so much like the brook that Robert Robin was just beginning to feel like singing a little song, himself, when Mister Gabriel Chipmunk screamed "Chip!" and plunged under the stump. Gabriel Chipmunk lived under the stump, and he went in the front door of his house.

When Robert Robin heard Mister Chipmunk scream in that tone of voice, he knew that Mister Chipmunk had seen something which had frightened him very much.

Then Robert Robin saw something moving among the trees, and a terrible, great, gray bird came swooping through the woods.

It was Mister Percy Hawk, and he was coming towards Robert Robin's tree.

The hawk's powerful, wide wings scarcely moved as he floated among the trees, but his cruel eyes were watching to see if a squirrel or bird might not be moving through the forest. If anything moved, Mister Percy Hawk would surely see it, and pounce upon it, so all the birds and squirrels were sitting as still as sticks.

Robert Robin, and David Songsparrow, and Jeremiah Yellowbird, each of them was sure that the big hawk was looking right at them, but they did not move as the great gray bird floated straight towards their tree.

"Swish! Swish!" came the sound of wings; "Caw! Caw!" shouted Jim Crow, and five black crows darted downward through the branches of Robert Robin's tree, and Mister Percy Hawk knew that the very best thing that he could do for himself was to hurry away before the angry crows pulled the feathers out of his back. Percy Hawk soared out of the woods, and when he was above the pasture he struck the air with his powerful wings and circled in great loops, and soon he was flying high above the tops of the tallest tree.

The other crows went home, but Jim Crow came and perched in Robert Robin's tree.

"Thank you very much for driving that terrible hawk away from my tree!"

said Robert Robin to Mister Jim Crow.

"Oh, you are entirely welcome, Mister Robin!" said Jim Crow. "If I had only been here a moment before, I would have picked a few feathers out of that bad Percy Hawk's back to pay him for always trying to catch my baby crows!"

Then Jim Crow went over where the farmer was plowing, and Jeremiah Yellowbird went home, and David Songsparrow caught a bug for his breakfast, and Mister Gabriel Chipmunk came out and sat on his stump and said "Chip! Chip!" as loudly as he could say it, and the squirrels began chattering, and Major Partridge played a tune on his drum, and Mister Robert Robin mounted the very highest twig of his big ba.s.swood tree and sang a song for Mrs. Robin:

"Cheer up! Cheer up!

Cheer up! Cheer, up!

Be cheery!

Be cheery!

Cheer up! Cheer up!"