"Ca-daa-cut! Ca-daa-cut!" he screamed. "Run for your lives!" and the big rooster was one of the first to get under the barn.

Widow Blunt rocked back and forth in her splint-bottomed chair and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. "It is better than a vaudeville!" she said.

Mister Samson Crow came flying over, and he saw the big owl sitting in Widow Blunt's early cherry tree.

Samson Crow was very much surprised to see an owl sitting in a cherry tree in the daytime, and he said to himself: "My eyes are fairly good, and they tell me that a whole owl is sitting in that tree!" Then Samson Crow flew down to where Robert Robin was saying, "Tut! Tut! Tut!" in the harvest apple tree.

"I am very glad that you came, Mister Crow!" said Robert Robin. "Please drive that ugly owl out of that cherry tree so that I may get some more cherries for my baby robins!"

"That is what I am going to do!" said Samson Crow. "But what puzzles me is why any owl would be sitting in a cherry tree right near a house, in broad daylight! Why is he there, and what does he want?"

"I have no doubt but that he is after my cherries!" said Robert Robin.

"That is all I care to know about it!" said Samson Crow. "I will drive him out of your tree this very minute!"

Samson Crow flew straight at the owl. The big owl glared at him with its great gla.s.s eyes and never moved. "Caw! Caw!" screamed Samson Crow, but the big owl sat perfectly still. Around and around the tree flew Samson Crow, but the big owl sat perfectly still. Samson Crow perched on a branch and shouted at the big owl, but the big owl did not even turn his head, nor change the steady gaze of his great gla.s.s eyes. "Help! Help!"

screamed Samson Crow, and he flew away to the woods, and Widow Blunt laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and rocked backwards and forwards in her splint-bottomed chair.

Robert Robin kept waiting, and saying, "Tut! Tut! Tut!--Tut! Tut! Tut!"

and wishing that the big owl would fly away, but the big owl did not move, and just stared straight ahead with his great gla.s.s eyes.

About four o'clock Widow Blunt put on her sunbonnet and her cotton gloves with the fingers cut off, and with an eight-quart tin pail with strips of zinc soldered across the bottom of it, she climbed the stepladder and picked eight quarts of ripe red cherries from her early cherry tree, and the big stuffed owl watched her with his great gla.s.s eyes, and never said a word.

Then the Widow Blunt took her eight-quart pail full of ripe red cherries into her kitchen and set it on the kitchen table, then she went back to where her stepladder was standing under the cherry tree, and climbed her stepladder once more and untied the stuffed owl, and put him under her arm, and carried him back to her parlor and put him on the mantelpiece and set the big gla.s.s dome over him, to keep the dust off.

Widow Blunt carried her stepladder back into her woodhouse, then she hung her sunbonnet on a nail behind the kitchen door, and put her cotton gloves in the secretary drawer, where she would know where to find them when the berry-picking season came. Widow Blunt then looked out of the kitchen window, and saw Robert Robin picking one of her ripe red cherries. Then Widow Blunt sat down in her splint-bottomed chair by the kitchen window and watched Robert Robin and Mrs. Robert Robin come and pick her cherries.

"Those robins will not let any of my cherries go to waste," she said.

"But I suppose they have a large family to feed, and eight quarts is all I need for myself!" And Widow Blunt rocked backwards and forwards in her splint-bottomed chair and watched the robins, and the next thing she knew the clock struck six and woke her up.

"Mercy! I went to sleep in my chair!" she said. "Now I will have to hurry to get those cherries canned before dark!"

"Where did the big owl go?" asked Mrs. Robin of Robert Robin.

"A woman caught him and carried him away, but he ate many of the very best cherries before she caught him!" said Mister Robert Robin.

CHAPTER IV

MISTER ROBERT ROBIN HAS AN ADVENTURE WITH THE FARMER'S MALTESE CAT

It was a beautiful morning. The sun had just lifted his bright face above the eastern hills; the dew was still glistening on the leaves, and Mister Robert Robin was perched in the very top of his big ba.s.swood tree singing his "Sun-up" song.

He looked very handsome in his dark brown topcoat and his red vest, as he finished singing his "Sun-up" song and looked around to see what he could see.

From the meadow came the sound of Bob-o-link's "Spingle! Spangle!" song, and David Songsparrow was singing his seven morning songs, and even Jeremiah Yellowbird was doing his best to make his little voice ring through the woods as Robert Robin's mellow notes had sounded a moment before.

But Robert Robin was not listening to the other birds, he was looking to see what he could see.

The fields were green, for rain had fallen the day before, and the tangle of wild-rose bushes along the fence had burst into bloom. From the high place where he sat, Robert Robin could see the pink blossoms, and when the wind blew from their direction, he could smell the perfume of the flowers.

The farmer's sheep were in their pasture, and the little lambs were frisking and playing with each other. A pile of lumber lay near the pasture gate, and the little lambs were running and jumping off the lumber pile. They were having great fun, and Robert Robin felt like laughing as he watched them.

Suddenly Robert Robin sat up very straight and jerked his tail up and down three times and said, "Tut! Tut! Tut!" He saw the farmer's Maltese cat walking along on the rail fence, and the cat was coming towards the woods.

"I am afraid that big cat is coming over here!" said Robert Robin to himself. Mrs. Robin heard Robert Robin saying, "Tut! Tut! Tut!" so she came to see what was the matter.

"There is a big Maltese cat coming towards our tree!" said Robert Robin.

"Where is it?" asked Mrs. Robin, who was very much excited.

"On the rail fence!" said Robert Robin. "It is the same cat that I saw in the farmer's garden!"

"That terrible cat will eat our baby robins!" said Mrs. Robin. "You must fly right at him and scare him away!"

"Perhaps it would be better to wait and see if something doesn't happen!" said Robert Robin.

The big cat did not seem to be in any hurry. He walked slowly along the rail fence until he came to the brook. There were no rails across the brook, only a panel of wire fencing--so the big cat sprang to the ground and walked along the brook until he came to a place where the brook was narrow, then the farmer's Maltese cat crouched and sprang across the brook at one leap.

"He is surely coming to our woods!" said Mrs. Robin, and Robert Robin was so frightened that all he could say was "Tut! Tut! Tut!"

The great cat tiptoed across the corner of the pasture, and crept under the fence. He was now in the meadow next to the woods, and was walking slowly towards Mister Robert Robin's tree. Every few moments he would stand still and look all around. Once he sat down for several minutes, and Robert Robin was hoping that he would not come any nearer the woods.

Mrs. Bee was buzzing around the ba.s.swood blossoms, and Robert Robin said:

"Mrs. Bee, you are a very good friend of mine! Please fly down there and sting that big cat for me! It will only take you a moment and it will be a great favor!" But Mrs. Bee was busy filling her bag with honey, and had no time to bother, stinging cats.

Mister Jim Crow came flying past and Robert Robin called to him: "Oh!

Mister Crow! Fly right straight at that cat and scare him out of his wits!"

"Oh! Let him alone!" said Jim Crow, "he is only catching meadow mice!"

And Jim Crow flew over into the other woods.

Then nearer and nearer the big cat crept towards Robert Robin's tree.

Mister Kingbird came fluttering his wings and screaming, "King! King!

King!" but though he feared no hawk nor owl he was afraid of the big cat and would not go anywhere near him.

The farmer's big Maltese cat was standing almost under Robert Robin's tree. He was swinging his long tail from side to side, and looking at Robert Robin with his green eyes. The big cat was thinking to himself, "I would like to have that robin for my breakfast!"

But Robert Robin had no fear of the cat catching him; he was afraid that the animal might climb his big ba.s.swood tree and eat his baby robins.

"I will climb that big ba.s.swood tree and catch Mister Robin!" said the big cat to himself. Then he crawled under the fence and started climbing up the big tree. The big ba.s.swood was very tall and straight, and as the farmer's cat climbed higher and higher he saw Mister and Mrs.

Robert Robin sitting in a maple tree screaming at him with all their might.

"What is the use of my climbing this tall tree when the birds are in the top of the other one?" the cat asked himself. "I think that I will slide down!"