Crow's plot."

CHAPTER XV

MR. TURTLE

"Now if you had known the president of the Fur and Feather Club as long as we wood folks have you'd believe that when he laid himself right out to do a thing, it would come pretty near to being finished 'way down to the ground," Mr. Bunny Rabbit said as he continued his story, after a pause no longer than might be necessary in which to draw a long breath. "Mr. Crow as well as said that we folks in the big woods wouldn't have any more trouble with Jimmy Hedgehog after he got through with him, and I counted that he'd come pretty near keeping his word.

"If he hadn't said that he couldn't work his plan without Mr. Turtle, I'd been perfectly willing to stay at home till he finished the job, whatever it might be; but when he talked as if old Slowly was the only one who could help him, I got agitated. Just think of it! Getting a fellow to help you who makes a two-days' journey of it from the pond to the big oak! It twisted me terribly to figure out what Mr. Turtle could do to help the president, and I really had to leave home the very minute Mrs. Bunny was willing, to see how the thing was going to be worked.

"The first place I struck for was the big oak, and there was Mr. Crow roosting on the very tiptoppest branch, looking as if he'd been asleep for a month. He didn't pay the least little bit of attention when I spoke to him, and just for the minute I thought I'd best go back home without sticking my nose into any of the old fellow's plans; but if I did that there wouldn't be any rest for me the whole of that night, so off I hopped into the open, where he couldn't help seeing me if he lifted his head, and then I shouted:

"'Hi there! President Crow! h.e.l.lo!'

"I must have made considerable noise toward the last, for suddenly the old bird raised his head with a jerk, as if he'd heard Butcher Weasel coming after him, and looked around as if frightened till he saw me.

Then he shook himself so that the feathers on his neck ruffled up as if he were ready for a fight, and asked crossly:

"'Is that you, Mr. Rabbit?'

"Of course I told him it was I, as I stood right out there for all hands to see, and if it hadn't been for making trouble when it didn't seem to be necessary I'd have something to say about the president of such a club as ours asking questions when he knew full well what the answers were.

"'Why are you loitering around here? Why don't you go home and do up your ch.o.r.es before dark?' he croaked in a way that didn't please me a little bit, for I'm not the kind of rabbit that neglects his family, except, perhaps, when there's something important on hand for me to watch and I told him so plainly; but he croaked again:

"'I'm still wanting to know why you don't go home? There won't be any meeting of this club till nearly sunset, and perhaps not then, unless Jimmy Hedgehog gets into trouble.'

"'That's why I'm here, Mr. Crow,' I said quickly, getting excited again. 'I'm just regularly dying to know how old Slowly Turtle can do anything to help along the plan you said you'd worked out.'

"'Come around about sunset and perhaps you'll see a thing or two,' he said, and then stuck his head under his wing as if he were nearly dead for want of sleep.

"There didn't seem to be any sense in hanging around after that, for when Mr. Crow makes up his mind not to talk Mr. Man himself couldn't drag a word out of him, and off I went hipperty-hop as if it weren't in my head to go anywhere in particular; but I was headed for the pond, because I'd made up my mind to know what was to be done, and that before it happened, even if I had to hang around all night. It was well that I felt so determined, else I'd have missed the biggest part of the fun, and don't you think that we didn't have lots of it before dark!

"It didn't take me many minutes to go to the pond, for I skipped along at my best speed after I was so far away that Mr. Crow couldn't see me, and there I found old Slowly lying out on the sand as if he were in the last stages of consumption.

"'What's the matter, Mr. Turtle?' I asked, for even though I don't like the old fellow any too well it pays to be polite, and really, just for a minute, I was afraid he'd make up his mind to die.

"'I've got a terrible toothache, Mr. Rabbit!' he said, stretching his neck out of the sh.e.l.l till it looked like a snake, and when he'd got as far as that I couldn't help laughing right in his face, for anybody who ever heard Mr. Turtle knows that he hasn't got a tooth in his jaws and never had.

"'I'm in a bad way, Mr. Rabbit,' he went on, making as if he didn't see me laughing, 'and I don't know what'll happen if I can't get better mighty soon.'

"'Is there anything I can do to help you?' I asked, though I knew there wasn't, for how can you cure the toothache for a fellow who never had any teeth?

"'I don't reckon you can, Mr. Rabbit; there's only one person in all the big woods who could do me the least little mite of good,' he said with a groan that sounded as if a spring inside of him had broken and was whirling around to beat the band.

"'Who is it you want?' I asked, never so much as dreaming what kind of an answer he'd make, and he sobbed out as if he had already begun to die:

"'Jimmy Hedgehog is the only fellow who could do me any good; but I'm afraid I'll draw my last breath before he comes around this way.'

"You could have knocked me down with a feather when he said that, for I knew it was some part of the plan Mr. Crow had hatched up, but I was more in the dark than ever and so would you have been. Of course I didn't let on that I knew the president of the club had been down that way and asked as innocent as any lamb:

"'How is it possible that Jimmy can help you, Mr. Turtle?'

"'I was eating a snail and must have got a piece of his sh.e.l.l in my teeth; if Jimmy would let me have one of his quills for a toothpick I might get it out.'

"Now what do you think of that? Talking about toothpicks when he didn't have even the shadow of a tooth to use them on! Well, I'm not the kind of rabbit to miss any fun and knowing Mr. Turtle wouldn't explain his plan to me however hard I might coax I said as if I believed all the hot air he'd been giving me:

"'If you think you must really see Jimmy I'll do what I can to find him.'

"'My dear Bunny, if you'd do that much for a poor fellow like me who can't get over the ground as you can I'd never forget the favor as long as I live. You are the one person in all the big woods who can get around quickly enough to save my life!'

"I didn't wait to talk with him any longer, for what would be the use when he was ready to tell me anything for the sake of shutting my eye, so off I went, putting in my best licks to be on hand when the fun began.

"Do you know, I had the job of my life finding Jimmy? It seemed as if he knew I was looking for him, and he was doing his best to keep out of my way. Luckily I happened to see Mr. Jay, and he told me he'd seen Jimmy under a lot of fir bushes over by the swamp, acting as if he'd been taken with a bad fit of the sulks, and sure enough I found him there, but he didn't look as if he were very glad to see me.

"'Howdy, Jimmy,' I said, soft as silk, when I'd gotten over making believe I was surprised to see him there. 'Anything gone wrong that you're tucked away here where even Professor Hawk would have hard work to find you?'

"'Now don't try to be funny!' he growled, and just for the minute I was afraid we might have a row then and there because he was in such a bad temper. 'I'd like to know what business you've got running all over the country looking for me?'

"'But I haven't been running all over the country, Jimmy,' I said, speaking softly because I didn't want to have any trouble. 'Come to think of it, now that you've reminded me, I did want to find you on account of Slowly Turtle.'

"'I've had enough of you,' he snarled, bristling up his quills as if he counted on sticking some of them into me. 'After the way you went back on me in that sc.r.a.pe Bobby c.o.o.n got me into, I'm through with the whole Rabbit family, from this out. Just keep your eye on me, and you'll see that I'll even up that business before I'm many days older.'

"Of course I couldn't have him holding out against me like that, for I knew he might make lots of trouble if he tried very hard, and then again it didn't seem right to blame me for what I really couldn't help, so I talked as softly as I knew how, smoothing things over till he said, still acting grumpy:

"'Well, what do you want of me? I happen to know that you've been hunting high and low this past hour, and if that meddling Jay hadn't run across me by accident, you'd still be scurrying around as if I were the best friend you had in the world.'

"'That's just what I count you are, Jimmy,' and I nestled as near his nose as I could without filling myself full of quills. That seemed to quiet him down a little and I went on to explain about Mr. Turtle; telling Jimmy how sick the old fellow looked. I expected every minute that he'd give it to me hard for trying to stuff him with any such yarn as that old Slowly had the toothache, but, do you know, he never thought about Mr. Turtle's not having teeth, and asked, as if he'd got real interested in the story:

"'What does he think I can do? I'm no dentist's shop.'

"When I told him that Slowly believed the pain was caused by his getting a piece of snail's sh.e.l.l in his teeth, and that he could fix himself up all right if he had a hedgehog quill for a toothpick, that foolish Jimmy swallowed the story, sh.e.l.l and all.

"'I'm allowing that I'm the only one of the wood folks who really amounts to anything in the way of usefulness,' he said, grinning like a jack o' lantern, and shaking his quills till I had to get out in the open for fear some of them would strike me. 'If I can help old Mr.

Turtle, of course I must do it; but you wait till the president of your blooming old club gets into trouble that n.o.body but me can pull him out of, and see how long it'll be before I so much as lift a paw!

I wouldn't give that beggar Jim Crow one of my quills, not if he was starving to death!'

"I wanted to ask Jimmy how much good he thought one of his quills would do to a crow who was starving to death; but held my tongue, because I didn't want to stir him up while he was in such a good humor, and if I poked the least little bit of fun at him he might decide that he wouldn't go to Mr. Turtle, in which case I'd miss the fun I was counting on.

"Well, Jimmy strutted out from under the fir bushes, shaking himself to look big, and walking as if he thought he was the only thing in the big woods, while I hipperty-hopped at his side, but taking mighty good care not to get so near that there was any danger of being scratched.

You don't want to think that he was feeling any too friendly with me, even though we two were getting along so peaceably and every now and then he'd stop to threaten what he was going to do because I'd told the truth about the Bobby c.o.o.n business.

"I let him go on as wildly as he pleased, for I was thinking to myself all the time that Jimmy would soon be having a hard time if things went the way Mr. Crow and old Slowly had figured, and it was all I could do to keep myself from laughing right out loud, I felt so tickled. It seemed to me that Mr. Crow wouldn't hatch out a plan that could go wrong, and Mr. Turtle was so terribly in earnest about playing his part of it that I had good reason to think Jimmy would have the hot end of the stick before long, with me right on hand to see the whole game.

"Yes, I did tremble once in a while, when I thought of how hot Jimmy would be against me if he did get into a sc.r.a.pe, for by my hunting him up it looked a good deal as if I had quite a finger in the pie, whatever kind of pie it might be, though, as I've already said, I hadn't the littlest bit of an idea as to what was really in the wind, but I knew it was about time for things to begin to hum, especially if Slowly kept on doing his part as well as he had begun."