Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin | Page 3

up, saw Mister Jim Crow flying high above the top of
the big basswood 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 Coon'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
basswood tree and sang a song for Mrs. Robin:
"Cheer up! Cheer up! Cheer up! Cheer, up! Be cheery! Be cheery!
Cheer up! Cheer up!"
CHAPTER II
MISTER ROBERT ROBIN SEES THE FARMER'S NEW MALTESE
CAT
One fine afternoon Mister Robert Robin was down under the
pasture-field brush trying to find some brown bugs. He had caught one,
but two more got away from him, so he was beginning to feel
discouraged, when he happened to look up and see Mrs. Henrietta
Partridge sitting on her nest under a beechwood bush.