The Tale of Dickie Deer Mouse | Page 8

And I can say
truthfully that there's nothing quite like them when you're hungry."
Fatty Coon actually began to look hopeful.
"I'm always hungry," he announced. "And perhaps if I could get a taste
of deer's horns they would keep my mind off the cornfield. Where did

you say I could find some?"
"I didn't say," Dickie Deer Mouse reminded him; "but I don't object to
telling you where to look. They're generally to be found in the woods,
near the foot of a tree."
Fatty Coon's face brightened at once.
"Then it ought to be easy for me to get a taste of some," he cried. And
he began to crawl down the tree even as he spoke.
He did not thank Dickie Deer Mouse for his help. But that was like
Fatty. Always having his mind on eatables, he was more than likely to
forget to be polite.
Little Dickie Deer Mouse smiled as he watched the actions of his late
caller. The instant Fatty Coon reached the ground he began to look
under the trees--first one and then another.
"Don't miss a single tree!" Dickie called to him.
"Don't worry!" Fatty Coon replied. "I'm going to keep looking until I
find some deer's horns. And I hope I'll like 'em when I find 'em, for I'm
terribly hungry right now."
[Illustration]

[Illustration]
XI
A SEARCH IN VAIN
It was true that Dickie Deer Mouse and all his relations feasted on the
horns shed by the deer. But of course they didn't find horns in the
woods every day. Only at a certain season of the year did the deer drop
them. And since that time was now past, and the Deer Mouse family

had scoured the woods until they found--and devoured--them all, it is
clear that Fatty Coon had started out on a fruitless hunt.
But he didn't know that, even if Dickie Deer Mouse did. And that was
the reason why Dickie smiled as he watched Fatty Coon dodging about
among the trees, looking for deer's horns where there couldn't possibly
be any.
"It's the finest thing that could happen to Fatty," Dickie Deer Mouse
thought. "While he's hunting for horns he can't go to the cornfield. And
so long as he stays away from the cornfield, old dog Spot can't catch
him there."
And then Dickie set forth to find his friends and enjoy a romp in the
moonlight.
Dawn found him creeping into his house once more. And after what
had happened during the night it was not strange that he should dream
about Fatty Coon.
It was not a pleasant dream. For some reason or other Fatty Coon
seemed to be angry with him, and was shouting in a terrible, deep voice,
"Where's Dickie Deer Mouse? Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?"
And then Dickie awoke, all a-shiver. But of course he felt better at once,
for he knew that it was only a dream. And he stretched himself, and
buried his head in his bed of cat-tail down, because the daylight was
trickling in through his doorway.
"Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?" Again that question startled him,
though he was wide awake, and couldn't be dreaming.
The next instant Dickie's tree began to quiver. Fatty Coon was climbing
up it! And Dickie Deer Mouse jumped out of bed in a hurry and slipped
out of his door.
Looking down, he could see that Fatty Coon was in something quite
like a rage.

"What's the matter?" Dickie called to him.
Fatty could do nothing but glare and growl at him.
"Have you had your breakfast?" Dickie asked him.
Fatty shook his head.
"No!" he roared. "I haven't had a morsel to eat since I last saw you. I've
been hunting for horns all this time. And I've come back to tell you that
I don't like your advice. If I followed it much longer there's no doubt
that I'd starve to death."
"It has kept you out of the cornfield, hasn't it?" Dickie inquired.
"Yes!" Fatty admitted. "But it won't much longer. I'm on my way to the
cornfield now." He looked at Dickie and frowned, as if to say, "Just try
to stop me!"
"Aren't you afraid to go there?" Dickie asked him.
Fatty Coon sniffed.
"That story about old dog Spot was nothing but a trick," he declared. "It
was just a trick of old Mr. Crow's. He wants all the corn himself."
"Don't you think, then, that you and I ought to eat all the corn we can?"
Dickie inquired.
"I certainly do!" Fatty Coon replied. "Let's hurry over now and get
some!"
Dickie Deer Mouse was only too glad to accept the invitation. And he
waited politely until Fatty had reached the ground, before going down
himself.
Old Mr. Crow saw them the moment