The Tale of Dickie Deer Mouse | Page 9

they entered the cornfield. And he
hurried up to them with a most important air and advised them both
that they "had come to a dangerous place."

[Illustration: "Where's Dickie Deer Mouse?"]
Fatty Coon paid no attention to the old gentleman.
But Dickie Deer Mouse thanked Mr. Crow and told him that after he
had had all the corn he wanted he was going back to the woods.
Noticing that the old gentleman seemed peevish about something,
Dickie said to him:
"There ought to be enough for all."
But still Mr. Crow looked glum.
"There's enough for them that don't care for much else," he muttered.
"But we can't feed the whole world on this corn, you know.... How
would you like it if I took to eating deer's horns--when they're in season,
of course?"
"You can have all the deer's horns you want," Fatty Coon remarked
thickly--for already his mouth was full.
And being very polite, Dickie Deer Mouse said the same thing; though
of course he waited until he could speak distinctly.
[Illustration]

[Illustration]
XII
A LITTLE SURPRISE
Simon Screecher lived in the apple orchard, in a hollow tree, where he
could sleep during the day safe from attack by mobs of small birds,
who had the best of reasons for disliking him.
By night Simon wandered about the fields and the woods, hunting for

mice and insects. And since night was the time when Dickie Deer
Mouse was awake, and up and doing, it would have been a wonder if
the two had never met.
One thing is certain: Dickie Deer Mouse was not eager to make Simon
Screecher's acquaintance. Whenever he heard Simon's call he stopped
and listened. If it sounded nearer the next time it reached his ears,
Dickie Deer Mouse promptly hid himself in any good place that was
handy.
So matters went along for some time. And Dickie actually began to
think that perhaps he didn't need to be so careful, and that maybe
Simon Screecher was not so bad as people said.
However, he jumped almost out of his skin one night, when he heard a
wailing whistle in a tree right over his head. And when he came down
upon all-fours again he couldn't see a single place to hide.
So he stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe.
To Dickie's dismay, a mocking laugh rang out. And somebody said:
"I see you!"
It was Simon Screecher himself that spoke.
Dickie Deer Mouse looked up and spied him, sitting on a low limb. He
was not so big as Dickie had supposed. But it was certainly Simon.
Dickie knew him, beyond a doubt, by his ear-tufts, which stuck up
from his head like horns.
"What made you jump when I whistled?" Simon Screecher asked him.
"I don't know," Dickie answered, "unless it was you."
Simon Screecher chuckled.
"You're a bright young chap," he observed. "But that's not surprising,
for I notice that you belong to the Deer Mouse family, and everybody's

aware that they are one of the brightest families in Pleasant
Valley--what are left of them."
These last words made Dickie Deer Mouse more uneasy than ever. But
he made up his mind not to let Simon Screecher know that he was
worried.
"I have a great many relations," he declared stoutly. "Ours is a big
family."
"Yes--but not nearly so big as it was when I first came to this
neighborhood to live," Simon told him with a sly smile.
He had hardly finished that remark when a loud wha-wha, whoo-ah
came from a hemlock not far away. And the next moment Simon's
cousin Solomon Owl sailed through the moonlight and alighted near
him.
Dickie Deer Mouse couldn't help thinking that it was a great night for
the Owl family. And he was surprised to notice that Simon Screecher
did not act overjoyed at seeing his cousin.
"It's a pleasant night," said Solomon Owl in his deep, hollow voice.
Simon Screecher replied somewhat sourly that he supposed it was. And
he changed his seat, so that he might keep his eyes on both his cousin
and Dickie Deer Mouse at the same time.
But Solomon Owl made matters very hard for Simon. Simon had no
sooner seated himself comfortably when Solomon Owl moved to a
perch behind him.
Simon Screecher looked almost crosseyed, as he tried to watch
everything that happened. And he looked so fretful that for a moment
Dickie Deer Mouse actually forgot his fear and laughed aloud.
[Illustration]

[Illustration]
XIII
THE FEATHERS FLY
"I'm glad to see you," Solomon Owl told his cousin Simon Screecher,
while Dickie Deer Mouse stood stock still on the ground beneath the
tree where the two cousins were sitting. "I'm glad to see you. And I
hope you're enjoying good health."
"I'm well enough,"