The Adventures of Mr. Mocker

by Thornton W. Burgess

  Just then there was a shrill scream of "Thief! thief! thief!" over in thealder bushes. It certainly sounded like Sammy Jay's voice.

  "What did I tell you? Now what do you think?" cried Bobby Coon.

  Peter didn't know what to think, and he said so. He left Bobby to eat hiscorn and spent the rest of the night telling every one he met what Boomerthe Nighthawk had said, but of course no one believed it, and every onelaughed at him, for hadn't they heard Sammy Jay screaming that very night?

  So now Peter sat in the Old Briar-patch thinking and thinking, when heshould have been asleep. Finally he yawned and stretched and then startedalong one of his private little paths.

  "I'll just run up to the Green Forest and try to find Sammy Jay," he said.

  So Peter hunted and hunted all through the Green Forest for Sammy Jay, andasked everybody he met if they had seen Sammy. But no one had, though everyone took pains to tell Peter that they had heard Sammy in the night. Atlast Peter found Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. He was muttering and grumblingto himself, and he didn't see Peter. Peter stopped to listen, which was, ofcourse, a very wrong thing to do, and what he heard gave Peter an idea.

  XIII

  STICKY-TOES THE TREE TOAD POURS OUT HIS TROUBLES

  Sticky-toes was quite upset. There was no doubt about it. Either he hadgotten out of the wrong side of his bed that morning, or his breakfast haddisagreed with him, or something had happened to make him lose his tempercompletely.

  "Don't know what it means! Don't know what it means! Don't know what itmeans!" croaked Sticky-toes the Tree Toad, over and over again. "Heard itlast night and the night before that and before that and before that andbefore that, and I don't know what it means!"

  "Don't know what what means?" asked Peter Rabbit, whose curiosity would notlet him keep still.

  "Hello, Long-ears! I don't know that it's any of your business!" saidSticky-toes.

  Peter allowed that it wasn't, but that as he had so much on his own mind hecouldn't help being interested when he found that Sticky-toes had troublestoo. Then he told Sticky-toes all about how Boomer the Nighthawk had saidthat he had seen Sammy Jay going to bed up in the far-away Old Pasture, andhow that very night Sammy Jay's voice had been heard screaming down in thealders beside the Laughing Brook. Sticky-toes nodded his head.

  "I heard it," said he.

  "But how could Sammy Jay be down here if he went to bed way off there inthe Old Pasture? Tell me that, Sticky-toes?" said Peter Rabbit.

  Sticky-toes shook his head. "Don't ask me! Don't ask me! Just tell me howit is that I hear my own voice when I don't speak a word," said Sticky-toesthe Tree Toad.

  "What's that?" exclaimed Peter Rabbit.

  Then Sticky-toes poured out all his troubles to Peter Rabbit. They werevery much like the troubles of Sammy Jay. Every night Sticky-toes wouldhear what sounded like his own voice coming from a tree in which he was notsitting at all, and at a time when he was keeping his mouth shut as tightas he knew how. In fact, he had been so worried that for several nights hehadn't said a word, yet his neighbors had complained that he had been verynoisy. He was getting so worried that he couldn't eat.

  Peter Rabbit listened with his mouth wide open. It was just the same kindof a story that Sammy Jay had told. What under the sun could be going on?Peter couldn't understand it at all. It certainly was very, very curious.He just must find out about it!

  XIV

  PETER RABBIT MEETS UNC' BILLY POSSUM

  After Sticky-toes the Tree Toad had poured out his troubles, Peter wentback to the Old Briar-patch, more puzzled than ever. If Sammy Jay wasasleep in the far-away Old Pasture on the edge of the mountain, how couldhe be at the same time down in the Green Forest screaming? And ifSticky-toes the Tree Toad sat all night with his mouth shut tight, howcould the voice of Sticky-toes be heard in an altogether different treethan the one Sticky-toes was spending the night in? Wasn't it enough todrive any one crazy?

  The more Peter studied over it, the more puzzled he grew. The next nighthe started out for the Green Forest with a new plan in his head. He wouldhide down among the alders by the Laughing Brook. He would see for himselfwho was screaming with the voice of Sammy Jay and talking with the voice ofSticky-toes the Tree Toad. He just had to know!

  So across the Green Meadows and up the Lone Little Path hurried PeterRabbit, so as to reach the Laughing Brook before jolly, round, red Mr. Sunhad wholly turned out his light, after going to bed behind the PurpleHills. He was hurrying so that he almost ran into Unc' Billy Possum.

  "Yo' seem to be in a powerful hurry, Brer Rabbit," said Unc' Billy.

  "I am," replied Peter. "I must get down to the Laughing Brook before dark."

  "'Pears to me it must be mighty impo'tant to make yo' hurry this way," saidUnc' Billy Possum.

  "It is," replied Peter Rabbit. "It's to keep me from going crazy."

  Unc' Billy looked at Peter very hard for a few minutes, just as if hethought that Peter was crazy already. Then he put a hand behind one earjust as if he was hard of hearing. "Ah beg yo' pardon, Brer Rabbit, but Ahdon' seem to have it quite right in mah haid what yo'all am going down tothe Laughing Brook for," said Unc' Billy in the politest way.

  Peter chuckled in spite of himself, as he once more replied:

  "It's to keep me from going crazy."

  Then Peter told Unc' Billy all about Sammy Jay's troubles and all about thetroubles of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad. It was the first Unc' Billy Possumhad heard about it, for Unc' Billy had been away from the Green Forest andthe Green Meadows for a visit and had just returned. He listened to allthat Peter Rabbit had to say, and a funny, pleased sort of look came intohis eyes.

  "Ah reckon Ah will go along with yo'all," said he.

  So Unc' Billy Possum went with Peter Rabbit to the Laughing Brook, wherethey hid underneath the alders.

  XV

  PETER RABBIT AND UNC' BILLY POSSUM KEEP WATCH

  "Now," said Peter Rabbit, as they settled themselves to watch, "we'llsee for ourselves whether Sammy Jay and Sticky-toes have been telling thetruth, or if they have been dreaming. If we hear Sammy Jay's voice downhere in the alders to-night, we ought to be able to see who is using it,for pretty soon the moon will be up, and then we can see easily."

  Unc' Billy Possum didn't say anything, not a word, but if Peter Rabbit hadnoticed Unc' Billy's eyes, he would have seen a very knowing look there.

  The fact is, Unc' Billy was thinking of the time when he thought he hadheard the voice of an old friend of his from way down South, and he wasbeginning to suspect that he had been right, and that his old friend reallywas somewhere in the Green Forest.

  "Ah reckon he sho'ly is, and he's plumb full of his ol' tricks, just likehe used to be," muttered Unc' Billy.

  "What's that?" asked Peter, pricking up his ears.

  "Nothing, nothing, Brer Rabbit, nothing at all. Ah has a habit of justtalking foolishness to mahself," replied Unc' Billy.

  Peter looked at him sharply, but Unc' Billy's shrewd little face looked soinnocent that Peter was ashamed to doubt what Unc' Billy said.

  "I guess that we better not talk any more, for fear we might be heard andhave our watch for nothing," said Peter.

  Unc' Billy agreed, and side by side they sat as still as if they were madeof wood or stone. The black shadows came early to the alders beside theLaughing Brook, and soon it was very dark, so dark that Peter and Unc'Billy, whose eyes are meant for seeing in the dark as well as in the light,had hard work to make out much. It grew later and later, and still therewas not a sound of the voice of either Sammy Jay or Sticky-toes the TreeToad. Peter began to get hungry. The more he thought about it, the hungrierhe grew. He was just about ready to give it up, when the moonbeams began tocreep in among the alder trees just as they had crept through the GreenForest the night that Sammy Jay kept awake all night.

  The moonbeams crept farther and farther into the thicket of alder trees andbushes where Peter Rabbit and Unc' Billy Possum were hiding. Then it wasthat they heard the voice of St
icky-toes the Tree Toad. At any rate, Peterwas sure that it was the voice of Sticky-toes until a fierce, angry whispercame down to him from the branch of an alder just over his head. Peterlooked up. There sat Sticky-toes himself, but his voice was coming from analder on the other side of the Laughing Brook.

  "Do you hear that? Do you hear that? There's my voice over there, and hereI am here! What do you make of it?" whispered Sticky-toes.

  Peter didn't know what to make of it. All he could do was to gaze atSticky-toes as if he thought Sticky-toes was a ghost. Just then the voiceof Sammy Jay, or what sounded for all the world like Sammy's voice,screamed "Thief! thief! thief!" from the very spot where they had justheard the voice of Sticky-toes.

  Peter turned to ask Unc' Billy Possum what he thought, but Unc' Billywasn't there.

  XVI

  UNC' BILLY POSSUM DOES A LITTLE SURPRISING HIMSELF

  When Unc' Billy Possum first heard what sounded like the voice ofSticky-toes the Tree Toad, he had thought, just as Peter Rabbit did, thatSticky-toes was over in an alder tree on the other side of the LaughingBrook. But when he heard a whisper right over their heads and looked up tosee Sticky-toes himself, Unc' Billy almost chuckled out loud.

  "Yo' can't fool Uncle Billy, So don't go fo' to try! Ah knows yo', yes, Ah knows yo'-- Ah knows yo', Mistah Sly."

  He said that to himself and quite under his breath, for all the time thatPeter Rabbit and Sticky-toes the Tree Toad were whispering together, Unc'Billy Possum was stealing away under the alder bushes. Unc' Billy is verysoft-footed, oh, very soft-footed indeed, when he wants to be. You see onemust needs be very soft-footed to steal eggs in Farmer Brown's hen-house.So Unc' Billy stole away without making a sound, and when Peter Rabbitturned to speak to him, there was no Unc' Billy there.

  Peter rubbed his eyes and stared all around, this way and that way, but nosign of Unc' Billy could he see. This so surprised Peter Rabbit that hefelt queer all over. First there was the voice of Sticky-toes over on theother side of the Laughing Brook, when all the time Sticky-toes wasn'tthere at all. Now here Unc' Billy Possum had disappeared, just as if theearth had swallowed him up.

  "This isn't any place for me!" said Peter Rabbit, and off he started forthe Green Meadows as fast as he could go, lipperty-lipperty-lip!

  All this time Unc' Billy Possum had been crawling along without the tiniestsound. When he came to the Laughing Brook, he went up a way until he founda big tree with a branch stretching clear across. Of course Unc' Billycould have swum across, but he didn't feel like swimming that night, so heclimbed up the big tree, ran out along the branch, let himself down by thetail, and then dropped. He was across the Laughing Brook without evenwetting his feet.

  Unc' Billy didn't waste any time. Just as soft-footed as before, he creptalong in the darkest shadows, until he was right under the alder tree fromwhich the complaining voice of Sticky-toes the Tree Toad seemed to come.Unc' Billy listened, and the longer he listened, the broader grew the smileon Unc' Billy's shrewd face.

  "Thief! thief! thief!"

  It certainly sounded for all the world like Sammy Jay's voice, and it wasright over Unc' Billy's head. Unc' Billy peered up through the alders. Theleaves were so thick that he could not see very well, but what he did seewas enough. It was a long tail, a tail of feathers hanging down. It wasn'tSammy Jay's tail, either.

  "Don' yo'all think that yo'all have joked enough?" asked Unc' Billy, tryinghard to keep from chuckling aloud.

  A cry of "Thief" stopped right in the middle, and two sharp eyes lookeddown in surprise at Unc' Billy.

  XVII

  THE MEETING OF TWO OLD FRIENDS

  "Why, Unc' Billy Possum! What are yo'all doing way up here?" cried theowner of the long tail and sharp eyes.

  "This is mah home now. Ah done moved up here," replied Unc' Billy. "'Pearsto me that the question is what am yo'all doing way off up here? Ah thoughtAh sho'ly done hear your voice the other day, and Ah most wore mah po' feetout looking fo' yo'. Ah thought Ah was mistaken, but now Ah reckon that Ahwas right, after all. My, but Ah am right smart glad to see yo'!"

  "Thank yo', Unc' Billy," replied the owner of the long tail and the sharpeyes.

  "Ah reckon yo' can't be any more glad to see me, than Ah am to see yo'.Fact is, Ah was getting right smart lonesome. Ah done been lying lowdaytimes, because, yo' know, Ah'm a stranger up here, and Ah was afraidthat strangers might not be welcome in the Green Forest and on the GreenMeadows."

  "'Pears like if all Ah hear am true, that yo' haven't done much lying lownights. Ah reckon yo' done make up fo' those lonesome feelings. Yes, Sah,Ah reckon so. Mah goodness, man, yo' done set everybody to running aroundlike they was crazy!" exclaimed Unc' Billy.

  The owner of the long tail and sharp eyes threw back his head and laughed,and his laugh was like the most beautiful music. It made Unc' Billy feelgood just listening to it.

  "Sammy Jay done moved away to the Ol' Pasture since things were sounpleasant here because everybody said he screamed all night," continuedUnc' Billy Possum. "He sat up all of one night just to make sho' that hedidn't scream in his sleep, and he didn't make a sound the whole nightlong. The next mo'ning everybody said that he had been screaming just thesame, and po' Sammy Jay just moved away. Yo' ought to be ashamed to playsuch jokes." Unc' Billy grinned as he said it.

  "Thief! thief!" came in Sammy Jay's voice right out of the mouth of theowner of the long tail and sharp eyes. Then both little rascals laughed fitto kill themselves.

  "Yo' come over to my house," said Unc' Billy. "My ol' woman sho' will beright smart glad to see yo', and she's gwine to be powerful surprised, deedshe am! She done been laughing at me fo' a week, because Ah was sho' Ahdone hear yo' that day."

  So off the two started to see old Mrs. Possum, and for the rest of thatnight Sticky-toes the Tree Toad listened in vain for the sound of his ownvoice when his lips were closed tight.

  XVIII

  THE MISCHIEF-MAKERS

  There was a dreadful time on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest. Oh,dear, dear, dear! It really was dreadful! First Sammy Jay had been accusedof screaming in the night and keeping honest little meadow and forestpeople awake when they wanted to sleep. And all the time Sammy Jay hadn'tmade a sound. Then Sticky-toes the Tree Toad had been accused of beingnoisy, when all the time he was sitting with his mouth closed as tight astight could be.

  All this was bad enough, but now things were so much worse that it wasgetting so that no one would have anything to do with any one else. Thosewho had been the very best of friends would pass without speaking. You see,everybody on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest knows everybody elseby their voice. So when Jimmy Skunk, happening along near the Smiling Pool,heard Mrs. Redwing's voice, he didn't waste any time trying to see Mrs.Redwing. Instead, he went straight over and told Johnny Chuck the unkindthings that he had overheard Mrs. Redwing saying about Johnny.

  In the same way Bobby Coon heard the voice of Blacky the Crow in FarmerBrown's corn-field, and when Bobby listened, he heard some things not atall nice about himself. And so it was, all over the Green Meadows andthrough the Green Forest. It seemed as if almost everybody was heardtalking about some one else, and never saying nice things.

  The only one who still managed to keep on good terms with everybody wasUnc' Billy Possum. No one had ever heard him saying unkind things aboutothers and so, because now there were so few others to talk to, everybodywas glad to see Unc' Billy coming, and he soon was the best liked of allthe little meadow and forest people. He went about trying to smooth out thetroubles, and to see him you never, never would have guessed that he hadanything to do with making them. My, my, no, indeed!

  But every night when the moon was up, Unc' Billy would have a caller, whowould come and sit just outside the doorway of Unc' Billy's house andscream "Thief! thief! thief!" Then out would pop Unc' Billy's sharp littleface, and then his fat little body would follow, and he and his friend withthe long tail and the sharp eyes, for of course you have guessed that iswho it wa
s, would put their heads together and laugh and chuckle as if theywere enjoying the best joke ever was. Then they would whisper and sometimestalk right out loud, when they felt sure that no one was near to hear.

  What were they talking about? Why, about the trouble on the Green Meadowsand in the Green Forest, and what a joke it all was, and what was the bestway to keep it up. You see, the reason that no one heard Unc' Billy sayingmean things or heard any mean things said about Unc' Billy was because itwas Unc' Billy himself and his friend with the long tail and the sharp eyeswho were making all the trouble. Yes, Sir, they were the mischief-makers.It was great fun to fool everybody so. They never once stopped to think howvery, very uncomfortable it kept everybody feeling.

  XIX

  BOBBY COON MAKES A DISCOVERY

  Bobby Coon had overslept. Usually Bobby is astir shortly after jolly,round, red Mr. Sun has gone to bed behind the Purple Hills. But Bobby isvery irregular in his habits. He is very fond of traveling about in thenight, is Bobby Coon, and when he does that, he sleeps the greater part ofthe day. But once in a while he takes a notion to travel about by daylight,and when he does that, why of course he has to sleep part of the night,anyway. Bobby Coon is a very lucky chap, very lucky indeed, for he can seein the dark, and yet, unlike Hooty the Owl, he has no trouble in seeing inthe broad daylight as well.

  This night Bobby Coon had overslept because he had not gone to bed untilthe middle of the day. He had been prowling about and getting into mischiefall of the night before and had not started for home until jolly, round Mr.Sun was smiling down from right overhead. By this time Bobby Coon hadsticks in his eyes. He was so sleepy that it seemed to him that he never,never could get home. He was stumbling along through the Green Forest whenhe came to a hollow log. What do you think he did? Why, he crawled inthere, and in two minutes was fast asleep, just as comfortable as if he hadbeen in his own hollow tree.