The Tale of Jasper Jay Part 9

Jimmy Rabbit couldn't help smiling.

"Anyhow, you can't be really hungry," he said. "And if you'll come with me and do just as I tell you, you'll find that Jasper Jay won't trouble you for a good, long time."

"Wait a little while!" Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r begged him. "I want to eat just a few more beechnuts; and then I'll come with you."

"Hurry, then!" said Jimmy Rabbit. And he watched anxiously while Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r broke open more beechnuts with his strong bill and greedily ate the sweet meats.

"Come! come!" Jimmy Rabbit urged him.

"Just one more!" Reddy pleaded.

That happened several times, until at last Jimmy Rabbit said that he couldn't wait any longer, and that he was sorry, because he knew he could have helped Reddy in a way that would have pleased him.

He started off then. And at that Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r hurried after him.

"I think I've eaten enough so I can manage to stay away from the beechnuts a short time," he said with a sigh. "But I hope you won't keep me long."

"Everything depends on the weather," Jimmy Rabbit answered.

But Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r did not even hear him. His mind was too busy thinking of beechnuts to pay much attention to anything else.

They travelled through the woods for some time, until they reached a low, swampy place. And as soon as they came to it Jimmy Rabbit whispered to Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r that he must be very still.

"Do exactly as I tell you," he ordered. "And don't even whisper to me, please! I'm going to show you where you must stand. Though the place may not be as dry as you might prefer, you'll have to follow my directions and say nothing--if you want to get rid of Jasper Jay."

"I promise--" said Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r--"but I wish I had brought along a few beechnuts in my pocket. Just wait a moment!" he added. "Let me see if I haven't some nuts somewhere that I've forgotten."

So Jimmy Rabbit waited while Reddy hunted in all his pockets. He turned every one of them inside out. And since he had fifteen pockets, and he had to turn them all back again, and replace their contents, the proceeding consumed a good deal of time.

Jimmy Rabbit grew very impatient. He kept urging Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r to make haste. But Reddy told him that if he hurried too much he might overlook a beechnut. So he took his own time.

But the search was all in vain. Not a single nut did he find.

Then Jimmy Rabbit led him silently to a great cedar tree and bade him stand behind it and keep perfectly still.

Reddy made a wry face when he saw that he must put his feet in a deep puddle of water. But he obeyed, all the same.

XXI

TWO RASCALS CAUGHT

THE moment Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r stepped into the cold water he wanted to say "Ouch!" But Jimmy Rabbit put a finger on his mouth--meaning that Reddy must be still as a mouse.

So the red-capped scamp managed to keep quiet, though it was such hard work that he began to feel terribly hungry. Jimmy Rabbit watched him for a short time, smiling and nodding his head, as if to say:

"That's right! Just do as I say and all will be well." And then he waved a sort of farewell, before he disappeared.

Though Reddy did not know it, Jimmy Rabbit stopped as soon as he was out of sight and crept behind a bush, from which hiding-place he could watch the cedar tree, without being seen by the two beechnut lovers who stood so still beside it--for there was Jasper Jay, standing in a puddle on one side of the big tree, and there was Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, standing in another puddle on the opposite side of the tree!

And neither of them knew that the other was anywhere around!

But there was one thing that they knew quite well: the water was almost colder than they could bear, at first. If their feet hadn't grown numb, after a time, so that there was no feeling in them at all, they wouldn't have been able to stand there so still and so long.

They both wondered where Jimmy Rabbit was, and what he was doing, and why he didn't come back.

But Jimmy Rabbit was waiting for something. As he had told Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, everything depended on the weather. Though the air was becoming sharper every minute, it was not yet cold enough to suit Jimmy Rabbit. What he wanted was _freezing_ weather. And at last he was satisfied. When the sun hid itself behind a bank of clouds the ground began to stiffen with frost, which covered all the puddles and pools with a coating of ice.

It was almost dark when Jimmy Rabbit left the shelter of his bush and danced up and down to get warm. Soon he came with a hop, skip and a jump to the big cedar tree.

"How are you?" he called.

And two very sulky voices answered:

"I'm cold--that's how I am!"

"Well, why don't you dance around and get warm?" Jimmy asked.

But both Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r and Jasper Jay were caught fast by their feet in the frozen puddles. And as soon as they tried to move they began to squall loudly--because they were so frightened. They could no more have danced than the old cedar tree could have pulled up its roots and capered about in the forest. So far as they could see, they might as well have stepped into any of the traps that Johnnie Green set for Peter Mink.

It was no wonder that they were alarmed--no wonder that they struggled to free themselves.

"You seem to like to stay by that tree," said Jimmy Rabbit.

Now, since Jasper and Reddy had wanted exactly the same things to happen, and since they were now in the same fix, Jimmy Rabbit could talk to them both at the same time. What he said to one fitted the other just as well.

Of course, that made it very easy for Jimmy Rabbit.

But it was rather hard on Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r and Jasper Jay.

"_Jay! jay!_" screamed Jasper in a rasping voice, like a saw biting into a log. "_Ker-r-ruck! ker-r-ruck!_" sounded Reddy's rolling call. And they began to scold Jimmy Rabbit, until he put his paws over his ears and ran away.

If it hadn't been for Reddy Woodp.e.c.k.e.r's strong bill they might have stayed in the cedar swamp all winter. But he set to work and soon chopped himself free. Then he helped Jasper Jay. And before it was dark they flew away together and went straight to the beechnut grove, where they ate a huge meal of beechnuts, without having a single dispute about anything.

On the contrary, they agreed perfectly in every way. Especially they agreed that Jimmy Rabbit was a busybody and that somebody ought to teach him better manners.

"I'd be glad to help you do that," said Jasper Jay.

It was actually funny that two such rowdies should talk of another's bad manners. But no doubt such an idea never entered their heads.

THE END