Part 3

Well, that was a little news anyway, and busy Blue Jay slipped around and told what he had seen. Then all of the little creatures _were_ curious. They couldn’t imagine what Doctor Rabbit was doing with that paint. Cheepy Chipmunk said perhaps Doctor Rabbit was going to paint himself all up terribly black, and scare Tom Wildcat away. But the others said this could not be so, because Doctor Rabbit had had plenty of time to paint _himself_, if that was what he intended. “No,” Blue Jay said, scratching his head, “that’s not it. I can’t figure out what he’s doing.”

CHATTY RED SQUIRREL HAS AN ADVENTURE

Next day, while all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods were wondering just what Doctor Rabbit could be doing, Chatty Red Squirrel had an exciting time. It was a beautiful morning. The sun shone bright, and everything in the woods smelled so fresh and sweet that it was very fine to be out.

Chatty Red Squirrel was out, jumping about on the limbs of his tree and enjoying himself generally. He would frisk about first on one big limb, then on another, and every now and then he would bark a little. This was his way of laughing sometimes when he was as glad to be alive as he was this morning.

Pretty soon Chatty Squirrel scrambled down his tree and went frisking around on the ground. Sometimes he would pick up an old worm-eaten nut and bite into it, and laugh, and throw it away. Then he would frisk around again, so fast that it would almost make anyone dizzy to look at him. And as sure as anything, some one _was_ watching Chatty Squirrel, and watching him very closely, too. Not far away--just behind the nearest dogwood thicket, in fact--Tom Wildcat lay hiding and watching every movement that Chatty made. Old Tom was very hungry, and he believed here was a fine chance for a breakfast.

Now when Tom Wildcat hides in the woods, he can lie so still that unless you happen to look right at him you would never know he was there. And he can lie still so long you would think he couldn’t stand it; but somehow he can, for that’s his nature.

Tom Wildcat lay behind that thicket and watched for nearly an hour while Chatty Squirrel played around and had a fine time--never thinking, of course, that Tom Wildcat was anywhere near.

Then at last Chatty started straight toward the thicket where Tom Wildcat lay. Tom crouched down close to the ground and got all ready to spring. He thought now surely he would get a breakfast. But after all he was the one who was the most surprised, for a little way off he heard some one cry out, “Run for your tree, Friend Chatty. Here’s Tom Wildcat!”

It was Doctor Rabbit who had shouted. He just happened to be passing that way to get a drink at the Murmuring Brook, and he couldn’t bear to see Chatty Red Squirrel get caught, just when he was having such a good time.

My! how frightened little Chatty was, and how he did run for his tree! As he went up the trunk Tom Wildcat sprang after him; but Chatty Red got away, and ran into his hole, high up in the tree. Tom Wildcat could not squeeze in there, he knew, so he didn’t try. He was terribly angry, and, seeing Doctor Rabbit, who had stopped to see if Chatty Squirrel had escaped, started for him with a wild bound. Well, sir, Tom Wildcat ran so fast that before Doctor Rabbit could get away he felt a little of his tail pulled out. Then for a time there was an exciting race. It seemed as if Tom Wildcat ran twice as fast as usual, and Doctor Rabbit was kept dodging so often he couldn’t get a start. But presently, when Doctor Rabbit made a sudden jump to one side, Tom couldn’t quite stop in time, and he butted his head square against a tree.

Tom Wildcat yelled and started out after Doctor Rabbit harder than ever, and Chatty Squirrel, who was watching from his hole in the tree, laughed right out when he heard that loud yell.

Doctor Rabbit had a good start now, and, reaching his back door, he darted in, shut the door, and locked it. “My!” he exclaimed, when he was safe inside, “that certainly was a narrow escape for me! But I’m glad I happened along that way. If I hadn’t, Chatty Squirrel would have been caught sure enough. I’ll attend to T. Wildcat!” And Doctor Rabbit began laughing to himself again. “Yes, sir,” he said, “I certainly will attend to him, and that before very long, too. Ha! ha! ha!” Doctor Rabbit laughed and laughed every time he thought about the fine new scheme he was going to use just as soon as he could get ready. Once Doctor Rabbit thought he would tell one or two of his friends so they could help him with his plan. But at last he decided it would be best for him to do it all himself. Then it would not be possible for Tom Wildcat to find out the least thing about Doctor Rabbit’s secret.

O. POSSUM’S FUNNY MISTAKE

After Stubby Woodchuck had nearly lost his life, and after Chatty Red Squirrel had nearly lost _his_ life, all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods were greatly excited. When things like this happen to them, they talk about nothing else for a time.

When they went out of their homes every morning for something to eat, they were in constant fear of Tom Wildcat. One day Cheepy Chipmunk said he was not getting more than half enough food, because he had to spend most of his time watching out. Blue Jay said it was the same in his case. He said that every time he started to pull a worm out of the ground he had to stop several times and look around. And sometimes, he said, the worm would crawl back into the ground before he could get it.

Once, Blue Jay said, when he was pulling a big worm from the ground for Jenny Jay, he thought he heard a noise behind him, and he stopped and looked around. When he turned back again, Robin-the-Red had pulled the worm out and gone away with it. After gobbling the worm, Robin came back and explained that he had been having so much bad luck in getting worms himself lately that he was about starved.

Blue Jay had accepted the apology, but he didn’t feel very good even at that. He said, “All right for this time, Mr. Robin, but hereafter I’ll thank you to let my worms alone.” I don’t think we can blame Blue Jay for being a little cross with Robin-the-Red; but they both understood, because when Blue Jay got a chance, he did the very same thing with Robin.

Then O. Possum had a little trouble, too. One morning he came running in at the door of his stump and laid something down before Mandy Possum. “Well!” shouted O. Possum, “here’s a nice fat chicken for you, Mandy Possum! I guess we won’t starve if Tom Wildcat _is_ prowling around.”

Mandy Possum went up to the chicken and turned it over. Well, sir, it proved to be nothing but an old dried-up head and a pair of chicken wings that had been lying in the farmer’s garden about a year.

“Humph!” exclaimed Mandy Possum, in great disgust. “Humph, you call that a big fat hen, do you, Mr. Possum? You grabbed it so quick and ran so fast, you _thought_ it was a big fat hen. Ha, ha, ha!” Mandy Possum laughed. “Tom Wildcat has certainly got on your nerves. Ha, ha, ha!”

Then O. Possum looked and saw the mistake he had made. “Huh!” was all he could say, he was so ashamed. And as he slipped out of doors he mumbled to himself, “I’ll get a live one.” Then, after he had sat out in the sun for a little while he began laughing all to himself. “That _was_ a pretty good joke on me! It surely was,” O. Possum said, and he found himself enjoying the joke about as much as Mandy Possum had done.

Well, the next morning Doctor Rabbit slipped around pretty early and told his friends he was ready with his scheme. He carried a big bundle of signs, all painted with the finest black letters, and he tacked up a sign on the front door of the home of each of his friends and neighbors. The little creatures were all surprised, and how they did admire Doctor Rabbit for his cleverness! They said that no one in the world but Doctor Rabbit could have thought of such a fine scheme, and they were very sure that Tom Wildcat would soon receive the surprise of his life.

TOM WILDCAT DECIDES TO MAKE A VISIT

When Doctor Rabbit had all his signs tacked up on the front doors, the homes of the little creatures of the Big Green Woods certainly presented a funny sight. That is, it was funny to Doctor Rabbit and his friends, but it would not be funny to Tom Wildcat when he saw those signs; I should say not! And now Doctor Rabbit was all ready for Tom Wildcat to come over from his home in the hollow tree near the Deep River.

For several mornings old Tom had come over to the Big Green Woods pretty early; but after he had had such bad luck in letting Stubby Woodchuck and Chatty Squirrel get away, he decided not to come for a time. He thought perhaps they would forget about him, and then he could slip in suddenly and surprise them.

Meanwhile he was fortunate in pouncing upon a foolish young chicken that had strayed from the farmer’s barnyard and gone too near the Deep River.

The next morning Tom Wildcat was fortunate again. A big, fat woodrat, that had been over to Farmer Roe’s feasting on a very young chicken, was hurrying back home when he ran too close to the tree where Tom Wildcat lived. You may be sure Tom gobbled up that woodrat in a hurry.

Afterward he smacked his lips and said, “That reminds me that I haven’t been over to the Big Green Woods for several days. Probably by this time those people over there have forgotten all about me. I’ll just pay them a visit this very day. What I really need now is rabbit, and blue jay, and woodchuck, and things of that sort. One gets rather tired of chicken and rat. Yes, I need a change in diet, and I’ll just slip over and pay my friends a visit. They have not invited me, but I’ll slip over anyway, just to be friendly,” and sly old Tom smiled until he showed all of his very sharp teeth. He was surely pleased at the thought of stealing into the Big Green Woods again. And his sore foot was now entirely well.

TOM WILDCAT IS GREATLY SURPRISED

After Doctor Rabbit had tacked up the signs, of course all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods were on the lookout for Tom Wildcat. They were sadly disappointed when he did not come right away. Stubby Woodchuck said he was afraid Tom Wildcat had seen the signs and gone away, and that they had missed the fun of seeing him run; but Doctor Rabbit said he was sure that Tom had not been over since the signs were tacked up. He said that Blue Jay and Jenny Jay had taken turns and watched constantly, and that they had not found the least track of him.

“He’ll be over again; don’t you ever think he will not,” Doctor Rabbit told his friends, and continued, “He’s just taking his meals somewhere else to fool us. Likely enough he’s been paying some more visits to the farmer’s chicken roosts; and about the time he thinks we have forgotten all about him, he’ll be over here. You just watch and see!”

Well, the very day that Tom Wildcat said he believed he would go over to the Big Green Woods, he _did_ go. Yes, sir, he went; and with his mouth just watering for Stubby Woodchuck and several others. It so happened that he did not go the way he usually went. He thought he would slip in by another way, and surprise one or two of the little creatures.

In fact, he came slipping in the back way, and so did not see any of the signs on the front doors until he slipped around in front of the Woodchucks’ house.

Now as sly as Tom Wildcat had been, he had not been sly enough for Blue Jay and Jenny. They saw him coming; so they flew around quickly and told Doctor Rabbit and then all the other little creatures.

Tom Wildcat read the sign on Stubby Woodchuck’s door, and this is what it said:

CAT CHOLERA HERE! COME IN AND HELP!

Well, sir, you should have seen Tom’s glarey eyes when he read that sign! They almost popped out of his head, he was so scared. And then, just a little distance away, he read exactly the same thing on the Chipmunks’ door; and there was Cheepy Chipmunk, just outside his door, acting mighty queer. You see, Cheepy Chipmunk had been watching, and now he did exactly what Doctor Rabbit had told him to do. Little Cheepy acted terribly sick, and leaning up against his front door, where the sign was, he said loud enough so that Tom Wildcat could hear, “Oh, dear me; I’m so sick, and it’s awful to have to die with this old cat cholera! But anyway I hope Tom Wildcat gets it and dies from it. But I suppose he got it long ago, and is dead by this time. Yes, I suppose it was he who brought it over and gave it to us. Oh, it’s terrible!” And then Cheepy sank down to the ground and certainly looked as if he were breathing his last. Just then Mrs. Cheepy did what Doctor Rabbit had told her to do. She came staggering out of the house and fell down right beside Mr. Cheepy on the ground.

“Oh, this cat cholera is awful, and we are all going to die--I know we are!” she groaned--and she acted as if she were about gone.

Well, sir, when old Tom read those signs, and when he heard what the Cheepy Chipmunks said and saw how they acted, he certainly was scared. I should say he was scared! He was more scared than he had ever been in his life. You see, there is nothing in the whole wide world that Tom Wildcat is so much afraid of as cat cholera. He knew well enough that if he got _that_ disease he wouldn’t last long. So it is no wonder that he was scared.

TOM WILDCAT BECOMES FRIGHTENED

When Tom read those signs on Stubby Woodchuck’s and Cheepy Chipmunk’s doors, and when he saw how very sick the Chipmunks acted, he started away from there that very minute. His big green eyes were very wide, and he kept looking back toward Cheepy Chipmunk’s house, so that he did not notice where he was going, and the first thing he knew he bumped right into O. Possum’s house. And there on O. Possum’s door was a big sign in black letters reading,

CAT CHOLERA HERE! COME IN AND HELP!

O. Possum’s door was closed, but poor scared Tom heard a terrible groan inside. You see, O. Possum had been looking out of his window and had seen Tom Wildcat coming. It was hard to groan when he did so want to laugh.

Of course Tom jumped away from O. Possum’s house in a hurry, and with eyes wider than ever, started to get out of the woods in another direction. He kept looking back toward O. Possum’s house, and pretty soon he ran against Chatty Squirrel’s house, and there was another of those terrible signs:

CAT CHOLERA HERE! COME IN AND HELP!

Well, Tom Wildcat jumped back about scared stiff, and started off in another direction. This time he ran. But again he kept looking back at the signs and forgot to look where he was going. The first thing Tom Wildcat knew, he ran plump against Doctor Rabbit’s house; and then he surely was more surprised and frightened than ever. Because on Doctor Rabbit’s front door was one of those same terrible signs:

CAT CHOLERA HERE! COME IN AND HELP!

This was simply awful. “And so,” Tom Wildcat said in a trembling voice, “Doctor Rabbit has that dreadful disease too, and not even all his medicine can keep him from dying!” At the very thought, he let out a most terrible yell, and away he started out of those woods. And this time he did not look back. No, sir, he looked straight ahead; and how he did run and yell, he was so frightened!

The farther Tom Wildcat ran the more frightened he became, and after a while he was going through those woods like a streak. Yes, sir, Tom Wildcat was terribly frightened; and he had his mind made up that he knew mighty well what he was going to do if he ever got out of those woods alive!

TOM WILDCAT MOVES HASTILY

Kit Wildcat had just swept the upper part of her house and was coming down stairs, when she heard Tom Wildcat tearing through the brush and yelling like a madman.

Kit Wildcat ran out into the yard and shouted, “Sakes alive, Tom Wildcat, have you gone _plumb_ crazy, or what in the world is the matter with you?”

But Tom Wildcat didn’t stop; he came right on and yelled as loud as he could. “Crazy nothing! I’m not crazy, but I’d rather be crazy than get cat cholera! Come right this minute, Kit Wildcat, this very minute! I’m going clear away from this place, and never come within ten miles of it again! Hurry, Kit! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Who’s got it?” shrieked Kit Wildcat, now very badly scared.

“Everybody!” shouted Tom wildly. “Cheepy Chipmunk, and Stubby Woodchuck, and Doctor Rabbit himself has it, and is dying with it this very minute!” Then Tom Wildcat said, “I had gone clear into those woods before I discovered the trouble. On every door there’s a cat cholera sign, asking anyone who passes to come in and help; but I can tell you, Kit Wildcat, I didn’t go in and help. Why, I saw Cheepy Chipmunk come out and fall down and die, and then I saw his wife come out and die; and I know everyone in the Big Green Woods must be dead by this time, because you know what cat cholera is. Come on,” Tom Wildcat ended suddenly, “I’m going!” and away he started, without even waiting for Kit Wildcat.

“Wait until I get my coat!” Kit shouted.

“I won’t wait for anything!” old Tom called back, and away he ran. Well, Kit Wildcat was so scared she did not try to get her coat, but just started off right after Tom.

When Tom Wildcat started out of the Big Green Woods yelling so loudly, all the little creatures hurried out to watch him. After a while they could not see old Tom any more, although they could hear him and Kit Wildcat yelling and running away up the river. But busy Blue Jay flew over the trees and watched. And after a long time he came back and said Tom and Kit Wildcat were still running up the river, and that he had heard them both say they knew of a woods about twenty-five miles away, and that they would go there and live.

When Blue Jay delivered his message, all the little creatures were gathered together at Doctor Rabbit’s house. How Doctor Rabbit did laugh! “I just knew I could fool old Tom Wildcat; and if I fooled Tom Wildcat, I knew we’d get rid of Kit Wildcat, too. Ha! ha! ha!” Then Doctor Rabbit said, “Do come in now, my friends. I have a splendid meal all ready for you.”

So the little creatures went in and ate about all they could hold. It certainly was fine to know that they could eat in so much comfort, and that Tom Wildcat had been driven out of the Big Green Woods forever.

WHAT UNCLE OWL WHISPERED

Didn’t you ever wish and wish and wish that you could know what the squirrel is chattering about, and what the cricket is saying when he sings his chirpy little song, and what the big owl really means when he says “Whoo-whoo-oo”? Lucky Peter Patter does know, for all the animals tell him funny things; and the best part of it is that Peter isn’t selfish! He has told all his charming little rimes to Leroy F. Jackson, who has let Rand McNally & Company print them in a beautiful big book, with pictures by Blanche Fisher Wright. You can find it in any bookstore for $1.50. Its name is _The Peter Patter Book_. Don’t you like Peter’s picture?

IN THE CIRCUS TENT

“If _I_ was a bear,” boasted Jack, as they walked past the animal cages in the circus tent, “and strong as strong, I wouldn’t stay in a cage and go round with a circus. I’d live in the woods.”

“If _I_ was a tiger,” echoed Nancy, “and could creepy-crawl like a big cat, I’d never let ’em put _me_ in a circus.”

“If you’d like to know why they’re all here,” said Mother, with a smile, “we’ll stop on the way home and buy Elizabeth Gale’s stories about _How the Animals Came to the Circus_, Warner Carr drew the pictures and Rand McNally & Company made the book, and we can get it at any shop for 50 cents.”

THE CAT THAT FIDDLED

You’ve known Tom, the Piper’s son, for a long, long time, but did you ever know that he had a pet cat which fiddled so merrily that even the King just couldn’t keep his feet still? And did you know that Little Miss Muffet had a Mother who had an Aunt who could be cured of a sick-a-bed illness only by eating hot buttered muffins? And did you know--O, ever so many more things about your Mother Goose friends? If you didn’t, let Louise A. Garnett and James McCracken tell you in The _Merrymakers_. Rand McNally & Company have made their rimes and pictures into a book which you may buy in the shops for $1.00.

OPEN YOUR EYES!

Perhaps you didn’t know it, but the Little People who are so busy making the seed babies lie straight in their beds and driving off Jack Frost when he wants to nip the snowball blossoms love to talk to all children. But many children--would you believe it?--shut their ears and eyes and never hear them or even see them. Loraine was different, and they told her the most delightful things. Maybe it will help _you_ to see and hear these Little People if you read about them in a book called _Loraine and the Little People of Spring_. Elizabeth Gordon and Rand McNally & Company made the book, which you may buy in any bookstore for 50 cents.