Chapter 2

Surprising as it may seem, now and then Jasper's hawk-call deceived even Farmer Green himself. And sometimes he would step into the kitchen and take his old gun off the hooks on the wall above the wide fireplace and hurry outside again in the hope of getting a shot at Mr. Hawk. It happened at last that in some way Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk heard of this trick of Jasper's. And that old gossip, Mr. Crow, warned Jasper Jay that he had better be careful.

"Mr. Hawk says that you are giving him a bad name with Farmer Green," Mr. Crow told Jasper one day. "Farmer Green calls him 'that old hen-hawk,' and, of course, it's not very pleasant for Mr. Hawk to have somebody looking for him with a gun. I know what the feeling is like, myself," said old Mr. Crow. "Believe me, it's enough to make one most uncomfortable!"

But Jasper Jay only shrieked with laughter.

"You'll sing a different song if Mr. Hawk catches you," Mr. Crow snapped.

And that made Jasper Jay scream all the louder. Then he stopped laughing and said "_Caw! caw!_" in a husky voice so like Mr. Crow's own that the old gentleman spluttered and fumed and all but chased Jasper out of the woods where they were sitting at the time.

They never did get along well together--old Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay. They were cousins, you know. But that fact did not help matters at all. Perhaps they knew too much about each other.

"Don't worry about me!" said Jasper Jay at last.

"Very well!" Mr. Crow replied stiffly. "But remember--I've warned you!" he croaked. And then he flew away to his nest in a tall elm, overlooking the cornfield.

VIII

A BIT OF MISCHIEF

JASPER JAY did not heed Mr. Crow's warning. When he learned that Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk was angry with him because he had imitated Mr. Hawk's fierce cry, "_Kee-you! kee-you!_" Jasper was more pleased with himself than ever. Scaring Farmer Green's hens with that piercing scream had been a good deal of fun. But making Mr. Hawk angry was still more.

So Jasper Jay began to visit the farmyard even oftener than before. If the mother-hens, with their chicks, did not happen to be scratching in the barnyard, there was always sport of some sort to be had.

One day when Jasper was on his way to Farmer Green's place, he happened to meet a blue jay friend of his known as Noisy Jake, because he was not very quiet. In fact, one could almost always hear his voice ringing through the woods.

"You seem to be in a hurry," Noisy Jake bawled. "Where are you going?"

"S-sh!" said Jasper. "I'm going to the farmyard to have some fun scaring the hens. But I don't want everybody to know it. Do you want to come along?"

Noisy Jake promptly said he did. So the two rascals hurried across the pasture and over the meadow toward the farm buildings.

"Now----" said Jasper Jay, when they had reached the farmyard--"now I'll hide in this oak here and you can hide in that one there." He pointed to a tree a little further from the chicken house than the one where he intended to perch. Naturally, it was not like Jasper Jay to give the best seat to anybody else.

"What'll we do then?" Noisy Jake asked.

"You see those hens," said Jasper. "I'm going to scream like Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk. And you'll laugh when the hens hurry their chicks out of the way.... If you want to, you may scream too--but not till after I have."

Noisy Jake agreed to Jasper's plan. And he quickly disappeared among the branches of the oak to which Jasper had sent him.

Then Jasper just had to stop and laugh to himself over the fright he was going to give the old hens. He was about to open his mouth to imitate the cry of Mr. Hawk when something happened that made him terrible angry.

"_Kee-you! kee-you!_" The fierce scream rang out over the farmyard. And immediately the mother-hens called to their children, with frantic _clucks_, to run for their lives into the chicken house.

Jasper Jay did not laugh at all over the way the chicks scurried out of sight.

"Noisy Jake has played a mean trick on me!" he said to himself. "He went and screamed before it was his turn!"

Since he didn't want to miss _all_ the fun, Jasper let out a blood-curdling "_Kee-you! kee-you!_" himself, just to hurry the last hen under cover. But, somehow, he had to confess to himself--though he wouldn't have admitted it to anybody else--he had to confess that Noisy Jake's cry sounded far more like Mr. Hawk's than did his own.

Of course, that did not make Jasper feel any pleasanter. He wished he had not told Noisy Jake where he was going.

"I'll punish him for his meddling!" Jasper exclaimed. And he flew straight for the tree where Noisy Jake had hidden.

But Jasper did not reach the tree.

"_Kee-you! kee-you!_" The cry came from above his head. And looking up, Jasper Jay saw Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk himself, dropping down like lightning out of the sky.

Mr. Hawk paid not the slightest attention to the frightened hens and their chicks. He seemed to have eyes only for Jasper Jay. And on his proud, cruel face there was a look of anger that made Jasper wish he had never, never imitated Mr. Hawk's cry.

He was sorry now, that he had not heeded Mr. Crow's warning. But his cousin, old Mr. Crow, was always looking solemn and croaking loudly about "trouble." It was no wonder that people paid little attention to what he said.

IX

JASPER HAS TO HIDE

WHEN Jasper Jay looked up and saw Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk darting down upon him from above, he dodged to one side and screamed loudly for help.

His friend Noisy Jake was known as a great fighter. And Jasper hoped that together they might be able to drive Mr. Hawk away.

But he was disappointed. Noisy Jake did not appear. And there was a good reason why he did not. At that very moment he was flying off across the meadow as fast as his beautiful wings could carry him. He had seen Mr. Hawk circling above the barnyard. And he had lost no time in making his escape.

But Jasper Jay knew nothing of all that. And when he found that there was no one to help him he was just as frightened as the hens had been. He knew that he was no match for Mr. Hawk. And he had no wish to make a meal for him. Jasper was quite willing to leave that pleasure to the frogs that splashed their time away along the banks of Black Creek.

For a few moments Jasper ducked first one way and then another. He had several narrow escapes. And there's no telling what might have happened if he hadn't suddenly decided that he would follow the hens' example.

So without even stopping to knock on the door he dashed into the chicken house and alighted on a roost in the darkest corner he could find.

For two excellent reasons Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk did not follow him. First, he had always made it a rule never to go inside one of Farmer Green's buildings. And second, he happened to catch a glimpse of Farmer Green running into the house through the kitchen door.

Mr. Hawk knew what that meant. Farmer Green was going for his gun! And so he winged his way swiftly toward Black Creek, hoping--as he went--that he had taught Jasper Jay a lesson.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, there was a great uproar in the chicken house. But Farmer Green paid no attention to that--supposing, of course, that it was merely because of the fright the hawk had given the hens.

For once there was more noise than even Jasper Jay liked. It appeared that there was a bold young rooster in the chicken house. And he objected to Jasper Jay's presence.

"What do you mean by coming in here where you're not wanted?" he screamed. "Where are your manners?"

Actually, Jasper Jay wondered what the rooster was talking about. Never having had any manners, Jasper didn't know the meaning of the word. And since he could not answer, he said nothing.

"Stick your spurs into him and maybe he'll speak!" screeched a pert young hen.

Jasper looked at the rooster then; and he saw that the brazen fellow wore long, sharp spurs upon his legs. They looked almost as wicked as Mr. Hawk's cruel talons.

"Please," said Jasper, "I've come in to get out of the way of Mr. Hawk."

"Ha!" cried the rooster. "Unless I'm mistaken you're the rogue that's always frightening the ladies by screaming like Mr. Hawk. So I don't see why you should object to his society."

"I was only fooling," Jasper Jay whined. "I meant no harm, you know. Let me stay here a while and I promise you I won't bother the hens again."

"I accept your apology, as well as your promise," the rooster replied with great dignity. And then he began crowing in a manner that was most annoying to Jasper Jay. It was the same as saying, "This rascal's afraid of me!"

That was true, too. And that was what made the crowing sound so unpleasant in Jasper's ears.

He left as soon as he dared show himself out of doors. And he sometimes remarked afterward that a chicken house wouldn't be a bad place to live in, after all, if it weren't for the roosters.

"They boast too much," said Jasper Jay. "Nothing could induce me to listen to their silly crowing. And to tell the truth, I don't see how the hens manage to stand it."

X

THE NUTTING PARTY

FOR a long time Jasper Jay had been waiting for something. It was fall; and he impatiently watched the tree-tops on the side of Blue Mountain change from their quiet summer green to hues of flaming gold and red. Though they were beautiful, to tell the truth Jasper did not in the least care what color a tree was. So long as it bore nuts, he was satisfied. And to him the turning leaves meant only that the autumn was lengthening--and the nuts were growing ripe.

That was what Jasper Jay was waiting for. And as soon as the frosts came and burst open the prickly pods that covered the beechnuts he intended to lead the first nutting party of the season to the place where the beeches grew.

Now, going a-nutting with a crowd is much more fun than gathering nuts alone. And Jasper usually preferred a nutting party of a dozen blue jays. Then he always had twelve times as much fun as he could have just by himself--because there was twelve times the noise.

So on the very first day that the nuts were ready to be eaten Jasper Jay asked eleven friends to join him. As it happened, Jasper found a company of twelve waiting for him at the appointed time on the edge of the woods. Somehow, Noisy Jake (whom Jasper hadn't invited) had heard of the party. And he invited himself.

Jasper was not at all pleased when he found that Noisy Jake intended to go a-nutting too. He had not yet forgiven that boisterous rowdy for not having warned him, when Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk was sailing about over Farmer Green's barnyard, and Jasper had to seek safety in the chicken house.

Jasper gave Jake a cool nod and turned his back on him. But it would have taken a great deal more than that to hurt Noisy Jake's feelings. Indeed, he was so impudent that he immediately imitated Mr. Hawk's cry, "_Kee-you! kee-you!_"

It gave Jasper a great start to hear that screech behind his back. He jumped into the air and alighted with his face toward Noisy Jake, having turned around while his feet were off the ground.

Jake was laughing loudly at his own joke, while all the rest--except Jasper--squalled with delight.

Jasper Jay thought for a moment that he would have to fight Jake on the spot. But he was in such a hurry to get to the place where the beeches grew that he decided to pay no more attention to the rude fellow.

"Come on!" Jasper cried. "Follow me!" And he made for the beech grove at top speed, with the nutting party following close behind him.

There was a great squawking and screaming and whistling as the nutting party flew into the tops of the beech trees and the nuts began rattling down upon the ground.

But their fun did not last long. Another nutting party, led by Johnnie Green, arrived at the grove soon after them; and, of course, that put an end to their sport. They knew that boys not only whistled but threw stones as well.

It was most disappointing. And Jasper and his friends were feeling quite peevish when Noisy Jake suddenly cried:

"Let's go over to the oak woods! There are plenty of acorns there; and we can have lots of fun!"

All the crowd--except Jasper Jay--shouted something that sounded like "Hurrah!" And before Jasper knew what was happening everybody had started for the oak woods. This time it was Noisy Jake that led the nutting party. And all Jasper could do was to follow with the others.

He was no longer the leader. And he was very, very angry. It had been his party, in the first place. And there was Noisy Jake, whom he had not even invited to it, acting as if he were the one who should say what should--or shouldn't--be done.

Jasper could see Jake talking with some of the others. And he couldn't help feeling that they were talking about _him_. Jake laughed loudly now and then; and although he was flying fast, he looked around occasionally, to make sure that the party was following him. Seeing that Jasper was the last of the procession, Jake shouted to him that he had better hurry, if he didn't want to be left behind.

And that made Jasper Jay more indignant than ever.

XI

A STROKE OF LUCK

JASPER'S fun would have been spoiled if he hadn't had a stroke of good fortune. Since he was no longer leading the nutting party he wanted to prevent his friends from following Noisy Jake to the place where the oak trees grew, to have an acorn hunt.

It was no more than anybody could expect that Jasper should feel sulky. It had been his party in the first place. So, of course, he didn't enjoy seeing somebody else take the lead away from him. Most unhappy he was, as he hurried along the mountain-side, when he happened, all at once, to catch sight of a huge, grayish-brown figure, half hidden among some hemlock boughs. Jasper Jay knew right away that it was Mr. Solomon Owl.

"Stop! stop!" Jasper cried to his friends. "Wait a bit! Here's some fun!"

So the nutting party checked their flight and returned, while Jasper pointed out Solomon Owl's motionless form to them.

They forgot all about the acorn hunt, for the time being, because there was nothing they liked better than teasing Solomon Owl--when there were enough of them. In case any of the blue-coated rascals met Mr. Owl alone, he was most polite to him, for Solomon was not only big and strong but he had sharp talons and a hooked beak.

Those thirteen blue jays, however, knew that they had little to fear from the solemn old chap, so long as they kept out of reach of his claws.

They began jeering at Solomon Owl. And some of them even tried to mock his queer cry, "_Whoo-whoo-too-whoo-too-o-o!_" The woods echoed with their hoots. And Noisy Jake shouted:

"This is luck! Aren't you all glad I found him?"

Now, of course, Jake had not found Solomon Owl. If it hadn't been for Jasper Jay no one would have known he was there. And Jasper was just about to remind Jake of his mistake when he happened to think of something that made him change his mind. It occurred to Jasper that if Noisy Jake wanted to think he was still the leader of the party perhaps it was just as well to let him. Jake always talked so much, in such a loud tone, that Solomon Owl would be sure to know him.

And Jasper thought he could have plenty of fun himself, teasing Solomon and not saying a word. Then--so Jasper believed--then Solomon Owl wouldn't know that Jasper was in the party at all.

You see, Johnnie Green was not the only person who held that Solomon Owl couldn't see in the daytime. Everybody knew that his big, round eyes were keen enough in the dark. But in the daylight he usually sat quite still in a tree and stared as if he saw nothing at all.

Well, that was just what Solomon Owl was doing then. He said never a word. And he scarcely moved, except to turn his head helplessly now and then, and blink, while his tormentors flew as close to him as they dared and hooted loudly at him.

Jasper and his friends made enough noise to scare even a bigger bird than Solomon Owl. And they said a good many rude things to him, too.

"How are Farmer Green's chickens this fall?" Noisy Jake asked him in a loud voice, while Jasper Jay quietly amused himself by dropping hemlock seeds upon Solomon's head.

Still Solomon Owl made no remarks at all. But he was thinking deeply. And though some people claimed that he was not nearly so wise as he looked, there were some things that he knew just as well as anyone else.

But Jasper Jay was not aware of that.

XII

SOLOMON OWL'S EYES

AFTER a while Jasper Jay saw that his friends were growing tired of teasing Solomon Owl. So he said to them suddenly, in what was for him a low voice, "Let's go hunt acorns now!" And he flew off with a pleased grin upon his face, for he hoped that he had made trouble for Noisy Jake. His friends all followed him, too, while Noisy Jake hurried on behind them, trying to overtake and pass Jasper Jay.

But he never headed Jasper all the way to the oak woods. And Jasper had a good time there, making all the noise he pleased and eating so many acorns that he made himself almost ill.... If that isn't having a good time, then somebody must be mistaken.

Now, it was quite natural for Jasper Jay to think that he had nothing to fear from Solomon Owl. To be sure, he had flown back and forth in front of Solomon's round, staring eyes; and he had dropped hemlock seeds upon Solomon's head. But he felt quite safe, because he was _sure_ Solomon Owl couldn't see him in the daylight. Furthermore, he had said hardly a word, so Solomon shouldn't know, from his voice, that Jasper was teasing him.

When he met Solomon, therefore, right after sunset that same day, as Jasper was hurrying home from the oak woods to get his night's sleep and Solomon Owl was just starting out on his nightly wanderings, Jasper spoke boldly to the big, bulky fellow.

"Good-evening, Mr. Owl!" said he. "I hope you're well, and that you had a good rest to-day."

Solomon Owl turned his head in Jasper's direction and stared at him for a moment. And then he hooted long and loud.

"I'm glad to know it," said Jasper--though he had no idea what Solomon Owl was saying.

In spite of himself, Jasper began to feel a bit uneasy. There was something terrifying in Solomon's odd cry, especially when the dark was falling fast and Jasper Jay was still some distance from home.

"Wait a moment, young fellow!" said Solomon Owl in a deep, hollow voice. "I've something to say to you. Weren't you roaming through the woods with a crowd of rowdies this afternoon?"

Jasper Jay couldn't deny it. But he didn't want to admit it, either. So he said:

"I believe Noisy Jake led a nutting party this way."

"Ha!" exclaimed Solomon Owl. "They didn't pick any hemlock seeds, I suppose?"

"I'll ask them," Jasper Jay murmured. "And I'll let you know to-morrow." He turned away, because he didn't care to talk any longer. His voice was too faint. And his legs felt strangely weak. For Jasper Jay was thoroughly frightened.

"Don't be in a hurry!" Solomon Owl's queer voice boomed. "Some people think I can't see in the daytime. But they're very much mistaken. And nobody ever dropped hemlock seeds on my head yet without my knowing it."

Jasper Jay did not wait to hear anything more. He sprang into the air and tore off through the forest, just before Solomon Owl jumped.

For a heavy gentleman who was big around the waist, Solomon Owl was surprisingly quick. But Jasper Jay was even quicker. And it was lucky for him that he left when he did, for Solomon felt very, very hungry. He had had nothing to eat since dawn.

But he made his rush in vain. Missing Jasper Jay by a few inches, he crashed head foremost into a tree before he could stop. And the pain in the top of his head made him hoot at the top of his voice. Perhaps he was angry, too.

Anyhow, to Jasper Jay the horrid cry sounded as if it were just behind him. He never knew before that he could fly so fast. And some of his friends, who saw a blue streak in the twilight, did not even recognize him.

For several days afterward, Noisy Jake, whom Jasper passed in his headlong flight, talked about the blue lightning he had seen when he was going home from the nutting party. And since nobody could prove that he was mistaken, no one was so foolish as to dispute him.

And that was the way that Jasper Jay learned something about Solomon Owl's eyes--and something about manners, too.

XIII

TEASING A SINGER

THOUGH there were many feathered folk in Pleasant Valley, Jasper Jay did not care to have much to do with any except his own family. Unless he had other business that was more urgent he was always ready to join a troop of noisy blue jays bent on some mischief. But if there were none of his own kind about, Jasper usually preferred to be alone.

Strangely enough, Jasper did not even like to hear other birds singing. He claimed that their voices were altogether too sweet.

"It's sickening to hear their songs," he used to say. "Somebody ought to put a stop to these concerts that we have to listen to all summer long." And he was always telling people that what he liked was a good, loud, jarring call, that you could hear without any trouble. "These soft, musical notes are all nonsense!" he declared.

Jasper held it to be his duty, whenever he chanced to come across one of those forest concerts, to seat himself in a nearby tree and make as much noise as he could, in order to interrupt the singing.

Of course, such actions on the part of Jasper Jay did not make the songsters of Pleasant Valley like him any better. But Jasper never minded that.

"I shall keep right on interrupting these singing societies," he said, "until I've put an end to such nuisances."

Naturally, that was only his way of looking at such matters. As for the other birds, they thought that the real nuisance was Jasper Jay.

Now, one of the finest singers in the whole neighborhood was Buddy Brown-Thrasher. Though he belonged to the Pleasant Valley Singing Society, he sang so well that he usually preferred to sing by himself, instead of attending a singing party. Each morning and each evening he would seat himself in the topmost branches of a tree near the thicket where he lived; and there he would sing his favorite song over and over again.

Often other birds some distance away would cease their own music just to enjoy his, for it was very beautiful. If a wooden Indian had roamed through the woods where Buddy Brown-Thrasher was singing, he would have stopped to listen. Nobody could have helped doing that.

At least, nobody could have helped listening except Jasper Jay. In his opinion, Buddy Brown-Thrasher was the most annoying of all the feathered songsters. He often went out of his way to interrupt Buddy's evening-song. (In the morning Jasper was in too great a hurry for his breakfast to trouble himself in any such fashion.)

Well, it is not surprising that Buddy Brown-Thrasher should be upset by Jasper Jay's provoking visits. It is scarcely pleasant, when you are singing your best notes in a tree-top, to have them suddenly spoiled by a harsh _jay, jay_, and to be mocked with boisterous laughter. The time came at last when Buddy Brown-Thrasher said he couldn't stand it any longer.

"Something will have to be done!" he declared. So he put on his thinking-cap at once. Being a gentlemanly sort of person, he never once thought of _fighting_ Jasper Jay. But he felt sure that there must be some way to teach Jasper better manners. He knew, however, that there was no use of trying to reason with the rude fellow. If he had merely talked with Jasper, and asked him if he wouldn't please do differently, Buddy Brown-Thrasher would have received no more than a jeering shout in reply.

Naturally, he hoped for something more satisfactory than that.

XIV

FINDING A WAY

"WHAT can you do?" the other feathered folk asked Buddy Brown-Thrasher, when he complained about Jasper Jay's rudeness in interrupting his singing. "You don't intend to _fight_ Jasper, do you?"