Part 7 (1/2)

Saotten up almost as early as Mr Sun and Old Mother West Wind As soon as he had sed his breakfast, he flew up to the old orchard and hid a the white and pink apple blossoms to watch for Johnny Chuck You see, he knew that Johnny Chuck had soreat pride; but what it was Sa troubles Sa that he cannot find out the secrets of other people So he sat very, very still a the apple blossoms and waited and watched

By and by Johnny Chuck appeared on his doorstep He seeht and looked this way and looked that way He looked up in the apple-trees, and Sammy Jay held his breath, for fear that Johnny would see hiht as Johnny Chuck's eyes are, they failed to see him

Then Johnny Chuck actually climbed up on the old stone wall so as to see better, and he sat there a long tirew i I never knew him to be so watchful before I don't understand it,” muttered Sammy to himself

After a while Johnny Chuck seemed quite satisfied that there was no one about He hopped down from the old stone wall and scaan to chatter Sa to hear what Johnny Chuck was saying, but he couldn't because Johnny's head was inside his doorway

Pretty soon Johnny Chuck backed out and sat up, and he looked very proud and i that nearly took his breath away It was the head of Polly Chuck peeping out of the doorway It was the first tiasped Sammy Jay, ”it must be that Johnny Chuck has aabout it! So that's his secret and the reason he has appeared so proud lately!”

Polly Chuck came out on the doorstep She looked just as proud as Johnny Chuck, and at the same time she seemed terribly anxious She sat up beside Johnny Chuck, and she looked this way and that way, just as Johnny had Then she put her head in at the doorway and began to call in the softest voice

In amore It surprised him so that he nearly lost his balance It was another head peeping out of the doorway, a head just like Johnny Chuck's, only it was a teeny-weeny one Then there was another and another! Polly kept talking and talking in the softest voice, while Johnny Chuck swelled himself up until he looked as if he would burst with pride

Sammy Jay understood nohy Johnny Chuck had been so proud for the last few days It was because he had a fa on the doorstep, trying to sit up the way Johnny Chuck sat, and they looked so funny that Saht out loud In a flash the three little Chucks and Polly Chuck had disappeared inside the house, while Johnny Chuck looked up angrily He knew that his secret was a secret no longer

XXI SAMMY JAY HAS A CHANGE OF HEART

There's no one ever quite so bad That sooodness does not find A place wherein to creep and hide

It is so with Sammy Jay Yes, Sir, it is so with Sammy Jay You may think that because Sammy Jay is vain, a trouble-ood in Saood in everybody If there wasn't, Old Mother Nature never, never would allow Sah the Green Forest He dearly loves to get other people into all kinds of trouble, and this is one reason why nobody loves hih, you will find that hidden under that beautiful blue and white coat of his there really is so time for it, but sooner or later you will find it Johnny Chuck did

Sammy Jay had already made a lot of trouble for Johnny Chuck You see he had been the first of the little forest and meadow people to find Johnny Chuck's new house And then, just to make trouble for Johnny Chuck, he had told Reddy Fox about it, and after that he had called Bowser the Hound and Farmer Brown's boy over to it Now he had discovered Johnny Chuck's greatest secret--that Johnny had a family What a chance to make trouble now!

Sas could take him

He would tell Reddy Fox and Redtail the Hawk They were very fond of young Chucks It would be great fun to see the fright of Johnny Chuck and his family when Reddy Fox or Redtail the Hawk appeared

Sammy Jay chuckled wickedly as he flew When he reached the Green Forest and stopped in his favorite he But by that time it was a different kind of a chuckle Yes, Sir, it was a different kind of a chuckle It was a better chuckle to hear The fact is, Saht of the trouble he couldat the memory of how funny those three little baby Chucks had looked sitting up on Johnny Chuck's doorstep and trying to do whatever Johnny Chuck did The hed

Right in thecame Redtail the Hawk Sammy Jay opened his mouth to call to Redtail and tell hiain with a snap

”I won't tell hiht catch one of those baby Chucks, and they are such funny little fellows that that would really be too bad I guess I'll wait a while” And with that, off flew Sammy Jay to hunt for soe of heart The little goodness way down deep inside had co

But of course Johnny Chuck didn't know this, and over in his new house in the far corner of the old orchard, he and Polly Chuck orrying and worrying, for they felt sure that now every one would know their secret, and it wouldn't be safe for the dear little baby Chucks to so much as put their funny little noses outside the door

XXII JOHNNY CHUCK IS KEPT BUSY

Johnny Chuck is naturally lazy You see, Johnny has very sio far froet all he wants to eat He does not have to hunt for his food, as so many of the little reat deal of tio by and drearow fat Now people who do not have to work usually become lazy It is the easiest habit in the world to learn and the hardest to get over And so, because he seldom has to work, Johnny Chuck quite naturally is lazy

But Johnny can hen there really is need of it No one, unless it is Digger the Badger or Miner the Mole, can dig faster than Johnny Chuck And when there is real need of working, Johnny works with a will