Part 6 (1/2)
Sandy Chipmunk admitted that he never had.
”Ah!” Mr. Crow exclaimed. ”This is what comes of hiring stupid people to work for one. Here I've wasted all my corn. And I get nothing for it but trouble.”
”Corn!” Sandy Chipmunk exclaimed. ”I don't know anything about any corn!”
”Well, you certainly are stupid!” Mr. Crow told him crossly. ”Didn't you spend the whole day gathering corn for me?”
”No, indeed!” Sandy replied. ”I gathered beechnuts, Mr. Crow.”
”Beechnuts!” Mr. Crow repeated. ”I never told you I wanted _nuts_. I'd starve, trying to live on nuts; for they don't agree with me at all. And I make it a rule never to eat them. _Corn_ is what I want.”
”You didn't say so,” Sandy Chipmunk said. ”You asked me to gather _food_ for you. And every one knows there's no better food than beechnuts to last through the winter.”
”That--” said Mr. Crow--”that is where we do not agree. I supposed you knew I wanted corn. But there's no great harm done, anyhow,” he added.
”Tomorrow you can gather _corn_ for me--now that you know what I want. No doubt you can get Frisky Squirrel to help you again. But you must pay him with _your_ share of the corn--not with mine.”
”But then there wouldn't be any left for me,” Sandy objected.
”But just think of all the beechnuts you have,” Mr. Crow reminded him.
Sandy Chipmunk shook his head. ”I'm afraid I'm too stupid to work for you any more,” he told Mr. Crow.
”Oh! I didn't mean what I said,” Mr. Crow hastened to explain.
”Then--” Sandy said--”then how do I know that you mean what you say when you tell me you want corn to eat?”
And Mr. Crow could find no answer to that. He was disappointed, too. For he was afraid he would have to go south to spend the winter, after all.
XI
THE MAIL-BOX
Climbing an oak at the cross-roads one day, not far from Farmer Green's house, Sandy Chipmunk discovered a queer box nailed to the trunk of the tree. Much as he wanted to, he couldn't look inside the box, because its lid was closed. And since Sandy was afraid the box might be some sort of trap, he didn't dare go near it and poke at the lid.
Later that day Sandy told Frisky Squirrel about the strange box. And Frisky told Fatty c.o.o.n. And Fatty c.o.o.n told somebody else.
So the news traveled, until at last it reached the sharp ears of old Mr.
Crow.
By the time Mr. Crow heard the story it had grown amazingly. And it went something like this: Farmer Green had bought a new trap in the village.
And he had nailed it on a tree to catch all sorts of animals and birds.
And after he had caught all the forest-folk in Pleasant Valley he intended to take the trap to Swift River and set it for fish and eels and turtles.
When Mr. Crow heard the news he _haw-hawed_ loudly.