The Tale of Dickie Deer Mouse | Page 5

of a sound sleep and frightened him almost out of his mind.
So whenever he caught sight of Dickie the old gentleman was sure to
drop down upon the ground and ask him in a loud voice whose house
he had prowled into lately.
"Nobody's!" Dickie Deer Mouse always told him. And then he would
assure Mr. Crow that he was very sorry to have disturbed his rest.
It was quite like Mr. Crow, on such occasions, to act grumpy.
"I haven't had a good night's sleep since you broke into my house," he
declared to Dickie one day.
"Perhaps you're over-eating," Dickie suggested politely.
Old Mr. Crow did not appear to like that remark.
"Nothing of the sort!" he bawled. "I don't eat enough to keep a
mosquito alive."

"I often see you in the cornfield," Dickie Deer Mouse told him.
"Ha!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "What are you doing in the cornfield, I
should like to know?"
"Sometimes I go there to get a few kernels of corn," Dickie explained.
"Ha!" Mr. Crow cried once more. "That's where the corn's going!
Farmer Green thinks I'm taking it. And so you're getting me into a peck
of trouble, young man."
Dickie Deer Mouse couldn't help being worried when Mr. Crow said
that. And he looked puzzled, too.
"I don't see," he said, "how I could have got you into a peck of trouble,
Mr. Crow, for I haven't eaten a peck of Farmer Green's corn. I've had
only a few kernels of it--not more than half a pint."
"Then you've got me into a half-pint of trouble, anyway," old Mr. Crow
insisted. "And that's too much, for a person of my age. You'll have to
keep away from my--ahem!--from Farmer Green's cornfield. And
what's more, Fatty Coon says the same thing."
At the mention of Fatty Coon's name Dickie Deer Mouse had to smile.
"Fatty Coon!" he echoed. "How he does like corn!"
"Yes! But he doesn't like you," Mr. Crow snapped. "You'd better look
out for him," he warned Dickie. "He'll come to call on you some night,
the first thing you know.
"By the way, where are you living now?" Mr. Crow inquired.
But Dickie Deer Mouse made no answer. Right before Mr. Crow's
sharp eyes he vanished among the roots of a tree. And it made the old
gentleman quite peevish because he couldn't discover where Dickie
Deer Mouse had hidden himself.
For a little while Mr. Crow stood like a black statue and peered at the

tangle where Dickie Deer Mouse had disappeared. But Mr. Crow
couldn't see him anywhere. And at last his patience came to an end.
"He never answered my question," Mr. Crow grumbled. "He wouldn't
tell me where he lived. But I'll find out. I'll ask my cousin, Jasper Jay;
for there isn't much that he doesn't know."
[Illustration]

[Illustration]
VII
NOISY VISITORS
Of course Jasper Jay knew where Dickie Deer Mouse lived. And he
took great pleasure in pointing out the exact spot to his curious cousin,
old Mr. Crow.
It was broad daylight when they visited the tree where Dickie's house
hung. The two rogues did not know that he was drowsing inside his
snug home, because he had been out late the night before.
No one that knew the two cousins would need to be told that they could
never talk together quietly. Perched close to Dickie's house, Mr. Crow
croaked in a hoarse voice, while Jasper Jay squalled harshly.
"This is it!" Jasper had announced, as soon as they arrived. "This is his
house. And isn't it a sight?"
"I should say so!" old Mr. Crow agreed. "It's got a roof on it--ha! ha!"
And the two visitors laughed loudly, as if they thought there was a huge
joke somewhere.
They made such a noise, from the very first, that Dickie Deer Mouse
awoke and heard almost everything they said. But he didn't mind their

remarks in the least--until he caught Fatty Coon's name.
It was old Mr. Crow who mentioned it first.
"I'll have to tell Fatty Coon about this queer house," he chuckled. "It's
too good a joke to keep. He'll be over here as soon as he knows where
to come, for he'll be glad to see it; and he wants to talk to Dickie Deer
Mouse about taking our corn."
Dickie had still felt somewhat sleepy during the first part of this talk
outside his house. But when Mr. Crow began to speak about Fatty
Coon, Dickie became instantly wide awake. He sprang quickly to his
feet; and thrusting his head through his doorway, he called in his
loudest tone:
"When do you think Fatty Coon will call on me?"
The two cousins looked at each other. And then they looked all around.
"What was that