in to pass. He had
heard it snorting at the station and he knew it was about to start.

Pretty soon the train came thundering up the track. And as soon as
it reached him Mr. Crow started to race with it. He had no trouble in
beating it, as he always did. And then he did something he had never done
before. As soon as he had passed the engine he swooped down and flew
right across the track in front of it.

All at once the train set up a terrible noise. It seemed to Mr. Crow that
it ground its teeth. And it came to a sudden stop, hissing as if it were
very angry.

Old Mr. Crow was the least bit startled. He alighted in the top of a tall
elm. And while he watched, two men jumped down from the engine and walked
along the track for a while.

Then they crawled back into the engine; and the train went slowly on
again.

"That's queer!" said Mr. Crow to himself. "I never saw that happen
before. It looks to me as if the train was pretty angry because I beat
it. And if that's the case, I'm coming back here to-morrow at the same
hour and race the train again."

You can see just from that that Mr. Crow was something of a tease. All
his life he had teased his neighbors. And now he felt more important than
ever, because he thought he had found a way to tease a railroad train.

XIII

THE GAME OF CHECKERS

Mr. Crow told all his neighbors that he had made the train angry with
him. And he invited everyone to come down to the village with him the
following day, to enjoy the sport.

"I'm going to race the train again," Mr. Crow explained. "And I shall fly
right in front of it, too--just as I did to-day. You'll see what a fuss
it will make. And if you don't say it's a good joke, I'll never wear a
checkered red coat again."

The next day Jasper Jay invited Mr. Crow to take part in a game of
checkers. Whenever anybody in the neighborhood wanted to play checkers,
he had to ask Mr. Crow, on account of having to use his checkered red
coat for the board.

Mr. Crow accepted the invitation.

"But I shall have to stop at exactly sixteen minutes past two," he said.
"The train starts from the village at half past two sharp; and I don't
want to be late."

"Very well!" Jasper Jay agreed. "I shall want to stop then myself,
because I'm coming along with you to see the fun."

They had played twenty-seven games of checkers. And they were in the
midst of the twenty-eighth when Mr. Crow suddenly cocked his eye at the
sun.

"Goodne