ss!" he exclaimed, springing up quickly. "It's fifteen and a half
minutes after two; and I shall have to be starting for the village." He
reached for his checkered red coat, which was spread upon the ground
between them.

"Wait a moment!" Jasper Jay cried. "I'd suggest your leaving your coat
right where it is. Then we can come back to our game after we've had our
fun with the train. I'm going to win the game, so it's hardly fair not to
finish it."

Now, Mr. Crow had not liked the idea of leaving his handsome red coat
upon the ground. But he never could bear the thought of being beaten. And
Jasper Jay's remark made him feel quite peevish.

"I fully expect to win this game myself," the old gentleman said somewhat
stiffly. "So I'll leave my coat here as you suggest. But I shall have to
go this instant, for I must stop at my house and get my yellow coat. Of
course I can't go down to the village in my shirtsleeves."

He hurried away then, with Jasper Jay close behind him. And as soon
as Mr. Crow had put on his bright yellow coat the two checker-players
started for the village.

When Jasper and Mr. Crow reached the tree where the old gentleman had
waited for the train the day before, they found as many as a dozen of
their neighbors already there. Even as Mr. Crow dropped down upon a limb,
he could hear the train coming up the track.

Mr. Crow's friends in the tree chose the best seats they could find, in
order to get a good view of the race. And at the foot of the tree Jimmy
Rabbit stood on tiptoe. He had often wished he could climb a tree--but
never so much as then.

XIV

THE LUCKY LAUGH

As the train drew nearer to the tree where Mr. Crow and his friends were
waiting, it gave a loud shriek.

"You hear that?" said Mr. Crow. "It's still angry." And he shouted an
impudent _caw-caw_ in reply.

In a moment more the race began. Mr. Crow had no trouble in beating
the train, just as he always had. And when he had passed it he dropped
quickly and swerved across the track ahead of it.

To his great surprise the train never faltered. It kept straight on,
going faster and faster. And the first thing Mr. Crow knew, the last car
had whipped around a curve and passed out of sight.

Poor Mr. Crow felt very downcast. He would have liked to hurry home at
once, because he hated to face his friends. But he knew they would follow
him if he flew away. So he went back to meet them, wearing a bold smile.

"Did you see wha