ake!

They usually obeyed him. Not only was Turkey Proudfoot the biggest
gobbler on the farm, but he had a fierce and lordly look about him. It
was a bold young turkey cock that dared defy him. Once in a while one of
them foolishly ventured to tell Turkey Proudfoot to mind his own
affairs. And then there was sure to be a fight--a quick, short, noisy
fray which ended always in the same fashion, with Turkey Proudfoot
chasing the young cock out of the farmyard.

Luckily for the youngsters, they could run faster than he could, for
they were not nearly as heavy.

Although Turkey Proudfoot didn't like to hear others gobble,
nevertheless he enjoyed the excuse for a fight that their gobbling gave
him. And when he had nothing more important to do he often stood still
and listened in the hope of hearing some upstart gobbler testing his
voice in a neighboring field. Newly grown cocks had to go a long way off
to be safe from Turkey Proudfoot's attacks.

One day in the middle of the summer the lord of the turkey flock was
feeding behind the barn when a loud gobble brought his head up with a
jerk.

"Ha!" Turkey Proudfoot cried. "That's somebody in the yard, around the
barn. He thinks I'm further away than this, or he'd never dare bawl like
that."

Turkey Proudfoot dashed around the barn at a swift trot. He was
surprised to see not a turkey cock in the farmyard. The rooster was
there, however. And Turkey Proudfoot eyed him sternly.

"You weren't trying to gobble a moment ago, were you?" he inquired.

"No, indeed!" said the rooster.

Turkey Proudfoot looked puzzled.

"Somebody gobbled," he declared. "I'm sure the noise came from this
yard. I was behind the barn when I heard it. And I hurried around the
corner at once."

"Maybe the person that gobbled ran around the other end of the barn, to
dodge you," the rooster suggested.

"I'll go and see," said Turkey Proudfoot. And he went back where he came
from.

He found nobody there. But that annoying gobble sounded again and
brought him back into the yard even faster than before. "Who did that?"
he squalled.

And somebody mocked him. Somebody repeated his question after him. It
was the same voice that had gobbled.

Turkey Proudfoot's rage was terrible to see.

IX

A STRANGE GOBBLE

"Gobble, _gobble, gobble, gobble!_"

Turkey Proudfoot stood in the farmyard and craned his neck in every
direction. That sound certainly was close at hand. Yet there wasn't a
tu