said. "She's excited. I'll have her
calmed down in no time."

"Of course I'm excited!" Henrietta Hen cried. "Don't let him deceive
you, Mr. Rooster! He's been threatening me!"

Turkey Proudfoot bade her, in an undertone, to be quiet.

"Go along about your business," he told the rooster. "She's mistaken. I
haven't said I'd harm her."

"No! But he's talking about eating one of my chicks! And that's worse,"
Henrietta screamed. "If you're as brave as I always supposed, Mr.
Rooster, you'll defend my family."

Although the rooster was terribly frightened, and wanted to run away, he
simply couldn't desert Henrietta Hen.

"She's a nuisance," he muttered as he marched across the farmyard. "I
don't see why she wanted to bring her chicks out here where Turkey
Proudfoot would see them. She's landed me in a scrape. There won't be
much left of me when that old gobbler gets through with me."

Nevertheless the rooster put on a bold front. Drawing himself up to look
his tallest, he glared at Turkey Proudfoot and said shrilly, "What do
you mean by annoying this lady?"

Turkey Proudfoot gulped. He wondered what had come over his neighbors.
The rooster had always acted afraid of him. Though small, the rooster
was strongly built. And he had a sharp bill and sharp spurs, too. Turkey
Proudfoot noted these details carefully.

"I won't have to fight him," he thought. "I'll behave so fiercely that
the rooster will be glad to run off. And then I'll run after him so
folks will think I am chasing him."

Turkey Proudfoot then began to bluster. He gobbled loudly, without
saying anything at all. He even made a few quick passes at the rooster
with his bill.

To his dismay, the rooster merely dodged. He didn't turn tail and run,
as Turkey Proudfoot had hoped he would.

"I'll have to try something else," Turkey Proudfoot said to himself. So
he flapped his wings and jumped up and down and around the rooster.

The rooster was very ill at ease. But he didn't let Turkey Proudfoot
know that. He kept turning about, so that he faced Turkey Proudfoot all
the time. And he said to Henrietta Hen: "Gather your chicks and get them
out of the way. There's going to be trouble here."

Henrietta Hen obeyed him without a word. And she had no sooner shooed
her youngsters into the chicken house than Turkey Proudfoot gave a loud
laugh--a somewhat forced, yet loud laugh.

"You're just the sort of bird I like," he told the rooster. "I've been
testing you to