you'd find that a
fight in the woods is a very different matter from a mere barnyard
squabble."

Turkey Proudfoot was furious.

"If you'll come over here on this limb I'll peck you," he cried.

"Huh! We don't fight that way in the woods," Simon Screecher retorted.
"We don't peck. We tear-r-r-r!"

He rolled out the last word in a long-drawn quaver which gave it a
horrid sound--especially in the woods, after dark. And Turkey Proudfoot
felt chills a-running up and down his back.

"A-ahem! You-you needn't bother to come over here," he stammered. "I-I
shouldn't like to peck you. You-er-you seem to be a very pleasant sort
of person."

"Well, I'm not!" Simon Screecher informed him. "And you ought to see my
cousin, Solomon Owl. He's a _terrible_ fellow."

Turkey Proudfoot's wishbone seemed to be trying to come up into his
month. At least, he had to swallow several times before he could answer.

"I'd like to see your cousin," he replied, "but not to-night."

He had scarcely finished speaking when a loud call came booming through
the woods: "_Whooo-whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo, to-whoo-ah!_"

"Who's that?" gasped Turkey Proudfoot.

"That's my cousin, Solomon Owl," Simon Screecher explained. "And he's
not far away."

"My goodness!" Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed. "If he's as big as his voice
he must be enormous."

"He's twice my size," said Simon Screecher. "Not nearly as big as you
are, of course! But you ought to see his beak. I do believe he could
tear you into--"

"I don't want to see him to-night," Turkey Proudfoot interrupted. "I
hope he won't come this way. Go and find him. And tell him to meet me
here _to-morrow_ night."

XXI

FARMYARD MANNERS

"Oh, very well!" said Simon Screecher to Turkey Proudfoot. "I'll give my
cousin your message. I'll tell him that you want him to meet you here in
this clearing in the woods to-morrow night." So off Simon Screecher
flew.

He had not been gone long when a noisy "_haw-haw-hoo-hoo_" rolled and
echoed through the woods.

"He's laughing!" Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed. "Solomon Owl is laughing. I
wonder what the joke is." He was so curious to know that he actually
began to wish that Simon Screecher would hurry back. And after a little
while he did.

"What was the joke?" Turkey Proudfoot demanded. "I heard you cousin
laughing."

"Solomon Owl says that he doesn't care to meet you at all," Simon
Screecher explained. "He says he has heard about you before and that
you'