if he wondered what all
that fuss was about, as indeed he did, but he didn't start to go over
and see. No, Sir, he started straight for the barn.

Blacky didn't know what to make of it. You see, smart as he is and
shrewd as he is, Blacky doesn't know anything about the meaning of duty,
for he never has to work excepting to get enough to eat. So, when Farmer
Brown's boy started for the barn instead of for the Green Forest,
Blacky didn't know what to make of it. He screamed harder and louder
than ever, until his voice grew so hoarse he couldn't scream any more,
but Farmer Brown's boy kept right on to the barn.

"I'd like to know what you're making such a fuss about, Mr. Crow, but
I've got to feed the cows and milk them first," said he.

Now all this time the other little people of the Green Forest and the
Green Meadows had been hiding where they could see all that went on.
When Farmer Brown's boy disappeared in the barn, Chatterer the Red
Squirrel snickered right out loud. "Ha, ha, ha! This is a great plan of
yours, Blacky! Ha, ha, ha!" he shouted. Blacky couldn't find a word to
say. He just hung his head, which is something Blacky seldom does.

"Perhaps if we wait until he comes out again, he will come over here,"
said Sammy Jay, who had joined Blacky. So it was decided to wait. It
seemed as if Farmer Brown's boy never would come out, but at last he
did. Blacky and Sammy Jay at once began to scream and make all the fuss
they could. Farmer Brown's boy took the two pails of milk into the
house, then out he came and started straight for the Green Forest. He
was so curious to know what it all meant that he couldn't wait another
minute.

Now there was some one else with a great deal of curiosity also. He had
heard the screaming of Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay, and he had
listened until he couldn't stand it another minute. He just _had_ to
know what it was all about. So at the same time Farmer Brown's boy
started for the Green Forest, this other listener started towards the
place where Blacky and Sammy were making such a racket. He walked very
softly so as not to make a sound. It was Buster Bear.

XIII

FARMER BROWN'S BOY AND BUSTER BEAR MEET

If you should meet with Buster Bear
While walking through the wood,
What would you do? Now tell me true,
_I'd_ run the best I could.

That is what Farmer Brown's boy did when he met Buster Bear, and a lot
of the little people of the Green Forest and some