off into space.

Now, the moment Timothy Turtle leaped from the top of the bluff a
deafening squawk broke the silence. Old Mr. Crow _cawed_ as loud as he
knew how. But the racket he made was as nothing compared with the uproar
of Jasper Jay and the noisy crew he had brought with him. They squalled
with delight as Timothy Turtle plunged through the air like a stone. And
when he landed upside down in the creek, striking the water with a great
splash, the whole company shrieked louder than ever.

"_Ha! ha! ha_!" Mr. Crow cried, holding his sides and rocking backwards
and forwards upon the old stump.

"_Jay_! _jay_! _jay_!" Jasper and his friends bawled, hopping up and
down and cutting capers in the air.

As for Timothy Turtle, he made no sound at all. And neither did he make
the slightest motion. The current of Black Creek caught him and bore him
away down the stream. But at last he managed to paddle ashore. And he
pulled himself slowly out of the water, and lay upon the sand and
groaned.

Mr. Crow and his cronies gathered quickly about him.

"What's the matter?" Mr. Crow inquired. "Don't you like flying?"

It was some time before Timothy could answer.

"I've had an awful fall," he moaned finally.

"Where are you hurt?" Mr. Crow asked him.

"Everywhere!" Timothy Turtle told him. "I thought you said that water
was soft to fall into."

"Well, isn't it?"

"It certainly is _not,_" Timothy Turtle declared. "I believe there's
nothing harder in the whole world.... I've heard, sir, that you are very
wise. But for once, anyhow, you've made a great mistake."

Old Mr. Crow coughed--and winked at his friends. "The trouble was"--he
explained--"the trouble was, you lost your balance and landed in the
creek upside down. And of course you couldn't fly in that position. It's
what's called 'turning turtle,'" he added, "and I might have known--if I
had stopped to think--that you'd be sure to do it."

"Well," said Timothy Turtle, drawing a long breath, "I'll tell you right
now that I'll never, _never_, turn turtle again."

IX

A PLEASURE TRIP

Almost always the wild folk in Pleasant Valley knew that if they wanted
to see Timothy Turtle they could find him somewhere in Black Creek. But
once in a great while he liked to go on what he called "an excursion."
By that he meant a pleasure trip to some spot not too far away--never
outside of Pleasant Valley.

Nobody meeting Timothy Turtle on one of those journeys would