g up in that tree at all, and that
Mr. Dog had just been fooling him. I could tell by his voice that he was
getting mad at Mr. Dog, and I hoped that he'd get mad enough pretty soon
to take a stick to him for chasing me up a tree like that, calling all
the time for Mr. Man to come and see me when there wasn't really
anything to look at.

"But Mr. Dog kept galloping around the tree and barking out, over and
over, that I was there; that he had seen me, and that he knew that I was
hiding up there somewhere; and pretty soon I heard Mr. Man going away,
and I peeked over again.

"Sure enough, he was going, but Mr. Dog was staying right there, sitting
under the tree and looking up and making a good deal more noise than
there was any need of to let me know he hadn't gone. I didn't see why he
stayed there. I wished he'd go away and 'tend to his own business.

"Being quite young, I still lived with my folks over near the Wide Grass
Lands, and I wanted to get home for supper. It was a good way to go, for
the tree I had climbed was over close to the edge of the world where the
sun and moon rise, and you all know that's a good way, even from here.

"Well, he didn't go, but just sat there, barking up that tree, and after
a long time I heard somebody coming again, and I peeked over, and there
was Mr. Man, hurrying back, this time with an axe. I knew, right then,
there was going to be trouble. I knew they were going to cut that tree
down, and that I should most likely have quite a fuss with Mr. Dog, and
perhaps go home with a black eye and a scratched nose, and then get
whipped again for fighting, after I got there."

Mr. 'Coon stopped and knocked the ashes out of his pipe and filled it
up fresh, and all the others knocked the ashes out of their pipes and
filled them up fresh, too. Then Mr. 'Possum poked up the fire and told
Mr. Turtle to bring a stick of wood from down stairs, and when it was
blazing up high and bright again they all stepped over to the window a
minute, to see how hard it was snowing and banking up outside, then went
back to their chairs around the fire, and stretched out their feet and
leaned back and smoked, and listened to the rest of Mr. 'Coon's story.

Mr. 'Coon said he didn't like the sound of that axe when Mr. Man began
to cut the tree down.

"Every time he struck the tree I could feel it all through me," he said,
"and I knew if he kept that noise up long enough it would give me a
nervous headache. I wish