soon he had that fixed, too.

[Illustration: WENT RIGHT TO COOKING AND BAKING.]

He didn't wait a minute, but went right to cooking and baking just as
hard as ever he could, and pretty soon he had three chicken pies done,
as fine looking as any you ever saw. And two of them were fine, sure
enough--just as fine as Mr. Crow could make them--but the other wasn't
chicken at all. It was made out of leaves and sticks, and the only thing
good about it was the crust. This pie he intended for the 'Coon and
the 'Possum, and one of the good ones was for Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Turtle.
The last one was for himself, with an extra piece over for anybody that
might happen to want a second helping.

Well, he set them all in a row on the kitchen table, and walked up and
down looking at them and laughing and thinking what fun it would be for
the others when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon cut their pie and tried to eat
what was inside of it. He had the pies set on the table so he knew just
which was which, and besides had made some letters on the upper crust so
the right ones would be sure to get them. On the leaf pie he had
"P. C.," for 'Possum and 'Coon. On one of the others he had "R. T.," for
Rabbit and Turtle. On the last one he had "C. X.," which stood for Crow,
and an extra piece for manners. He had put these letters where the fancy
thing is in the centre of pies, and had joined them together so you'd
hardly notice them at first.

All at once, while he was looking at them and laughing, he heard Mr.
'Coon and Mr. 'Possum coming back. Then he called out to them and asked
them if they had invited the guests and told them to come up and see the
pies he had made while they were gone. So they came up and looked at
them, and said they certainly were fine, and that Mr. Rabbit and Mr.
Turtle were busy getting out their best clothes, and would be there
early.

Then the Crow said he guessed he'd slip over to Mr. Man's pantry and
borrow some maple syrup while Mr. Man was at dinner and be back for
early supper. So off he went and left the 'Coon and the 'Possum there
together.

[Illustration: STOOD AND LOOKED AT THEM.]

When he'd been gone awhile Mr. 'Possum said he believed he'd take one
more look at those nice pies, and Mr. 'Coon said he guessed he would,
too. So they went up to Mr. Crow's kitchen again and stood and looked at
them till they were so hungry that Mr. 'Possum licked out his tongue and
walked up and smelled of them. First he smelle