and said "That's so! That's so!"

Then Mr. Crow shoved the R. T. pie over between Jack Rabbit and Mr.
Turtle and the pie that was marked P. C. between the 'Coon and the
'Possum. The C. X. pie he pulled up in front of himself, for of course
he never even suspected that the top crust on them had been changed by
the 'Possum.

The finest way to eat them
In dumpling or in pies is--

he said, quoting Mr. Rabbit's poem,

Oh, here's to you, sweet April,
With all your glad surprises!

[Illustration: MR. TURTLE WAS WATCHING HIM PRETTY ANXIOUSLY.]

Then he told them not to be bashful, but to help themselves and remember
there was plenty more where that came from. Just as he said this he
picked up his knife and stuck it down deep into the C. X. pie. Mr.
'Possum picked up his knife and stuck it down deep into the P. C. pie,
and Mr. Rabbit picked up his knife and stuck it into the R. T. pie and
cut it in half. Mr. Turtle was watching him pretty anxiously, for he
remembered what the 'Possum had said about a surprise, but when Jack
Rabbit laid a smoking half with the gravy running out of it on his plate
he forgot all about everything else.

[Illustration: THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE DIDN'T WANT TO LAUGH ANY MORE.]

Mr. 'Possum didn't divide the P. C. pie just yet, but kept cutting as if
it cut very hard, and talking a good deal while he cut. He said that,
speaking of surprises, it used to be quite a fashion to fool people on
the first of April, and that he'd known lots of the biggest kind of
jokes played on people that day. The biggest jokes, though, he said,
were those that came back on the people who played them, and that he
knew one of that kind once that made him laugh now every time he thought
about it. Then he did laugh some, and sawed away and said he guessed
he'd struck a bone; and the 'Coon laughed, too, and Mr. Crow was nearly
dying with trying to keep from laughing, for he thought Mr. 'Possum was
sawing away on an old stick. He didn't want to let on, though, so he
quit looking and commenced cutting his own pie. He laughed to himself
and cut a minute, and then, all of a sudden, he didn't want to laugh any
more, for he had cut a hole in the top of the C. X. pie and he saw
something and smelled something that made him right sick. He looked over
quick to Mr. 'Possum's plate, and what he saw there made him sicker yet.
For there lay a half of the P. C. pie, and Mr. Crow saw with one look
that it was just as fi