ous.
It wasn't long before old Mr. Crow espied him and it really did seem
as if that bird would shake himself into little pieces, he was so
curious to know what Cheeko was doing. He sat on the very tip of one
of the branches, looking at the odd thing until he could keep still no
longer, and then he hopped down by the side of Cheeko.

"'What have you got with you, Mr. Squirrel?' he asked, trying to turn
the clay ball over, and Cheeko said careless-like, as if it didn't
make very much difference to him whether Mr. Crow got the information
he wanted:

"'Roll it over two or three times and you may know as much as I do
about it.'

"Mr. Crow twisted his head first on one side and then on the other
until he had looked at the clay ball with both eyes, but Mr. Squirrel
didn't offer to explain anything more, and finally he grew so excited
that it seemed as if he just really had to do as Cheeko wanted. He
rolled the funny looking thing to and fro without learning anything
regarding it, and then began pecking at the hole in one end which Mr.
Squirrel had left open so Mr. Turtle could get air.

"By this time poor old Mr. Turtle made up his slow mind that the meat
Cheeko told him about was near at hand, and before Mr. Crow could wink
an eye, out came a queer-looking head with jaws that fastened on the
bird's leg in a way that wasn't pleasant or comfortable.

"There's no need of my saying that Mr. Crow was frightened. The idea
of being bitten by a lump of clay nearly scared him white, and up into
the tree he flew caw-cawing at the full strength of his lungs, while
Mr. Turtle hung on the best he knew how, for it must have startled him
a good bit to feel that instead of getting a dinner he was going up
into the air like a balloon. Of course, old Slowly couldn't make any
noise; but Mr. Crow was doing that for both of them, and down at the
foot of the tree Cheeko sat laughing until, so Mr. Porcupine declares,
it seemed certain he would burst.

"Just then 'Squire Owl, who had been awakened by the disturbance, came
out to learn what the matter was, but Mr. Crow was so frightened that
he couldn't give him the least little bit of information, and the
'Squire had to find out for himself. Being near-sighted in the
daytime, it was quite a while before he saw Mr. Turtle's head, and
then he cried out angrily:

"'What are you doing up a tree, you rascal? Let go of Mr. Crow's leg,
and go back to your pond this instant.'

"'If I do that I