shall break myself all to pieces,' Mr. Turtle said,
speaking rather indistinctly because his mouth was so full; and,
hearing the words, Mr. Squirrel laughed harder than ever, until the
'Squire began to get an idea of how it all happened.

"'This is some of your doings, Cheeko Squirrel,' he said, savagely.
'Call off your turtle, or I'll come down there and eat you without
butter.'

"'You've tried to do that a good many times, and I've always got the
best of you, even when it wasn't very light, so don't puff yourself up
with the idea that I'm afraid of a big bunch of feathers like you
while the sun is shining,' Cheeko said, shaking his tail till Mr.
Porcupine says he was afraid it would drop off.

"Of course the 'Squire was dreadfully angry because of Cheeko's
impudence, and down he came out of the tree without stopping to think
how blind he was, while Mr. Crow shouted:

"'Never mind that miserable squirrel, 'Squire; but take this terrible
thing off my leg,' and Mr. Turtle mumbled as well as he could without
opening his jaws:

"'I'm the one who should be helped, for I can't afford to fall out of
a tree at my time of life.'

"All the while 'Squire Owl blundered around, not able to see even his
own nose, and Cheeko Squirrel jumped around him laughing and shouting
till every bird in the woods flew over to the Corner to find out what
was happening."

CHAPTER II

CHEEKO IN DANGER

Mr. Bunny had paused in the midst of his story to laugh at the comical
situation as described by himself, with Mr. Turtle clinging for dear
life to Mr. Crow's leg, and the old bird screaming at the full
strength of his lungs for help, while 'Squire Owl darted here and
there blindly, growing more and more angry as Cheeko Squirrel
continued to say disagreeable things.

"You see what made it altogether too funny was the way the 'Squire
raved because he couldn't find Cheeko," Bunny continued as he wiped
away with his ears the tears which had been caused by mirth. "If
Cheeko only had a bit more sense, he wouldn't have carried on quite so
bad, for he must have realized that the 'Squire would lay it up
against him; but all he thought of at the time was the fun, and the
way he talked to that old bird was something dreadful.

"Now you must remember that Mr. Crow didn't hold his tongue all this
time, but kept on shouting for help until you would have thought he
was afraid of his life, and we couldn't hear very much of what Mr.
Turtle wa