ales on him;
but I couldn't help myself, could I? They called me a coward, and
perhaps there's some truth in what they say, but I'll never give one
of them the right to say I'm a liar and that's what could have been
said if I hadn't told the story just as it was.

"Well, after the trial was over, Mr. Crow hopped to the very
tiptoppest branch of the tree and gave out what I suppose you'd call
the sentence. He said that Jimmy Hedgehog wasn't to be considered a
member of the club till he'd shown plainly and positively that he was
sorry because he had urged Bobby to go where Mr. Towser was, and that
while he was deprived of the club privileges, no member would be
allowed so much as to speak to him. More than that, he wasn't to put
his paw anywhere near the big oak. It was that part of it which seemed
to make Jimmy more angry than anything else, and he cried out, as he
actually shook his fist at the president:

"'I'd like to know how you can stop me from coming near this blooming
old tree in case I take a notion to hover round? I'll have you know,
Jim Crow, that you don't dare to lay the weight of your wings on me,
'less you want to be filled so full of quills that you'd have to draw
your breath crosswise! Do you think I won't come here if I feel like
it? You make me tired with your club talk, and the sooner you take my
name off the list the better I'll be pleased!'

"Then Jimmy shook himself till his quills rattled, and looked around
to see if any members of the Fur section were going to call him to
account for what he had said; but I noticed that he was all ready to
roll himself into a ball at the first move that might be made toward
him. Of course, it mixed us all up to have such talk as that right in
meeting; but there wasn't any use in making a row with a fellow you
couldn't hit on account of his quills, so no one said anything, though
I noticed that Mr. Crow hopped about mighty lively, which showed how
angry he was.

"Jimmy swelled around a few minutes, shaking himself every once in a
while as if he were the only thing of any account in the big woods,
and then off he strutted, looking over his shoulder now and then to
learn if any one had the nerve to follow him. You could have heard a
nut drop just so long as he was in sight; but when it was certain he
couldn't hear what was said all hands began to talk about what ought
to be done with a fellow who had made himself so disagreeable.

"'Leave him to me,' Mr. Crow