SAMMY JAY IS INDIGNANT

Sammy Jay was indignant. Yes, Sir, Sammy Jay was very much put out. In
fact, Sammy was just plain downright mad! It is bad enough to be found out
and blamed for the things you really do, but to be blamed for things that
you don't do and don't even know anything about is more than even Mr.
Jaybird can stand. It had begun when he met Jimmy Skunk early in the
morning.

"Hello, Sammy Jay! What were you doing up so late last night?" said Jimmy
Skunk.

"I wasn't up late; I went to bed at my usual hour, just after Mr. Sun went
to bed behind the Purple Hills," replied Sammy Jay.

"Oh, come, Sammy Jay, be honest for once in your life! It was a long, long,
long time after Mr. Sun went to bed that I heard you screaming and making a
great fuss over in the Green Forest. What was it all about?"

Sammy Jay stamped one foot. He was beginning to lose his temper. You know
he loses it very easily. "I am honest!" he screamed. "I tell you I went to
bed just as I always do, and I didn't wake up until this morning."

"Then you must talk something dreadful in your sleep," said Jimmy Skunk,
turning his back on Sammy Jay, who was so mad by this time that for a few
minutes he couldn't find his tongue. When he did, he flew off screaming at
the top of his lungs. He was still screaming when he flew over the Old
Briar-patch where Peter Rabbit was just beginning to doze off.