and when she smiled she showed all her sharp teeth.

"Good mo'ning, Brer Jay," said she.

"Hello!" exclaimed Sammy Jay, not at all politely. "Where's Uncle
Billy Possum?"

Old Mrs. Possum shook her head, and the worried look came back into
her face, although she tried hard, oh, so hard, not to let it.

"He done go out fo' a walk," replied old Mrs. Possum. "Ah reckons
yo'all just got up, or yo' would have met up with him somewhere."

Old Mrs. Possum said this just to try to make Sammy Jay talk, for
Sammy is very quick-tempered, and quick-tempered people often say a
lot more than they mean to. You see, Mrs. Possum was quite sure that
if Sammy Jay knew how worried she was over Unc' Billy Possum, he would
refuse to tell her whether or not he had seen Unc' Billy, for Sammy
Jay is mean and loves to torment others.

Sammy's temper flared up right away. "I've been up ever since sun-up!"
he sputtered. "Your old man isn't anywhere in the Green Forest, unless
he's gone to sleep in some other hollow tree, and I wouldn't blame him
a bit if he had! No, Sir, I wouldn't blame him the least bit!"

"Keep your temper, Brer Jay!
Keep your temper, do, Oh pray!"

said old Mrs. Possum, grinning in the most aggravating way as she
turned back to her babies. She had found out what she wanted to