"All right!" he said at last. "I'll give you one more chance, Johnnie.
But you'll have to see that this young coon doesn't kill any of my
poultry."

Johnnie promised that nothing of the sort should happen. And then his
father and the hired man picked up their axes; and standing on opposite
sides of the tall chestnut tree, they began to chop.

How the chips did fly! At the very first blow Fatty knew that this was
an entirely different sort of chopping from that which Johnnie had
attempted the night before. The great tree shook as if it knew that it
would soon come crashing down upon the ground.

And as for Fatty Coon, he could not see but that he must fall when the
tree did. He, too, shivered and shook. And he wrapped himself all the
way around a limb and hung on as tight as ever he could.




IX

JOHNNIE GREEN LOSES HIS PET


Now, Farmer Green and his hired man had not chopped long before they
stopped to breathe. They had not chopped long--but oh! what great,
yawning holes they had made in the big chestnut! From the limb where he
clung Fatty Coon looked down. The tree no longer shook. And Fatty felt
better at once. You see, he thought that the men would go away, just as