without first opening his eye he would not have given Mr. Gray
Squirrel any warning; and then he would have caught the plump old
fellow. But it was too late now. Another time he would know better.
And he sneaked off, to try the same trick on one of Mr. Gray
Squirrel's friends.

It was no use. Mr. Squirrel followed him, jumping from one tree-top to
another, and made a great noise, calling after him, and jeering at
him, and telling all his friends about the mean trick Tommy had tried
to play on him.

And to Tommy's great disgust, an old crow high up in a tall tree heard
the story, and haw-hawed loudly, he was so amused. He made such a
racket that all the forest-people heard him; and Tommy knew that there
was no sense in trying to catch a squirrel around there _that_ day. He
went down into the meadow and began hunting crickets. And though he
didn't have as good a lunch as he wanted, probably he ate all that was
good for him.




VII

TOMMY CHASES MR. WOODCHUCK


Tommy Fox went up into Farmer Green's back-pasture, which, lay even
nearer Blue Mountain than the field where Tommy and his mother lived.
He skulked along among the rocky hummocks, and the old stumps which