Mr. Crow looked over Sandy's shoulder--which was not at all a polite
thing to do.

"That's queer!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "There's one of the Red-Squirrel boys
and Mrs. Mouse's son. And this young chap here looks a lot like Rinaldo
Rat. ... I'd be pretty angry if anybody sent me a letter like that," Mr.
Crow then said.

Now, the real trouble with Mr. Crow was that he was jealous because Sandy
Chipmunk had a letter, while _he_ had none.

"I'd throw that letter away, if it was mine," remarked Mr. Crow. And he
said so much that at last Sandy Chipmunk tossed the letter away and went
off to hunt for birds' eggs.

As soon as Sandy was out of sight, Mr. Crow picked up the letter and flew
home with it.

He felt better--because at last he had a letter, while Sandy Chipmunk no
longer had one.

That very afternoon Farmer Green drove to the village. And on his way he
stopped at the houses of several of his neighbors, to talk about the
weather and the crops. And each one of them showed him a letter that had
come that day, telling all about a new kind of poison, to rid a farmer of
chipmunks and red squirrels and rats and mice.

"Sprinkle our powder around your corn-crib," the letter said, "and these
little rodents will trouble you no longer."