Chapter 22

A NOISY QUARREL



One odd thing marked Bobby Bobolink's flights. He never flew in a straight course, as old Mr. Crow did, but darted this way and that, crossing and turning and wheeling, until it seemed sometimes--to onlookers--that he was sure to skid into a tree and meet with an accident. And usually Bobby Bobolink would sing with such zest while he was frisking about in the air that it was a marvel to many how he could do two things like that, at the same time, and yet put so much life into each.

Old Mr. Crow claimed that the reason why Bobby Bobolink didn't fly straight was because he had his mind too much on his singing.

"He's nothing but a music-box with wings," Mr. Crow often croaked. "As a flier he couldn't even beat crazy Benjamin Bat."

It was the general opinion that Benjamin Bat could make a longer journey between two points than anybody else in Pleasant Valley. And there were some that disputed Mr. Crow's statement. Jasper Jay even went out of his way to tell Mr. Crow that he had heard of his remark, and that he was mistaken. And they had such a wrangle that they annoyed Mr. Hermit Thrush, way over on the other side of Cedar Swamp. Old Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay were cousins. And everybody knows that there is nothing worse than a cousinly quarrel.

In order to quiet them, the Hermit left his mossy retreat, in a dense thicket, found the two cousins, and asked them, "What are you two quarrelling about now?"

Neither Jasper Jay nor Mr. Crow was noted for his gentlemanly manners. They both tried to explain at the same time. And it made the Hermit wince to listen to their loud, harsh voices. He was himself a quiet bird; his voice was very sweet.

"There's only one way to settle your dispute," the Hermit said when the two cousins had succeeded in making their trouble clear. "You must arrange a race between this Bobolink person and Benjamin Bat."

"Impossible! You don't know what you're talking about!" Jasper Jay and Mr. Crow both cried at the same time.

The Hermit shuddered. He was not accustomed to such language. It hurt his gentle nature to be spoken to like that. But he managed to stay there while the cousins told him that such a race as he had suggested couldn't be arranged, because Benjamin Bat was always asleep in the daytime, and Bobby Bobolink took his rest at night. The two could never meet.

"Perhaps," said the Hermit, "I could persuade Benjamin Bat to change his habits for once. Maybe he would be willing to stay awake some day, just to oblige me."

"Bobby Bobolink is an obliging fellow," Jasper Jay remarked. "Why don't you ask him to stay awake some night?"

But the Hermit said that that wouldn't suit him at all. "The Bobolink person would be sure to sing his most boisterous song,"