Chapter 4 - Page 2

now," said old Mr. Crow, cocking his eye at the sun. "Perhaps we'll hear the cry soon."

The words were scarcely out of his bill when a far-reaching call caught the attention of the two cousins. It brought Jasper Jay to his tiptoes at once. And he craned his neck in an effort to catch a glimpse of the stranger who possessed such a powerful voice.

"There it is!" Jasper cried. "There's the call again! Do you know what kind of bird makes that cry?"

Something seemed to have stuck in Mr. Crow's throat. At least, he spluttered and choked and coughed. And he was quite unable to answer just then. But after the mountains had quit tossing the sound back and forth and all was quiet again he said:

"No small bird could make a sound like that. And if you can drive him out of Pleasant Valley you're a better fighter than I ever supposed."

Mr. Crow might have known that his remark would not please Jasper Jay. Jasper gave his cousin an angry glance; and he looked as if he would have liked to fight him. But he had suffered one beating by his elderly cousin. And he didn't care for another. So he only sneered openly. And then he screamed in a loud voice:

"I'll find that noisy fellow and drive him out of Pleasant Valley, if it takes me all summer to do it!" And he raised his crest, and snapped his beak together, and stamped his feet, so that he looked very fierce indeed.

But old Mr. Crow was not frightened in the least. He only smiled.

"Let me know when you've driven the stranger away," he said.

"Oh! you'll hear about it," Jasper Jay assured him. "It will be the most famous fight that will ever take place in this valley," he boasted. And then the two cousins parted. It did not put Jasper Jay in any better humor to hear Mr. Crow's hoarse haw-haw echoing across the valley. Of course, Jasper did not know what he was laughing at. But that only served to make the blue-coated scamp all the more peevish.