"No strangers come here to live?" Jasper asked him.
"No one at all!" said Mr. Crow.
"That's queer!" Jasper exclaimed. "I was sure I heard a new voice yesterday. And I heard it again to-day, too—at exactly the same time."
"What did it sound like?" Mr. Crow wanted to know.
So Jasper gave an imitation of the odd cry that had swept the valley.
"It was quite loud and very unpleasant to hear," he remarked. "And whoever the stranger may be, if he's going to disturb me every noon like that when I'm having my midday rest I shall have to drive him out of the neighborhood."
"It's almost noon 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[p. 21] 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?"