"What's the joke?" asked Jasper Jay.
"Oh, there's no joke at all—yet," said Mr. Crow. And he and his companions all laughed again. "Come around to the other side of the barn," Mr. Crow continued. "It's time for the stranger to screech, for it'll be noon before you know it."
So they all moved to another part of the fence, from which they could see the farmhouse. And no sooner had they settled themselves comfortably than Farmer Green's wife came to the doorway and held a horn to her lips.
Then came the loud blast that Jasper knew so well. He was so startled that he almost fell off the fence. But he was not frightened.
He was very angry, however. For Mr. Crow and his friends began to jeer at him.
"Fly at her!" cried Mr. Crow. "She's the bird that you're going to drive out of Pleasant Valley. And we all want to see you do it."
It was very uncomfortable for Jasper Jay. He had mistaken the sound of the dinner-horn for the call of a strange bird. And he felt uncommonly foolish.
Since he dared not attack Mr. Crow, especially when his ten relations were with him, there was nothing Jasper could do except give a loud, helpless scream of rage and hurry away toward the woods.
"See those crows chasing that blue jay!" Farmer Green said to Johnnie, as they walked toward home. "Probably he's played some trick on them."