"I suppose your yellow coat frightened it," Jasper Jay jeered. "It's too bad you didn't wear your checkered red one."
At that remark Jimmy Rabbit pricked up his long ears.
"Did you wear your red coat yesterday?" he asked Mr. Crow.
"Yes!" Mr. Crow replied gruffly. He did not like being questioned by a mere youngster like Jimmy Rabbit.
"And you say the train stopped when you flew in front of it yesterday?"
Mr. Crow grunted. But Jimmy Rabbit knew that he meant "Yes!"
"That's it!" Jimmy Rabbit cried. And he jumped up and down in his excitement.
"That's what?" asked Mr. Crow in a sulky tone.
"I'll tell you!" said Jimmy. "Yesterday the train stopped because it saw your red coat. That's the way to stop a train. You wave a red flag or a red lantern at a train and it will always stop. But I've noticed that a train pays no attention to any other color. Now, you could wave something green, or yellow, or blue in front of a train; and no matter how hard you waved, it would go right on as if it never saw you at all."
"Maybe you know," Mr. Crow snapped. "And maybe you don't. I said the train was afraid to stop. And I still think so."