"I'll do it!" Rowdy cried. "Not that I find much pleasure in fighting a single chipmunk—for I can whip one with my hands tied behind me."
"Can you?" Jasper Jay asked. "Then let me see you tie your hands."
"I can't!" Rowdy Red-Squirrel replied. "Who ever heard of anybody who could tie his own hands behind him?… You will have to do that for me," he said.
Jasper Jay gave another loud shriek and rocked back and forth on the limb where he sat.
"Another joke!" he gasped—for he was too clever to be caught like that. He had no idea of going near enough to Rowdy Red-Squirrel to tie his hands behind his back.
"Well, I see I'll have to whip Sandy Chipmunk just as I am," Rowdy grumbled. "It won't be much fun for me."
"I don't believe it will," Jasper Jay agreed.
"After I whip him, you'll have to find six more chipmunks for me, if you want to see me fight them all at once," Rowdy Red-Squirrel told Jasper Jay.
"I'll do it—if you whip Sandy," Jasper promised. And he laughed so hard that he almost tumbled off the limb.