Turkey Proudfoot waved a wing at the rooster.
"Don't pay any attention to her!" he said. "She's excited. I'll have her calmed down in no time."
"Of course I'm excited!" Henrietta Hen cried. "Don't let him deceive you, Mr. Rooster! He's been threatening me!"
Turkey Proudfoot bade her, in an undertone, to be quiet.
"Go along about your business," he told the rooster. "She's mistaken. I haven't said I'd harm her."
"No! But he's talking about eating[p. 52] one of my chicks! And that's worse," Henrietta screamed. "If you're as brave as I always supposed, Mr. Rooster, you'll defend my family."
Although the rooster was terribly frightened, and wanted to run away, he simply couldn't desert Henrietta Hen.
"She's a nuisance," he muttered as he marched across the farmyard. "I don't see why she wanted to bring her chicks out here where Turkey Proudfoot would see them. She's landed me in a scrape. There won't be much left of me when that old gobbler gets through with me."
Nevertheless the rooster put on a bold front. Drawing himself up to look his tallest, he glared at Turkey Proudfoot and said shrilly, "What do you mean by annoying this lady?"
Turkey Proudfoot gulped. He wondered what had come over his neighbors.[p. 53] The rooster had always acted afraid of him. Though small, the rooster was strongly built. And he had a sharp bill and sharp spurs, too. Turkey Proudfoot noted these details carefully.