"Oh, certainly not!" said the rooster,[p. 13] who was bold as brass with most of his neighbors, but very mild with Turkey Proudfoot.
"Ha!" Turkey Proudfoot exclaimed. "You're getting yourself into a hole, sir! If I wasn't mistaken, then you were giving me orders. And in either case I should have to fight you."
This was too much for the rooster. He couldn't grasp what Turkey Proudfoot was saying. He only knew that things looked bad for him because Turkey Proudfoot was getting angrier every moment.
"I say!" the rooster cried. "Please don't waste your time on me just now, Mr. Turkey Proudfoot! Here come the six silly geese back from the duck pond. And I'd suggest that you speak to them at once and warn them not to enter the water again."
Turkey Proudfoot glanced across the[p. 14] farmyard. It was as the rooster had said. The six geese were waddling around a corner of the barn in single file. Somehow the sight of them made him so furious that he forgot he had been picking a quarrel with the rooster.
"I'll attend to them," he gobbled. "I'll fix them. They'll be so scared that they won't dare leave this yard again."
Turkey Proudfoot hurried towards the geese. He didn't take time to strut, but ran across the yard with long strides.
"Don't be silly geese!" Turkey Proudfoot called. "Keep away from the duck-pond! The weather's getting colder every day; and it makes me shiver to see you start off for a swim."
Turkey Proudfoot had supposed the six geese would be very meek and most eager to obey his commands. But to his great surprise they stopped, wheeled about so[p. 15] that they stood in a row, facing him, and hissed loudly.
It was not at all the sort of answer Turkey Proudfoot had expected.