“I think so, too. Anyhow, I’ll go up the tree and get him!”
Why Teddy thought he could climb a tree and catch the crow I can’t tell you. Certainly if the boy had been a bit older, or if he had stopped to think, he would have known that a bird that can fly and hop cannot be caught by some one climbing a tree after it.
And that’s just what happened to Teddy. No sooner did he start to climb the tree than again the cawing sounded distantly in the woods. It was answered by the crow who was still standing on one leg. And then this black bird that the Curlytops were watching suddenly put both claws down on the limb.
An instant later he spread out his wings and soared away, flying off through the trees.
“Oh, he’s gone!” sighed Janet.
“Maybe I can watch where he goes!” cried her brother.
He ran forward through the trees, but a crow can fly much faster than a small boy can run—or even a large boy for that matter—and soon the black bird was lost to sight.
“Oh, well, maybe he’ll come back,” said Janet, trying to comfort her brother.
“I hope he does,” said Teddy. “I’d like to get that ten dollars. I’m sure it was Mr. Jenk’s crow.”
But when they told their father and mother about it Mr. and Mrs. Martin only laughed.