"I hadn't anything in particular to do just then, and, if you'll believe it, I forgot that Mrs. Bunny had told me, not more than half an hour before, that Mr. Man was out trying to kill something.
"Off Jimmy and I went, Mr. Crow calling after us as he saw us hopping along in the direction of Mr. Man's barn:
"'You'd better take care of your own hides, instead of following that foolish Cheeko, who hasn't got a thing more than he deserved!'
"'You're a hard-hearted old bird!' Jimmy cried, and a deaf man could have told by the sound of his voice that he was angry. 'There's just a chance that we can help the poor fellow.'
"'Help nothing!' Mr. Crow cried sharply, and off he flew, as much as to say that he washed his claws of us both.
"Well, I couldn't help feeling just a bit nervous after the old bird had warned us; but yet, strange as it may seem, even then I didn't think of what Mrs. Bunny had told me about Mr. Man. I followed Jimmy, though, and it didn't take us long to come up so near the robbers that we could hear them telling what they counted on doing with poor Cheeko. From all I could make out, they had some kind of prison with a wheel in it, and there he'd be made to run round and round till he couldn't run any more.
"Of course we had to hang back when coming within sight of the barn, and then I coaxed Jimmy to go back to the old oak; but he allowed he'd see the last of Cheeko no matter what might happen, and it really seemed as if I ought to stay with him after all he'd done in the way of helping me with the little house, so I told him I'd hang round for a spell; but I'd draw the line at going any nearer the barn.
"Well, we stayed there in the bushes a while without being able to see very much, although we could hear the boys talking, and then Jimmy said, speaking as if he were all out of patience with me:
"'I'm going to see what they are doing; if you're afraid you can wait here till I come back.'
"I said all I could to prevent him from running his nose into danger, as Cheeko had done, but he wouldn't listen, so I crept further into the bushes and off he toddled. How long I stayed there it would be hard to say, but it seemed as if two or three hours had passed when I heard Mr. Crow saying, his voice sounding as if he were a long distance away: