"Never again, not if I live to be as old as an elephant, and Mr. Crow declares that elephants stay and stay alive till the hills grow to be mountains, will I ever be so foolish as to take part in any silly thing simply because of being afraid to say that I don't dare stick my nose in where it doesn't belong. A fellow like me, who is moving about through the big woods a good deal, and who keeps his ears and eyes wide open, is certain to learn a good many things in the course of his life, and since Bobby Coon led me on that terrible chase, I have come to understand that it is folly, not bravery, to venture into danger simply for the sake of trying to prove that a fellow isn't afraid, when way down in his heart he knows that he is scared nearly out of his wits.
"All the members of the club say I'm the biggest coward to be found anywhere around, and suppose I am? Isn't it better to let the matter go at that than for me to prove myself foolish as well by doing what I know I've got no business to do? Of course it is; but I wasn't as wise when Bobby Coon declared he'd ramble all over Mr. Man's farm, while all of us knew that Dog Towser would be on watch as soon as the sun went down, and instead of saying that I wouldn't have anything to do with such folly, I made it look as if I were aching to be just as foolish as he was showing himself to be.
"I'm thinking that if Jimmy Hedgehog had minded his own business, poor Bobby would have come to realize that the farm wasn't any place for him, especially after he'd played such a trick on Mr. Man; but Jimmy must needs keep on telling me how brave Bobby was, and making the talk only to keep the poor fellow up to what he'd said he'd do. Do you know, that silly coon strutted around, throwing his chest 'way out, and telling what he'd do if Mr. Towser interfered with him, when we all know that he couldn't go up against one of that dog's paws. Once I got him away from Jimmy, and tried to show him that he would still be running the biggest kind of chances even if he contrived to sneak around the place without Mr. Towser's smelling him; but he had the bravery business on his mind and it was a clear waste of breath to say anything.
"I can tell you that I was trembling all over mighty bad when the sun went down; but yet I didn't dare go back home as I ought to have done, for fear Jimmy and Bobby would tell at the club that I'd shown myself a coward, so I waited with those two till it was real dark, and then Jimmy said, bristling up his quills to make himself look like the fiercest thing on feet:
"'Now's your time, Bobby. Get on to your job, and show the wood folks that you've got the good old Coon blood in your veins!'
"Just for a minute I hoped Bobby would back out, for he sniffed in the wind quite a spell until Jimmy, beginning to fear that he wasn't going to have the fun he'd laid out for himself, began to laugh in a mighty disagreeable way as he said:
"'If I'd thought you were only bragging when you told about rambling over the farm, I wouldn't have wasted my time around here.'
"'You didn't get any brag from me,' poor Bobby said, his voice trembling as if he wanted to cry. 'I'm going to do just as I allowed, and you two fellows want to follow me close, so's to make certain I wipe up the earth with Mr. Towser, if he has the nerve to show himself where I am.'
"Did you ever hear anything so foolish as that? A coon allowing that he could get away with a dog like Mr. Towser! I had to follow when Bobby started; but I made out that I couldn't travel very fast owing to my left hind foot's being sore, and you'd better believe that I didn't try very hard to get a front place in the procession, though I could have run all around Bobby and Jimmy if I'd tried. You can set it down under your collar that I took good care to smell my way along mighty cautious, 'cause I wasn't aching to come up against anything that outclassed me.
"Well, Bobby kept straight on, heading for Mr. Man's barn, and I knew enough about the lay of the land to see that he'd strike the farm pretty near to where Mr. Towser's house stood, so my feet got sorer and sorer till, before we were very far from the bushes, it was about as much as I could do to hop. Jimmy kept egging Bobby on, and this took up his attention so much that he didn't give any heed to me for quite a spell, when I heard him whispering: