“Oh, nobody told me not to tell you,� said Chaik. “But you haven’t been very friendly with the Woodsfolk lately, have you?�
Scritch ran as fast as his claws could catch on the ground. He went straight to the stump where Great-grandfather Fieldmouse, who’s so old his ears are crinkly, lives with all his family. Every one was taking an afternoon nap when he bounced right in and woke them. “Quick, quick!� he squeaked. “An awful thing is happening. We must run!�
Great-grandfather Fieldmouse raised his rumply head and blinked at him. “Eh? What? Who’s that? Was any one chasing you?� he asked.
“No,â€� said Scritch. “It’s worse than that. Hurry! The rest of the Woodsfolk have gone already—every last one.â€�
“Ho, they left because they’re afraid of Killer the Weasel,â€� sniffed the old fieldmouse. “But we’re not going. He can’t eat many more of us than they do themselves. He isn’t like a bear who could tear this stump right open and kill us all—but you don’t know about that. Bears were long before your time.â€� They were long before Great-grandfather Fieldmouse’s time, too, but he’s always pretending. The fat old fellow set to combing his rumpled head with a stiff hind paw.
“That isn’t why they’ve gone,� squealed Scritch triumphantly. “They just pretended that it was. They’ve gone because the ducks say there’s a terrible storm coming. They say they had to swim in it for two days instead of flying. They say Doctor Muskrat’s Pond is going to grow so fast it will swallow up the Woods and Fields, and we’ll all be drowned!�
“That’s what they tell you,� sneered the old mouse. “They don’t like to own up that they’re afraid of a little beast like Killer.�
“But they didn’t mean to. It was Chaik Jay. He thought I was Nibble Rabbit.� My, but wasn’t Scritch proud when he remembered Chaik took him for Nibble! “And Chaik said they didn’t warn us because we weren’t friends.�
“They didn’t, didn’t they?� snarled the old mouse. “We’ll show them if we’ll stay here and be drowned.� That settled it. In less than an hour Chaik saw the last mouse tail go trooping into the cornfield.
“Chay!� he laughed. “Now, Killer, you’ll have a hard time finding anything to eat around this pond. I’ll give you two days to go back to the Deep Woods where you belong. And you’ll be a whole lot thinner than when you came, old slinky-sides.�