“It’s funny I don’t hear Watch,� thought Chaik. “I certainly heard him a minute ago.� He gave a little raspy whisper.
“Oh!� came a startled voice right above him. “I thought you were a mouse. Is that you, Chaik?� Watch must have been holding his breath as well as his paw, ready to pounce on him.
“Yes,� Chaik answered back. “What was all the racket over? What’s happening?�
“Those pesky whisktails,� Watch answered. He meant the mice. “Stripes Skunk or Tad Coon ought to have stayed to help me. They’ve been squeaking and scuffling over those corncobs left after Louie’s party, and the beetles Stripes’s kittens left lying round, until I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. Finally I snapped a paw to quiet them and hit feathers instead of fur. I guess I most squashed all the squawk right out of that little owl before I knew who she was and let her go again.�
“And I wish you’d killed her!� hissed Chaik. “Put down your head. Their ears are so frightfully keen and they mustn’t hear a word. Listen! They’re going to bring Killer the Weasel to these Woods and Fields!�
“Great beef-bones! They can’t! They mustn’t! Oh, that’s too awful!�
“But they will,â€� Chaik insisted. “You’ll see. He’s going to fool us all into making friends and—well, you know what then! Not even my nest will be safe from him. Not even their own, but they’ll take that risk to get even with us because we jays pulled out their feathers so they couldn’t hunt enough this year to do any nesting. Now do you see?â€�
CHAPTER III
MRS. OWL INVITES KILLER THE WEASEL TO THE WOODS AND FIELDS
Chaik Jay didn’t need to whisper. The Bad Little Owls weren’t there to overhear him, as he’d overheard them while he was hidden in their very own hole. When Watch pawed the lady owl, who was mouse hunting right under his nose in the black dark, he spoiled more than her feathers; he ruined the last of her temper. And her temper is ’most as short as her tail at the best of times, as you know.
She beaked her wings so spitefully that she ’most took out what feathers she had left (they get very loose long before the leaves begin to fall), and set right off to find Killer the Weasel.