But I think the pail was just the very best thing the little boy could have thrown at the gobbler. Besides, it did not hurt him, as a stone might have done.
Looking back, to see where the pail lay, Bunny went on with Sue to the house where they were to spend the afternoon. They found their little friends waiting for them, and, after telling about the turkey, the children had fine fun.
"That was Mr. North's turkey," said Gladys Parker, one of the little girls. "He's real mean, that turkey is, and chases everybody."
"Well, he chased me," said Sue, "only Bunny made him stop."
"I'm glad you did," said Ethel Burke. "Maybe he'll be a better gobbler after this."
The children played many games, they had fun in the swing, and Mrs. Parker gave them all some milk and cookies for lunch.
When it came time for Bunny and Sue to go home they went past the field where the gobbler had been. He was not there now, as the children found, after looking carefully about. Maybe he had gone to bed, for it was about time for the chickens to go to roost. Turkeys like to roost in trees, you know, and not in a coop, as chickens do. And perhaps the big gobbler was, even then, perched up in some tree, with his head under his wing. And, for all I know, perhaps he was dreaming of a little girl in a red dress, and a boy who threw a pail over a turkey's head. That is if gobblers do dream.
"Oh, there's the pail!" cried Bunny, as he saw the shining tin in the middle of the field. "I'm going to get it, Sue."
And Bunny did. It was too late, then, to pick any of the wild strawberries, but Bunny and Sue knew they could come some other time.
They reached home safely, and told about the gobbler.