“Well,” Doctor Rabbit said, “first I want to tell you that Ki-yi Coyote is in the Big Green Woods. In fact, he’s hiding near my house this very minute, and expects to make a breakfast of me when I go down to the Murmuring Brook for a drink.”
“Sakes alive!” Chatty exclaimed. “How did you find out?”
Then Doctor Rabbit told him that he had been awake and listening, and that Downy Screech Owl was up in the tree watching Ki-yi, and if necessary would talk to him to keep him there.
“Sakes alive!” Mr. Squirrel exclaimed. “How did you find out?”
“Well, well, well!” exclaimed Chatty Squirrel, rubbing his eyes. He had hardly been awake when Doctor Rabbit knocked on the door, but now he was getting wider awake every minute. “What do you want me to do?” Chatty asked again, with his eyes wide open and very bright.
“First I want to play a joke on him,” said Doctor Rabbit, “and I’ll tell you how to do it. Ki-yi is now right under that big elm tree between my house and the Murmuring Brook. You slip over through the trees as quick as you can and climb up to that old nest Jim Crow used to live in. There’s a stone in the nest that Farmer Roe’s boy threw at you the other day. Do you remember?”
“Indeed I do remember, because Farmer Roe’s boy almost hit me with that stone,” Chatty Squirrel said.
“Very well, then,” said Doctor Rabbit, “you get into that nest and get hold of that stone, and when you have a good chance, drop it down right on Ki-yi Coyote. Then lie flat on the limb and keep perfectly still, so he won’t know where the stone came from.”
“But where are you going to be, and what will you do?” Chatty Squirrel wanted to know. He was very nervous about it.