"I don't know. I don't know what to think," replied Happy Jack, soberly. "Do you know, Tommy, I've grown very fond of Farmer Brown's boy."
"Of course. Dee, dee, dee, of course. Everybody who really knows him is fond of him. I've said all along that he is the best friend we've got, but no one seemed to believe me. I'm glad you've found it out for yourself. I tell you what, I'll go up to his house and have another look around." And without waiting for a reply, Tommy was off as fast as his little wings could take him.
"I hope, I do hope, that nothing has happened to him," mumbled Happy Jack, as he pretended to hunt for buried nuts while he waited for Tommy Tit to come back, and by "him" he meant Farmer Brown's boy.
CHAPTER XVII
TOMMY TIT BRINGS NEWS
No one knows too much, but many know too little.
Happy Jack.
Happy Jack very plainly was not happy. His name was the only happy thing about him. He fussed about on the edge of the Green Forest. He just couldn't keep still. When he thought anybody was looking, he pretended to hunt for some of the nuts he had buried in the fall, and dug holes down through the snow. But as soon as he thought that no one was watching, he would scamper up a tree where he could look over to Farmer Brown's house and look and look. It was very clear that Happy Jack was watching for some one and that he was anxious, very anxious, indeed.
It was getting late in the afternoon, and soon the Black Shadows would begin to creep out from the Purple Hills, behind which jolly, round, red Mr. Sun would go to bed. It would be bedtime for Happy Jack then, for you know he goes to bed very early, just as soon as it begins to get dark. The later it got, the more anxious and uneasy Happy Jack grew. He had just made up his mind that in a few minutes he would have to give up and go to bed when there was a flit of tiny wings, and Tommy Tit the Chickadee dropped into the tree beside him.