Sammy Jay ran out his tongue at Peter Rabbit.
"You are a nice one to talk about minding other folk's affairs!" jeered Sammy Jay.
"Peter Rabbit's ears are long;
I wonder why! I wonder why!
Because to hear what others say
He's bound to try! he's bound to try."
It was Peter Rabbit's turn to look discomfited.
"Anyway, I don't try to bully and torment others and I don't steal," he retorted.
"Sammy Jay's a handsome chap
And wears a coat of blue.
I wonder if it's really his
Or if he stole that, too."
Just then Johnny Chuck's sharp eyes caught sight of something stealing along the edge of the Green Meadows toward the Green Forest and the big pine.
"There's Farmer Brown's boy with a gun," cried Johnny Chuck. "There's going to be trouble at the big pine if Blacky the Crow doesn't watch out. That's what comes of being so noisy."
Peter Rabbit and Sammy Jay stopped quarreling to look. Sure enough, there was Farmer Brown's boy with his gun. He had heard Blacky the Crow and his aunts and his uncles and his cousins and he had hurried to get his gun, hoping to take them by surprise.
But Blacky the Crow has sharp eyes, too. Indeed, there are none sharper. Then, too, he is a mischief-maker. Mischief-makers are always on the watch lest they get caught in their mischief. So Blacky the Crow, sitting on the tip-top of the big pine, kept one eye out for trouble while he enjoyed the tormenting of Hooty the Owl by his aunts and his uncles and his cousins. He had seen Farmer Brown's boy even before Johnny Chuck had. But he couldn't bear to spoil the fun of tormenting Hooty the Owl, so he waited just as long as he dared. Then he gave the signal.