"Ah wish Brer Bear would go up to Farmer Brown's henhouse and scare Farmer Brown's boy so that he would keep away from there. It would be a favor to me which Ah cert'nly would appreciate," said Unc' Billy Possum when he heard the news.
"Let's all go together and tell Buster Bear how much obliged we are for what he has done," proposed Jerry Muskrat.
"That's a splendid idea!" cried Little Joe Otter. "We'll do it right away."
"Caw, caw caw!" broke in Blacky the Crow. "I say, let's wait and see for ourselves if it is all true."
"Of course it's true!" snapped Little Joe Otter. "Don't you believe I'm telling the truth?"
"Certainly, certainly. Of course no one doubts your word," replied Blacky, with the utmost politeness. "But you say yourself that Farmer Brown's boy didn't see Buster Bear, but only his footprint. Perhaps he didn't know whose it was, and if he had he wouldn't have been afraid. Now I've got a plan by which we can see for ourselves if he really is afraid of Buster Bear."
"What is it?" asked Sammy Jay eagerly.
Blacky the Crow shook his head and winked. "That's telling," said he. "I want to think it over. If you meet me at the Big Hickory-tree at sun-up to-morrow morning, and get everybody else to come that you can, perhaps I will tell you."