"He will think of it some day, and I don't see any way to upset such a simple plan," said Sammy to himself and then fell to studying some new way to torment Chatterer.
And at last Chatterer did think of it. It was such a simple plan! Probably that was why he hadn't thought of it before. All he had to do was to go over to Farmer Brown's corn-crib at break of day, before any one in Farmer Brown's house was awake, just as he had been doing, only make two or three trips and store a lot of corn in a safe hiding place in the old stone wall. Then, when Sammy Jay demanded corn, he could get it without trouble or danger. He tried it, and it worked splendidly. Sammy Jay got his corn, but he didn't get any fun, and he cared more for the fun of seeing Chatterer in trouble than he did for the corn. So, after two or three mornings, Sammy didn't come up to the Old Orchard, and Chatterer chuckled as he stored up the corn, not in one place, but in several places.
Now, while Sammy Jay seemed to have grown tired of corn, he was doing a lot of thinking. He had no idea of leaving Chatterer alone. He had just got to think of some way of upsetting Chatterer's simple plan. It was Reddy Fox who finally gave him the idea. He saw Reddy trotting down the Lone Little Path through the Green Forest, and right away the idea came to him. He would tell Reddy where Chatterer was storing the corn in the old stone wall, and Reddy would hide close by.
"Of course I don't want Reddy to catch Chatterer, but I can prevent that by warning him just in time. But he will be so frightened that he won't dare go to that place for corn again in a hurry, and so will have to go to the corn-crib for it," thought Sammy, and hurried to tell Reddy Fox about the place half way along the old stone wall where Chatterer had hidden his corn.
XXIV
CHATTERER HAS HIS TURN TO LAUGH
Sammy Jay had not been up to the Old Orchard for several days, and Chatterer the Red Squirrel was beginning to wonder if Sammy had grown tired of corn. But Chatterer had learned that it is always best to be prepared, and so every morning, when he had visited Farmer Brown's corn-crib, he had brought a generous supply back to the Old Orchard and hidden it in several secret places in different parts of the stone wall and some in a certain hollow in an old apple-tree. Chatterer couldn't quite believe that Sammy had given up all hope of making him more trouble, so he meant to be prepared.
So when Sammy did appear early one morning, Chatterer was not in the least surprised. He pretended to be glad to see Sammy. In fact, he was almost glad. You see, Sammy had so many times proved his wits to be sharper than Chatterer's, that Chatterer wanted to get even. There was a sparkle of mischief in Sammy's eyes. Chatterer saw it right away, and he guessed that Sammy had some new plan under that pert cap of his.
"Good morning, Sammy Jay," said Chatterer, pretending to be polite. "I had begun to think that you were tired of corn. I have some very nice corn ready for you, the very best I could find in Farmer Brown's corn-crib. Will you have some this morning?"
"I believe I will," replied Sammy, also pretending to be very polite. "It is very nice of you to pick out the best corn for me, and the very thought of it makes me hungry. I believe I would like some this very minute."