CHAPTER XXI - TWO RASCALS CAUGHT
THE moment Reddy Woodpecker stepped
into the cold water he wanted to say “Ouch!”
But Jimmy Rabbit put a finger on his mouth meaning
that Reddy must be still as a mouse.
So the red-capped scamp managed to
keep quiet, though it was such hard work that he began
to feel terribly hungry. Jimmy Rabbit watched
him for a short time, smiling and nodding his head,
as if to say:
“That’s right! Just
do as I say and all will be well.” And then
he waved a sort of farewell, before he disappeared.
Though Reddy did not know it, Jimmy
Rabbit stopped as soon as he was out of sight and
crept behind a bush, from which hiding-place he could
watch the cedar tree, without being seen by the two
beechnut lovers who stood so still beside it for
there was Jasper Jay, standing in a puddle on one
side of the big tree, and there was Reddy Woodpecker,
standing in another puddle on the opposite side of
the tree!
And neither of them knew that the
other was anywhere around!
But there was one thing that they
knew quite well: the water was almost colder
than they could bear, at first. If their feet
hadn’t grown numb, after a time, so that there
was no feeling in them at all, they wouldn’t
have been able to stand there so still and so long.
They both wondered where Jimmy Rabbit
was, and what he was doing, and why he didn’t
come back.
But Jimmy Rabbit was waiting for something.
As he had told Reddy Woodpecker, everything depended
on the weather. Though the air was becoming sharper
every minute, it was not yet cold enough to suit Jimmy
Rabbit. What he wanted was freezing weather.
And at last he was satisfied. When the sun hid
itself behind a bank of clouds the ground began to
stiffen with frost, which covered all the puddles and
pools with a coating of ice.
It was almost dark when Jimmy Rabbit
left the shelter of his bush and danced up and down
to get warm. Soon he came with a hop, skip and
a jump to the big cedar tree.
“How are you?” he called.
And two very sulky voices answered:
“I’m cold that’s how
I am!”
“Well, why don’t you dance around and
get warm?” Jimmy asked.
But both Reddy Woodpecker and Jasper
Jay were caught fast by their feet in the frozen puddles.
And as soon as they tried to move they began to squall
loudly because they were so frightened.
They could no more have danced than the old cedar
tree could have pulled up its roots and capered about
in the forest. So far as they could see, they
might as well have stepped into any of the traps that
Johnnie Green set for Peter Mink.
It was no wonder that they were alarmed no
wonder that they struggled to free themselves.
“You seem to like to stay by that tree,”
said Jimmy Rabbit.
Now, since Jasper and Reddy had wanted
exactly the same things to happen, and since they
were now in the same fix, Jimmy Rabbit could talk
to them both at the same time. What he said to
one fitted the other just as well.
Of course, that made it very easy for Jimmy Rabbit.
But it was rather hard on Reddy Woodpecker and Jasper
Jay.
“Jay! jay!” screamed
Jasper in a rasping voice, like a saw biting into
a log. “Ker-r-ruck! ker-r-ruck!”
sounded Reddy’s rolling call. And they
began to scold Jimmy Rabbit, until he put his paws
over his ears and ran away.
If it hadn’t been for Reddy
Woodpecker’s strong bill they might have stayed
in the cedar swamp all winter. But he set to work
and soon chopped himself free. Then he helped
Jasper Jay. And before it was dark they flew
away together and went straight to the beechnut grove,
where they ate a huge meal of beechnuts, without having
a single dispute about anything.
On the contrary, they agreed perfectly
in every way. Especially they agreed that Jimmy
Rabbit was a busybody and that somebody ought to teach
him better manners.
“I’d be glad to help you do that,”
said Jasper Jay.
It was actually funny that two such
rowdies should talk of another’s bad manners.
But no doubt such an idea never entered their heads.