Now Chatterer has sharp wits, and Sammy Jay has sharp wits. Chatterer had always thought his the sharpest, and it hurt his pride to feel that Sammy had got the best of him. He couldn't think of anything else as he curled up for the night in his snug¹ bed in the old home of Drummer the Woodpecker up in the Old Orchard². He thought and thought and thought and thought, trying to find some way to wriggle³ out of his promise, and just before he fell asleep, an idea came to him. He would go over to the corn-crib before Sammy Jay was awake, eat his fill, and then hide from Sammy.

 

"Why didn't I think of that before?" he murmured sleepily and smiled to think how, after all, his wits were sharper than those of Sammy Jay.

 

The next morning, very early, Chatterer visited the corn-crib, ate a hurried breakfast, and then hid in the old stone wall to watch for Sammy Jay. But Sammy didn't come at the time he used to visit the corn-crib before Chatterer had given him that terrible scare. Chatterer waited and waited, but no Sammy Jay. Chatterer began to get impatient, but still he didn't dare leave his hiding place for fear that Sammy might come. At last Chatterer decided⁴ that Sammy had gone somewhere else that morning, so he came out of his hiding place and frisked along the stone wall at one edge of the Old Orchard. After a while he forgot all about Sammy Jay. Anyway, he was sure that Sammy wouldn't think of going to the corn-crib so late in the morning, for it wouldn't be safe at all. Farmer Brown's boy would be almost sure to see him. So Chatterer forgot his troubles and frisked about and had a splendid time all by himself.

 

Right in the midst of it, Sammy Jay arrived in the Old Orchard.

 

"Good morning, Chatterer," said he. "I fear I am a little late for breakfast."

 

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