The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton W. Burgess
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Unc\' Billy Possum
Unc' Billy didn't answer. He was on his way to Farmer Brown's
hen-house.
XVI
WHY UNC' BILLY POSSUM DIDN'T GO HOME
Unc' Billy Possum had a very good reason for not going home, a very good
reason, indeed. Even old Mrs. Possum would have thought it was a good
reason, could she have known it. But she didn't know it, and so she
sat in the home in the big hollow tree in the Green Forest and worried
herself almost sick, because Unc' Billy didn't come home, and she
didn't know what might have happened to him.
Sometimes Unc' Billy wished that he was back in the old hollow tree,
and sometimes he was glad that he was right where he was. Sometimes
he felt little shivers of fear run all over him as he thought of what
might become of him if he should be found. Sometimes a little tickly
feeling of pleasure ran all over him, as he bit a hole in the end of a
freshly laid egg and sucked the egg out of the shell.
Now Unc' Billy was very, very crafty. He had found Jimmy Skunk's
tracks boldly leading up to the hen-house, so Unc' Billy had stepped
as carefully as he knew how in the footprints of Jimmy Skunk, in order
that Farmer Brown's boy might think that Jimmy Skunk was the only
visitor to the hen-house. But with all his craft, there was one thing
that Unc' Billy forgot. Yes, Sir, there was one thing Unc' Billy
forgot all about. He forgot to keep his tail up. He was trying so hard
to step in the footprints of Jimmy Skunk, that he forgot all about
that little, smooth, handy old tail of his, and he let it drag along
the snow.
[Illustration: He just ate and ate until he couldn't eat another one.]
When Unc' Billy was safely in the hen-house, he hurried from one nest
to another. There were eggs, plenty of them. It seemed to him that
nothing he had ever seen before had looked half so good as those eggs.
He just ate and ate and ate until he couldn't eat another one. Now a
full stomach is very apt to make a sleepy head. Unc' Billy knew that
the thing for him to do was to hurry home as fast as he could go, but
he didn't. No, Sir, he didn't do it. The hen-house was warm and here
were some of the nicest nests of hay. He was tired after his long walk
from the Green Forest, for Unc' Billy had done so little walking this
winter that he was rather out of practice. Why not take a teeny, weeny
nap before he started back home?
Unc' Billy climbed to the very last nest in the topmost row, way up in
a dark corner. It hadn't been used for a long time, but it was full of
nice, soft hay. Unc' Billy curled himself up in it, and with a great
sigh of contentment, closed his eyes for that teeny, weeny nap. He
didn't open them again until he heard an angry voice right close to
him. He peeped out. It was broad daylight, and there, just below him,
was Farmer Brown's boy, looking at the empty egg-shells left by Unc'
Billy. Farmer Brown's boy was angry. Yes, indeed, he was very, very
angry. Unc' Billy shivered as he listened. Then he snuggled down out
of sight under the hay of the nest.
XVII
UNC' BILLY POSSUM LIES LOW
Farmer Brown's boy was angry. Yes, Sir, he was angry. There was no
doubt about that. He had found the empty shells of the eggs which Unc'
Billy had eaten in the night, and Unc' Billy knew by the sound of his
voice that Farmer Brown's boy meant to find the thief.
It was a terrible position to be in, right there in the hen-house,
with no chance to run. Unc' Billy wished with all his might that he
had never thought of eggs, and that he was safe back home in the dear
old hollow tree in the Green Forest. Oh, dear! oh, dear! Why hadn't he
gone right straight back there, after eating those eggs, instead of
taking a nap? But he hadn't. He had taken a nap and overslept, and
here he was, right in the hen-house, in broad daylight.
"It must have been a Skunk," said Farmer Brown's boy, "and if it was,
he must have left some tracks in the snow outside. I'll just look
around a bit."
Unc' Billy almost chuckled as he heard Farmer Brown's boy go out.
"He'll find Jimmy Skunk's tracks, but he won't find mine," thought
Unc' Billy. "Isn't it lucky that I thought to step right in Jimmy
Skunk's tracks when I came here?"
He lay still and listened to Farmer Brown's boy poking around outside.
He heard him exclaim: "Ah, I thought so!" and knew that he had found
the tracks Jimmy Skunk had made in the snow. Unc' Billy almost
chuckled again as he thought what a smart fellow he had been to step
in Jimmy Skunk's tracks. And right then he heard something that put an
end to all his fine thoughts about his own smartness, and sent little
cold shivers up and down his backbone.
"Hello!" said the voice of Farmer Brown's boy. "These are queer
tracks! That Skunk must have had a queer tail, for here are the marks
of it in the snow, and they look as if they might have been made by
the tail of a very big rat."
Unc' Billy remembered then for the first time that when he had thought
he was so smart, he had forgotten to hold his tail up. He had dragged
it in the snow, and of course it had left a mark.
"I guess that there was more than one visitor here last night,"
continued the voice of Farmer Brown's boy. "Here are the tracks of the
Skunk going away from the hen-house, but I don't see any of those
other queer tracks going away. Whoever made them must be right around
here now."
Back into the hen-house came Farmer Brown's boy and began to poke
around in all the corners. He moved all the boxes and looked in the
grain bin. Then he began to look in the nests. Unc' Billy could hear
him coming nearer and nearer. He was looking in the very next nest to
the one in which Unc' Billy was. Finally he looked into that very
nest. Unc' Billy Possum held his breath.
Now the nest in which Unc' Billy was hiding was on the topmost row in
the darkest corner of the hen-house, and Unc' Billy had crawled down
underneath the hay. Perhaps it was because that corner was so dark, or
perhaps it was because that nest was so high up, that Farmer Brown's
boy really didn't expect to find anything there. Anyway, all he saw
was the hay, and he didn't take the trouble to put his hand in and
feel for anything under the hay.
"It's queer," said Farmer Brown's boy. "It's very queer! I guess I
shall have to set some traps."
And all the time Unc' Billy Possum held his breath and lay low.
XVIII
UNC' BILLY POSSUM IS A PRISONER
"Mah home is in a holler tree--
It's a long way home!
Ah wish Ah's there, but here Ah be--
It's a long way home!
If Ah had only been content
Instead of out on mischief bent,
Ah'd have no reason to repent--
It's a long way home!"
Unc' Billy Possum lay curled up under the hay in the highest nest in
the darkest corner in Farmer Brown's hen-house. Unc' Billy didn't dare
go to sleep, because he was afraid that Farmer Brown's boy might find
him. And, anyway, he wanted to see just what Farmer Brown's boy was
doing. So peeping out, he watched Farmer Brown's boy, who seemed to
be very busy indeed. What do you think he was doing? Unc' Billy knew.
Yes, Sir, Unc' Billy knew just what Farmer Brown's boy was doing. He
was setting traps.
Unc' Billy's eyes twinkled as he watched Farmer Brown's boy, for Unc'
Billy knew that those traps were being set for him, and now that he
knew just where each one was, of course he wasn't a bit afraid. It
seemed to Unc' Billy that it was just the greatest kind of a joke to
be watching Farmer Brown's boy set those traps, while all the time
Farmer Brown's boy thought he was hiding them so cleverly that the
only way they would be found would be by some one stepping into one
and getting caught.
"There," said Farmer Brown's boy, as he set the last trap, "I'd like
to see anything get into this hen-house now without getting caught!"
Unc' Billy almost chuckled aloud. Yes, Sir, he almost chuckled aloud.
It was such a funny idea that Farmer Brown's boy should have taken all
the trouble to set those traps to catch Unc' Billy trying to get into
the hen-house, when all the time he was already in there.
Unc' Billy laughed under his breath as Farmer Brown's boy closed the
door of the hen-house and went off whistling. "Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!
Hee, hee!" Unc' Billy broke off short, right in the very middle of his
laugh. He had just thought of something, and it wasn't funny at all.
With all those traps set at every opening to the hen-house, no one
could get in without getting caught, and of course no one who was in
could get out without getting caught!
The joke wasn't on Farmer Brown's boy, after all; it was on Unc' Billy
Possum. But Unc' Billy couldn't see that it was any joke at all. Unc'
Billy was a prisoner, a prisoner in Farmer Brown's hen-house, and he
didn't know how ever he was going to get out of there.
"It's a long way home," said Unc' Billy mournfully, as he peeped out
of a crack toward the Green Forest.
XIX
WHAT THE SNOW DID
Unc' Billy Possum did a lot of thinking. He was a prisoner, just as
much a prisoner as if he were in a cage. Now Unc' Billy Possum
wouldn't have minded being a prisoner in the hen-house but for two
things; he was dreadfully afraid that his old friend and partner,
Jimmy Skunk, would get hungry for eggs and would get caught in the
traps, and he was still more afraid that Farmer Brown's boy would
think to put his hand down under the hay in the last nest of the top
row in the darkest corner. So Unc' Billy spent most of his time
studying and thinking of some way to get out, and if he couldn't do
that, of some way to warn Jimmy Skunk to keep away from Farmer Brown's
hen-house.
If it hadn't been for those two worries, Unc' Billy would have been
willing to stay there the rest of the winter. It was delightfully warm
and cosy. He knew which nest Mrs. Speckles always used and which one
Mrs. Feathertoes liked best, and he knew that of all the eggs laid in
Farmer Brown's hen-house those laid by Mrs. Speckles and Mrs.
Feathertoes were the best. Having all the eggs he could eat, Unc'
Billy had grown very particular. Nothing but the best, the very best,
would do for him. So he would lie curled up in the last nest of the
top row in the darkest corner and wait until he heard the high-pitched
voice of Mrs. Speckles proudly crying:
"Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut-aa-cut! I lay the finest eggs in the
world!"
Then Unc' Billy would chuckle to himself and wait a few minutes longer
for the voice of Mrs. Feathertoes, saying: "Cut, cut, cut, cut,
cut-aa-cut, cut, cut, cut! No one lays such splendid eggs as I do!"
Then, while Mrs. Speckles and Mrs. Feathertoes were disputing as to
which laid the best eggs, Unc' Billy would slip out and breakfast on
both those newly laid eggs.
So for almost a week Unc' Billy lived in Farmer Brown's hen-house and
ate the eggs of Mrs. Speckles and Mrs. Feathertoes and hid in the last
nest of the top row in the darkest corner and shivered as he heard
Farmer Brown's boy tell what would happen if he caught the one who was
stealing those eggs. Sometimes the door was left open during the day,
and Unc' Billy would peep out and wish that he dared to run. But he
didn't, for Bowser the Hound was always prowling around, and then
again he was almost sure to be seen by some one.
At last one day it began to snow. It snowed all day and it snowed all
night. Rough Brother North Wind piled it up in great drifts in front
of the hen-house door and all along one side of the hen-house. It
covered the traps so deep that they couldn't possibly catch any one.
As soon as the snow stopped falling, Unc' Billy began to dig his way
up to the top from the very hole by which he had entered the
hen-house. He didn't like it, for he doesn't like snow, but now was
his chance to get away, and he meant to make the most of it.
XX
UNC' BILLY POSSUM WISHES HE HAD SNOWSHOES
Unc' Billy Possum didn't know whether he liked the snow more than he
hated it or hated it more than he liked it, just now. Usually he
dislikes the snow very much, and doesn't go out in it any more than he
has to. But this time the snow had done Unc' Billy a good turn, a very
good turn, indeed. Once out of the hen-house, Unc' Billy lost no time
in starting for the Green Forest. But it was slow, hard work. You see,
the snow was newly fallen and very soft. Of course Unc' Billy sank
into it almost up to his middle at every step. He huffed and he puffed
and he grunted and groaned. You see Unc' Billy had slept so much
through the winter that he was not at all used to hard work of any
kind, and he wasn't half way to the Green Forest before he was so
tired it seemed to him that he could hardly move, and so out of breath
that he could only gasp. It was then that he was sure that he hated
the snow more than he liked it, even if it had set him free from the
hen-house of Farmer Brown.
Now it never does to let one's wits go to sleep. Some folks call it
forgetting, but forgetting is nothing but sleepy wits. And sleepy wits
get more people into trouble than anything else in the world. Unc'
Billy Possum's wits were asleep when he left Farmer Brown's hen-house.
If they hadn't been, he would have remembered this little saying:
The wits that live within my head
Must never, never go to sleep,
For if they should I might forget
And Trouble on me swiftly leap.
But Unc' Billy's wits certainly were asleep. He was so tickled over
the idea that he could get out of the hen-house, that he couldn't
think of anything else, and so he forgot. Yes, Sir, Unc' Billy forgot!
What did he forget? Why, he forgot that that nice, soft snow, which so
kindly buried the dreadful traps so that they could do no harm,
couldn't be waded through without leaving tracks. Unc' Billy forgot
all about that, until he was half way to the Green Forest, and then,
as he sat down to rest and get his breath, he remembered.
[Illustration: There all the way from Farmer Brown's hen-house was a
broad trail in the smooth white snow.]
Unc' Billy looked behind him, and he turned pale. Yes, Sir, Unc' Billy
Possum turned pale! There, all the way from Farmer Brown's hen-house,
was a broad trail in the smooth white snow, where he had plowed his
way through. If Farmer Brown's boy should come out to look at his
traps, he would see that track at once, and all he would have to do
would be to follow it until it led him to Unc' Billy.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Whatever did Ah leave the hen-house for?" wailed
Unc' Billy.
His wits were all wide awake now. It wouldn't do to go back. Farmer
Brown's boy would see that he had gone back, and then he would hunt
that hen-house through until he found Unc' Billy. No, there was
nothing to do but to go on, and trust that Farmer Brown's boy was so
snowed in and would be kept so busy shovelling out paths, that he
would forget all about looking at his traps. Unc' Billy drew a long
breath and began to wade ahead toward the Green Forest.
"If Ah only had snowshoes!" he panted. "If Ah only had snowshoes like
Mrs. Grouse."
XXI
FARMER BROWN'S BOY CHOPS DOWN A TREE
"There was an old Possum lived up in a tree;
Hi, ho, see the chips fly!
The sliest old thief that you ever did see;
Hi, ho, see the chips fly!
He ate and he ate in the dark of the night,
And when the day came not an egg was in sight,
But now that I know where he's making his bed,
I'll do without eggs and will eat him instead!
Hi, ho, see the chips fly!"
Farmer Brown's boy sang as he swung his keen axe, and the chips did
fly. They flew out on the white snow in all directions. And the louder
Farmer Brown's boy sang, the faster the chips flew. Farmer Brown's boy
had come to the Green Forest bright and early that morning, and he
had made up his mind that he would take home a fat Possum for dinner.
He didn't have the least doubt about it, and that is why he sang as he
made the chips fly. He had tracked that Possum right up to that tree,
and there were no tracks going away from it. Right up near the top he
could see a hollow, just such a hollow as a Possum likes. All he had
to do was to cut the tree down and split it open, and Mr. Possum would
be his.
So Farmer Brown's boy swung his axe, chop, chop, chop, and the chips
flew out on the white snow, and Farmer Brown's boy sang, never once
thinking of how the Possum he was after might feel. Of course it was
Unc' Billy Possum whose tracks he had followed. He had seen them
outside of the hen-house, just as Unc' Billy had been afraid that he
would. He couldn't very well have helped it, those tracks were so
very plain to be seen.
That had been a long, hard, anxious journey for Unc' Billy from Farmer
Brown's hen-house to the Green Forest. The snow was so deep that he
could hardly wade through it. When he reached that hollow tree, he was
so tired that it was all he could do to climb it. Of course it wasn't
his own hollow tree, where old Mrs. Possum and the eight little
Possums lived. He knew better than to go there, leaving a plain track
for Farmer Brown's boy to follow. So he had been very thankful to
climb up this hollow tree. And, just as he had feared, there was
Farmer Brown's boy.
Chop, chop, chop! The snow was covered with chips now. Chop, chop,
chop! The tree began to shiver and then to shake. Cra-a-ck! With a
great crash over it went!
Bowser the Hound barked excitedly, and with Farmer Brown's boy rushed
to the hollow near the top to catch Mr. Possum, if he should run out.
But he didn't run out. Farmer Brown's boy rapped on the tree with the
handle of his axe, but no one ran out.
"I guess he's playing dead," said Farmer Brown's boy, and began to
split open the tree, so as to get into the hollow. And as he chopped,
he began to sing again. Pretty soon he had split the tree wide open.
In the bottom of the hollow was an old nest of Chatterer the Red
Squirrel, and that was all. Farmer Brown's boy rubbed his eyes and
stared and stared and stared. There were Unc' Billy's tracks leading
straight up to that tree and none leading away. Did that Possum have
wings?
XXII
WHERE UNC' BILLY POSSUM WAS
Where was Unc' Billy Possum? That is what Farmer Brown's boy wanted to
know. That is what Bowser the Hound wanted to know. Where was Unc'
Billy Possum? He was in another hollow tree all the time and laughing
till his sides ached as he peeped out and saw how hard Farmer Brown's
boy worked.
"Ah done fool him that time," said Unc' Billy, as he watched Farmer
Brown's boy wading off home through the snow, with Bowser the Hound at
his heels.
"You certainly did, Unc' Billy! How did you do it?" asked a voice
right over Unc' Billy's head.
Unc' Billy looked up in surprise. There was Tommy Tit the Chickadee.
Unc' Billy grinned.
"Ah just naturally expected Ah was gwine to have visitors, and so Ah
prepared a little surprise. Yes, Sah, Ah done prepare a little
surprise. Yo' see, mah tracks in the snow was powerful plain. Yes,
Sah, they sho'ly was! When Ah had climbed up that tree and looked down
and saw all those tracks what Ah done made, Ah began to get powerful
anxious. Yes, Sah, Ah done get so anxious Ah just couldn't get any
rest in mah mind. Ah knew Farmer Brown's boy was gwine to find those
tracks, and when he did, he was gwine to follow 'em right smart quick.
Sho' enough, just before sundown, here he comes. He followed mah
tracks right up to the foot of the tree whar Ah was hiding in the
hollow, and Ah heard him say:
"So this is whar yo' live, is it, Mistah Possum? Ah reckon Bowser and
Ah'll make yo' a call to-morrow."
"When I heard him say that, Ah felt right bad. Yes, Sah, Ah sho'ly did
feel right smart bad. Ah studied and Ah studied how Ah was gwine to
fool Farmer Brown's boy and Bowser the Hound. If Ah climbed down and
went somewhere else, Ah would have to leave tracks, and that boy done
bound to find me just the same. Ah done wish Ah had wings like yo' and
Brer Buzzard.
"So po' ol' Unc' Billy sat studying and studying and getting mo' and
mo' troubled in his mind. By and by Ah noticed that a branch from that
holler tree rubbed against a branch of another tree, and a branch of
that tree rubbed against a branch of another tree, and if Ah made a
right smart jump from that Ah could get into this tree, which had a
holler just made fo' me. Ah didn't waste no mo' time studying. No,
Sah, Ah just moved right away, and here Ah am."
"And you didn't leave any tracks, and you didn't have any wings," said
Tommy Tit the Chickadee.
"No," said Unc' Billy, "but Ah done find that yo' can most always find
a way out, if yo' look hard enough. Just now, Ah am looking right
smart hard fo' a way to get home, but Ah reckon mah eyesight am
failing; Ah don' see any yet."
"Dee, dee, dee!" laughed Tommy Tit merrily. "Be patient, Unc' Billy,
and perhaps you will."
XXIII
HAPPY JACK SQUIRREL MAKES AN UNEXPECTED CALL
Happy Jack Squirrel likes the snow. He always has liked the snow. It
makes him feel frisky. He likes to run and jump in it and dig little
holes in it after nuts, which he hid under the leaves before the snow
fell. When his feet get cold, all he has to do is to scamper up a tree
and warm them in his own fur coat. So the big snowstorm which made so
much trouble for Unc' Billy Possum just suited Happy Jack Squirrel,
and he had a whole lot of fun making his funny little tracks all
through that part of the Green Forest in which he lives.
Happy Jack didn't know anything about Unc' Billy Possum's troubles. He
supposed that Unc' Billy was safe at home in his own big hollow tree,
fast asleep, as he had been most of the winter. Happy Jack couldn't
understand how anybody could want to sleep such fine weather, but that
was their own business, and Happy Jack had learned a long time ago not
to worry about other people's business.
After frisking about he would stop to rest. Then he would sit up very
straight and fold his hands across his breast, where they would get
nice and warm in the fur of his coat. His beautiful, great gray tail
would be arched up over his back. His bright eyes would snap and
twinkle, and then he would shout just for joy, and every time he
shouted he jerked his big tail. Farmer Brown's boy called it barking,
but it was Happy Jack's way of shouting.
"I love to romp! I love to play!
I'm happy, happy, all the day!
I love the snow, so soft and white!
I love the sun that shines so bright!
I love the whole world, for, you see,
The world is very good to me!"
By and by Happy Jack came to the hollow tree that Farmer Brown's boy
had cut down because he thought that Unc' Billy Possum was inside of
it.
"Hello!" exclaimed Happy Jack. "That's one of the old storehouses of
my cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel! I've got an old storehouse near
here, and I guess I'll see if I have left any nuts in it."
He scampered over to another hollow tree standing near. He scampered
up the tree as only Happy Jack can and whisked in at the open doorway
of the hollow. Now Happy Jack had been in that hollow tree so often
that he didn't once think of looking to see where he was going, and he
landed plump on something that was soft and warm! Happy Jack was so
surprised that he didn't know what to do for a second. And then all in
a flash that something soft and warm was full of sharp claws and
sharper teeth, and an angry growling tilled the hollow tree.
Happy Jack was so frightened that he scrambled out as fast as he
could. When he was safely outside, he grew very angry to think that
any one should be in his storehouse, even if it was an old one. He
could hear a very angry voice inside, and in a minute who should
appear at the doorway but Unc' Billy Possum.
Unc' Billy had been waked out of a sound sleep, and that was enough
to make any one cross. Besides, he had been badly frightened, and that
made him crosser still.
"What do yo' mean by trying to frighten honest people?" snapped Unc'
Billy, when he caught sight of Happy Jack.
"What do you mean by stealing into other folk's houses?" demanded
Happy Jack, just as angrily.
XXIV
HAPPY JACK SQUIRREL HELPS UNC' BILLY POSSUM
It is very startling, very startling indeed, to rush into your own
storehouse, which you had supposed was empty, and run right into some
one sleeping there as if he owned it. It is enough to make any one
lose his temper. Happy Jack Squirrel lost his.
And it is very startling, very startling, indeed, to be wakened out of
pleasant dreams of warm summer days by having some one suddenly jump
on you. It is enough to make any one lose his temper. Unc' Billy
Possum lost his.
So Happy Jack sat outside on a branch of the hollow tree where his old
storehouse was and scolded, and called Unc' Billy Possum names, and
jerked his tail angrily with every word he said. And Unc' Billy Possum
sat in the doorway of the hollow tree and showed his teeth to Happy
Jack and said unpleasant things. It really was very dreadful the way
those two did talk.
But Unc' Billy Possum is really very good-natured, and when he had
gotten over the fright Happy Jack had given him and began to
understand that he was in one of Happy Jack's storehouses, all his
temper vanished, and presently he began to grin and then to laugh. Now
it always takes two to make a quarrel, and one of the hardest things
in the world is to keep cross when the one you are cross with won't
keep cross, too. Happy Jack tried hard to stay angry, but every time
he looked at Unc' Billy Possum's twinkling eyes and broad grin, Happy
Jack lost a little of his own temper. Pretty soon he was laughing just
as hard as Unc' Billy Possum.