"
Old Mr. Crow looked worried.
"I don't know what to do," he said anxiously. "It's an important meeting.
They're expecting me. And I'm late, as it is. If I go back home and leave
my umbrella I'm afraid they'll think I'm not coming."
"I suppose I could help you just this once," Jasper Jay remarked. "Of
course, it's not a thing I'd do for everybody. But since you're my
cousin, if you want me to do it I'll take care of your umbrella until
you come back again."
"Will you wait right here?" Mr. Crow asked him.
"Yes!"
"Will you promise not to spread the umbrella?"
At that question Jasper Jay's face fell. But pretty soon he said
cheerfully:
"I promise not to put it up--unless it should rain."
Mr. Crow looked carefully at the sky. There was not a cloud to be seen.
So he turned to Jasper Jay with a smile and placed the umbrella carefully
in his hands.
Then Mr. Crow flew away.
"It certainly can't rain," he said to himself.
Mr. Crow arrived at the meeting quite out of breath. And his friends
noticed that he seemed uneasy about something. He kept looking up at
the sky and asking everybody what he thought about the weather.
IX
CAUGHT IN THE RAIN
Left alone in the woods with Mr.
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