As they fell, a huge, long-legged fellow named Christopher Crane alighted
on the fence, on the very spot where they had been sitting, and laughed
loudly at them.
"What's the joke?" Mr. Crow asked in an angry voice, as he picked himself
up. "I don't see anything to laugh at."
"Joke?" said Christopher Crane. "The joke's on me. I thought that thing
you have in your hand was a new kind of toadstool, growing on the fence.
And here I've been sitting on it all this time and never knew you chaps
were under it!"
At that, everybody except Mr. Crow began to laugh, too. But Mr. Crow
coughed; and his voice was hoarser than, ever as he said to Christopher
Crane:
"I'm wet as I can be. And I've caught a terrible cold. You're a
water-bird; and you don't mind a wetting. But for one of my age it's
very dangerous."
Then he started homeward. Though it was still raining, he tucked his
umbrella under his wing, for he was afraid those rude fellows would crowd
under it again.
And before he had reached his house Mr. Crow had made up his mind about
something.
XI
MR. CROW'S PLAN
Yes! Old Mr. Crow had made up his mind about something. After Jasper Jay
and Frisky Squirrel and Fatty Coon had come and crouched under his
umbrella, and Christopher Crane had perched himself on top of it, and Mr.
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