Of
course I can't go down to the village in my shirtsleeves."
He hurried away then, with Jasper Jay close behind him. And as soon
as Mr. Crow had put on his bright yellow coat the two checker-players
started for the village.
When Jasper and Mr. Crow reached the tree where the old gentleman had
waited for the train the day before, they found as many as a dozen of
their neighbors already there. Even as Mr. Crow dropped down upon a limb,
he could hear the train coming up the track.
Mr. Crow's friends in the tree chose the best seats they could find, in
order to get a good view of the race. And at the foot of the tree Jimmy
Rabbit stood on tiptoe. He had often wished he could climb a tree--but
never so much as then.
XIV
THE LUCKY LAUGH
As the train drew nearer to the tree where Mr. Crow and his friends were
waiting, it gave a loud shriek.
"You hear that?" said Mr. Crow. "It's still angry." And he shouted an
impudent _caw-caw_ in reply.
In a moment more the race began. Mr. Crow had no trouble in beating
the train, just as he always had. And when he had passed it he dropped
quickly and swerved across the track ahead of it.
To his great surprise the train never faltered.
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