and didn't seem to
go with the kind of a place they had planned to have. He said if they
didn't have enough things they could borrow a few from Mr. Man when Mr.
Man went away and left his windows open, and that they wouldn't need
much to begin with.

[Illustration: LISTENED NOW AND THEN AT WIDOW CROW'S DOOR TO BE SURE SHE
WAS ASLEEP]

So then they got Mr. Crow's cook-stove out of the back store-room, and a
table that was his, and some chairs from different parts of the house,
and a few dishes which had come to him from his side of the family, and
they tiptoed around and listened now and then at Widow Crow's door to be
sure she was asleep.

They knew she _was_ by the sound; but still they were very quiet until
Mr. 'Possum started to bring a rocking-chair of Mr. Crow's down-stairs
and somehow got his legs through the rounds and fell and rolled clear to
the bottom, expressing his feelings as he came down.

That woke up Widow Crow with a jump, and she sat up in bed and called
"Thieves!" and "Help!" and Mr. Crow ran to her door and said that it
wasn't anything, only those scamps Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon had been
out late again. He said they had brought home one of Mr. Man's
beehives and had dropped it because the bees woke up just as they were
climbing the stairs.

Then Mrs. Crow called out quick, and said for him not to dare to open
that door and let those pesky bees into her room, and that she hoped
they'd sting that 'Possum and 'Coon until they wouldn't be able to tell
themselves apart. She said she bet she'd get that pair out of her house
if she lived through the night. Then she rolled over and went to sleep
again, and Mr. 'Possum got up and limped a little, but wasn't much
damaged, and they got all the things outside and loaded up, and set out
for the Hollow Tree.

It was moonlight and Mr. Crow led the way, and the minute they were far
enough off to be sure they wouldn't wake up Widow Crow they sang the
chorus of a song that Mr. Rabbit had made for them the day before when
he called at the Hollow Tree, and they had told him what they were going
to do. That was the Hollow Tree Song, which, of course, everybody in the
Big Deep Woods knows now, but it had never been sung there before, and
when they joined in the chorus,

Then here's to the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow
And the 'Coon with a one, two, three!
And here's to the hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow--
Then here's to the Hollow Tree,