r of corn, Fatty Coon went back and
pulled another off the same shock.

Again he roused Master Meadow Mouse from his slumbers.

"He's at it again!" Master Meadow Mouse complained. "I wish he'd go to
some other shock."

The third time that Fatty Coon wrenched an ear of corn from the shock
where Master Meadow Mouse lived he paused and cocked an ear towards the
top of the shock.

"Was that a squeak?" he asked himself. And then he sniffed. "Ha!" he
cried. "Do I smell a Meadow Mouse?"

Fatty Coon was not mistaken. When he rustled the dried cornstalks the
third time, Master Meadow Mouse had cried right out in his sleep. And he
waked up just soon enough to hear Fatty Coon's remarks.

"Maybe you do smell a Meadow Mouse," he replied under his breath, so
Fatty Coon couldn't hear him. "But it won't do you any good; for I'm not
coming out of my castle until you go away."

It soon appeared that Fatty Coon did not intend to leave. For Fatty
began to pull at the cornstalks with his claws. Although Farmer Green
had bound the stalks together tightly, one by one Fatty tore them loose
and let them fall upon the ground.

And inside the shock Master Meadow Mouse suddenly started up in alarm.

[Illustration]

14

The Masked Bandit

IT was no wonder that Master Meadow Mouse was startled. He cowered
inside his nest in the top of the shock of corn. The whole shock shook.
There was a terrible rustle of dry leaves as Fatty Coon tore away stalk
after stalk.

"Old Mr. Crow never did this!" Master Meadow Mouse stammered. "He never
disturbed my rest. But this awful Fatty Coon means to catch me. And I
don't know what to do."

Meanwhile Fatty Coon was muttering horribly to himself as he worked.

"This fellow must be fat," he grunted, as he wrenched at a stubborn
stalk with claws and teeth. "With all this corn to feast on he must be
in fine trim. Mm! He ought to be just right to top off a good meal of
corn."

"My goodness!" Master Meadow Mouse gasped. "How annoying! He intends to
eat me!"

For a few moments Master Meadow Mouse wondered whether he ought to fight
or run. "I wish," he thought, "that I'd brought my old sign with me when
I moved to this new home. If I had hung it outside my door Fatty Coon
wouldn't have bothered me. When he read that notice, 'Gone to lunch.
Back To-morrow,' he would have shuffled off about his business." But
idle thoughts and wishes were of no use at a time like that. Master
Meadow Mouse soon