ing. But when Jasper asked him to spread
it, Mr. Crow refused.

"I can't keep putting my umbrella up and down," he said. "If I did, the
first thing I knew it would be worn out; and then what would happen to me
if it should rain?"

"You'd get wet," said Jasper Jay.

"Exactly!" Mr. Crow replied. "And at my age I might take cold and be very
ill, perhaps."

"Where are you going?" Jasper inquired pleasantly. He was disappointed;
but he did not let his cousin see that.

"I'm on my way to a big meeting of the Crow family," the old gentleman
replied.

"And you're taking your umbrella?" Jasper asked, as if he were greatly
astonished.

"Why--yes!" Mr. Crow answered. "You seem surprised."

"I am," said Jasper Jay with a sad shake of his head. "I'd hate to risk
it, if I were you. There'll be some rough young fellows there and you're
likely to lose your umbrella. I'm afraid they'll take it away from you."

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. Crow's umbrella, Jasper Jay had a fine
time. First he looked at the umbrella very closely, from the handle to
the slender tip. Then he placed it under his wing and strutted back and
forth upon the ground, just as he had seen Mr. Crow parade before his
friends. And Jasper wished that someone would come along and see him.