hole valley rang
with the uproar.

Then one of old Mr. Crow's best friends spoke up and said:

"It's plain that a good many people want _you_ for a leader, stranger."

"Then I'd be very happy to act as such," the bold fellow replied. "And
I'll begin at once."

But the elderly person who had just spoken said that there was no hurry
and that the stranger ought first to be put to a test.

"We want to make sure that you're a good leader," he explained. "And I
would suggest that you go to see Farmer Green to-morrow, tell him that we
object to his putting tar on his corn, and ask him not to do it again
next spring."

The stranger looked somewhat uneasy, as he listened. But after he had
pondered for a few moments he said briskly:

"I'll do that! I'll go to Farmer Green to-morrow (he won't be busy, for
to-morrow's Sunday), and I'll make him agree to what you want."

"We'll meet again on Monday, at sunset," Mr. Crow's friend announced.

And then the meeting broke up in the wildest disorder.

As for old Mr. Crow, he crept away without speaking to anyone. And
always, before, he had made more noise than any ten of the others.

XXIII

THE WHITE FLAG

Unhappy Mr. Crow could scarcely eat a mouthful of food after that meeting
on Saturday night, when he found the stranger talking to the gathering.
He was worried, because he knew that if the stranger succeeded in getting
Farmer Green to promise that he would not put tar on his corn the
following spring, everybody would choose the newcomer to be the leader of
all the crows in Pleasant Valley. And that was an honor that old Mr. Crow
had had for years.

For two whole days he sulked at home. He wouldn't even go to his door
when anybody knocked. But on Monday evening Mr. Crow was the first to
reach the meeting-place in the pine woods, long before sunset. He sat
himself down in the leader's seat. And there he intended to stay as
long as he could.

At last his neighbors came straggling to the woods. And when the stranger
arrived he seemed annoyed because he could not have Mr. Crow's seat. And
he said in an undertone to Mr. Crow:

"I advise you to go home."

The old gentleman glared at him. And he answered in a loud voice:

"I advise you to go home yourself--_if you have a home to go to_!"

Now, some people thought that Mr. Crow's answer was a good one. So they
laughed. And that made the stranger feel quite uncomfortable.

But there were others who spoke up and s