's horns--when they're in season, of
course?"

"You can have all the deer's horns you want," Fatty Coon remarked
thickly--for already his mouth was full.

And being very polite, Dickie Deer Mouse said the same thing; though of
course he waited until he could speak distinctly.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

XII

A LITTLE SURPRISE

Simon Screecher lived in the apple orchard, in a hollow tree, where he
could sleep during the day safe from attack by mobs of small birds, who
had the best of reasons for disliking him.

By night Simon wandered about the fields and the woods, hunting for mice
and insects. And since night was the time when Dickie Deer Mouse was
awake, and up and doing, it would have been a wonder if the two had
never met.

One thing is certain: Dickie Deer Mouse was not eager to make Simon
Screecher's acquaintance. Whenever he heard Simon's call he stopped and
listened. If it sounded nearer the next time it reached his ears, Dickie
Deer Mouse promptly hid himself in any good place that was handy.

So matters went along for some time. And Dickie actually began to think
that perhaps he didn't need to be so careful, and that maybe Simon
Screecher was not so bad as people said.

However, he jumped almost out of his skin one night, when he heard a
wailing whistle in a tree right over his head. And when he came down
upon all-fours again he couldn't see a single place to hide.

So he stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe.

To Dickie's dismay, a mocking laugh rang out. And somebody said:

"I see you!"

It was Simon Screecher himself that spoke.

Dickie Deer Mouse looked up and spied him, sitting on a low limb. He was
not so big as Dickie had supposed. But it was certainly Simon. Dickie
knew him, beyond a doubt, by his ear-tufts, which stuck up from his head
like horns.

"What made you jump when I whistled?" Simon Screecher asked him.

"I don't know," Dickie answered, "unless it was you."

Simon Screecher chuckled.

"You're a bright young chap," he observed. "But that's not surprising,
for I notice that you belong to the Deer Mouse family, and everybody's
aware that they are one of the brightest families in Pleasant
Valley--_what are left of them_."

These last words made Dickie Deer Mouse more uneasy than ever. But he
made up his mind not to let Simon Screecher know that he was worried.

"I have a great many relations," he declared stoutly. "Ours is a big
family."

"Yes--b