elevator. But
Dickie Deer Mouse never stopped to think of such a thing. Of course it
would have done him no good, anyway, to wish for an elevator, for there
was none in all Pleasant Valley. In fact, even Johnnie Green himself had
only heard of--and never seen--one.

It took Dickie Deer Mouse only a few moments to reach the top of the
tall elm, where Mr. Crow's bulky nest, built of sticks and lined with
grass and moss, rested in a crotch formed by three branches.

Dickie had never before been so close to Mr. Crow's old home. And now he
stood still and looked at it with great interest. It was ever so much
bigger than he had supposed, and exactly the sort of dwelling--cool and
airy--that he had hoped to find for his summer home.

"I don't see what sort of house the old gentleman can want that would be
better than this," Dickie Deer Mouse remarked to himself. "But it is a
long way from the cornfield, to be sure." And then he climbed quickly
up the side of the nest and whisked down inside it.

The next moment a great commotion frightened him nearly out of his wits.
A deafening squawking smote Dickie Deer Mouse's big ears. And something
struck him a number of blows that knocked his breath quite out of him.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

III

A STARTLED SLEEPER

Of course Dickie Deer Mouse ought not to have been so ready to believe
that stray bit of gossip about Mr. Crow. It is true that the old black
scamp had _talked_ about moving to a new place nearer Farmer Green's
cornfield. But his plan had gone no further than that.

He was sound asleep in his bed when Dickie Deer Mouse jumped down beside
him. And when Mr. Crow suddenly waked up it would be very hard to say
which of the two was the more startled.

For a few moments Mr. Crow screamed loudly for help. And he flapped and
floundered about as if he didn't know which way to turn, nor what to do.

During the uproar Dickie Deer Mouse managed to slip out of Mr. Crow's
house without being seen. But he was too polite to run away. Instead of
hurrying off to escape a scolding from Mr. Crow he clung to a near-by
branch and called as loudly as he could:

"Don't be alarmed, sir! There's no one here but me. And I ask your
pardon for disturbing you."

Dickie Deer Mouse had to repeat that speech several times before Mr.
Crow noticed him. But at last the old gentleman caught sight of his
visitor. And when he heard what Dickie said he looked far from pleasant.