Grouse.

"I didn't see you."

"Well, you _heard_ me, didn't you?"

"I heard a _whirring_ sound," said Turkey Proudfoot, "but I didn't know
what it was."

"Great snakes!" cried Mr. Grouse. "Farmer Green ought not to let you
come into the woods--not if he expects you to spend Thanksgiving Day
with him!"

Tommy Fox chuckled at that remark.

But Turkey Proudfoot never let on that he heard it. He crouched lower
upon the limb of the oak tree and pretended to fall asleep.

Daylight was fast fading.

XIX

NIGHT IN THE WOODS

Mr. Grouse and Tommy Fox soon went about their business, leaving Turkey
Proudfoot to roost in the oak tree in the woods.

Though he pretended to be fast asleep, Turkey Proudfoot had kept one eye
slightly open. He had seen Tommy Fox trot away toward the pasture. He
had heard Mr. Grouse go _whirring_ off into the depths of the woods.

"It's too late to go back to the farmyard this evening," Turkey
Proudfoot grumbled. "It's almost dusk already. And there's no telling
about Tommy Fox. He may be hiding behind a tree, ready to pounce on me
the moment I alight on the ground."

Turkey Proudfoot actually began to feel a bit sleepy. He was in the
habit of going early to roost anyhow. So he huddled low on the branch of
the oak tree. And soon he was in the land of dreams.

He slept a long time. And while he slept a number of things happened of
which he knew nothing.

Tommy Fox came stealing back in the moonlight and gazed up at him with
longing eyes.

Miss Kitty Cat, who had prowled through the pasture on a hunt for field
mice, spied him. "I declare, that's Turkey Proudfoot!" she exclaimed.
"He must have got lost up here. I certainly shan't wake him and tell him
the way home. If I spoke to him he'd be sure to gobble and scare away
all the mice in the neighborhood."

Benjamin Bat came zigzagging through the air and all but blundered into
Turkey Proudfoot. Missing him by the breadth of a wing, Benjamin Bat
hung head downward from a near-by limb and stared at the sleeping form.
"Hello!" he squeaked. "Here's a newcomer in these woods. I should think
he'd cling to that limb upside down. He'd find it a much safer way than
sitting on top of the limb." Benjamin Bat was on the point of rousing
Turkey Proudfoot and advising him to change his position when a
quavering whistle sent Benjamin hurrying away. He knew the voice of
Simon Screecher, Solomon Owl's small cousin. And he had no wish to meet
h