a chill."

"Remember! You're to keep absolutely still!" Jimmy Rabbit warned him.
"You mustn't move and you mustn't talk. If you should, my plan would be
spoiled; and then you would have to fight Reddy Woodpecker after all."

"I pr-pr-promise!" said Jasper Jay. His bill was chattering so fast that
he could hardly talk. And he was so cold that he looked uncommonly
blue--even for a blue jay.

So Jimmy Rabbit hopped away, feeling quite pleased with himself and his
plan. If Jasper Jay could have seen him stop, as soon as he was out of
sight, and roll over and over upon the ground and hold his shaking sides
he might have wondered what Jimmy was laughing at. Certainly Jasper Jay
could see no joke in standing still in a cold puddle on a frosty fall
day.

Well, after a time Jimmy Rabbit stopped rolling upon the ground and
hurried straight to the place where the beeches grew. And there--as he
had hoped to--he found Reddy Woodpecker, busily eating beechnuts.

"How are the nuts this fall?" Jimmy Rabbit asked.

"They couldn't be better!" said Reddy, stuffing his mouth as he spoke.

"They say there's a big crop this year," Jimmy Rabbit observed.

"Yes!" replied Reddy. "But it's none too big. In fact, there are too
many people in this neighborhood that come here for nuts. I hope," he
said, "that's not what you're looking for."

Jimmy Rabbit laughed.

"Certainly not!" he said. "I'm satisfied to leave the nuts for you and
Jasper Jay to eat. I want none of them."

"Jasper Jay!" screamed Reddy Woodpecker. "Don't mention that rowdy's
name to me, please! He's the greediest of all! And he's so vain--so
proud of that sky-blue suit of his--that I can't bear the sight of him.
I wish I could put him where he couldn't eat any more of these
beechnuts, and where I wouldn't have to look at him, either!"

Of course, that was not at all an agreeable remark for him to make.

But it seemed to please Jimmy Rabbit greatly.

XX

GETTING RID OF JASPER

"HAVE you finished your meal?" Jimmy Rabbit asked Reddy Woodpecker, as
they faced each other among the beech trees.

"Well, no--I can't say I have," replied Reddy. "When I begin to eat
beechnuts I never want to stop. It's something I can't help. And I've
been told that Johnnie Green is just like that when he gets a taste of
peanuts. You might say that I'll have only one meal all winter long. It
started as soon as the beechnuts began to ripen; and it won't be ended
until the last