of Mr. Turtle. He was
somewhat ashamed, and frightened, too. And he did not like to look into
Timothy Turtle's blinking eyes. "How did you know?" he asked Mr. Turtle.

"Mrs. Turtle told me," said Timothy, shifting his hold slightly, for a
better one.

"How did the old lady know who took her eggs?" Fatty persisted.

"Mr. Crow saw everything that happened--and don't you call my wife an
old lady!" Timothy Turtle spluttered.

"Very well! She's a _young_ one, of course," Fatty said hastily. "But I
don't know how I've harmed you."

"You don't, eh?" Timothy Turtle snarled. "Then I'll explain. I meant to
have those eggs myself, young man!"

IV

A TIGHT SQUEEZE

Timothy Turtle's remark was most surprising. It almost took Fatty Coon's
breath away. And for a moment or two he even forgot the pain in his paw.

"Do you mean to say," he asked, "that you like turtles' eggs!"

"Do I?" said Timothy. "There's no better treat, in my opinion, than a
tender young egg, especially if it's well mixed with sand. And, of
course, twenty-seven of them are twenty-seven times as good."

"I'm sorry----" Fatty told him--"I'm sorry that I ever touched the
old--I mean the _young_--lady's eggs. And now that you've almost bitten
my paw in two, please--good Mr. Turtle--let me go!"

But good Mr. Turtle had no notion of freeing his prisoner.

"Not yet!" he snapped. "I'm going to bite you twenty-seven times as
long, and twenty-seven times as hard--if I can."

"But it was only a mistake!" Fatty Coon moaned. "I never knew you wanted
those eggs yourself."

"Take care----" said Timothy Turtle sternly--"take care that you never
make such a mistake again."

"Don't do that!" Fatty Coon suddenly cried.

"Don't do _what_?" was Mr. Turtle's testy reply.

"Don't pull on my leg!" Fatty Coon pleaded. "You'll have me in the water
in another moment, and I'll get wet, and my mother won't like it a
bit."

But Timothy Turtle paid no heed to Fatty Coon's objections.

"Certainly I'll pull you into the creek," he declared. "I'm going to
take you out where the water's deep, and drag you down, down, down to
the very bottom. We'll have lots of fun burying ourselves in the mud.
And I venture to say that you'll like it so well down there that you'll
never want to come up again."

If Fatty Coon was frightened before, now he was terrified almost out of
his wits. And he began to claw frantically at Timothy Turtle's head.

Luckily he had three free paws.