And of these he made good use. In the
shallows near the bank he struggled with all his might and main. And
soon the water was churned into a muddy pool.

[Illustration: "Let Me In!" said Timothy to Mr. Frog.]

Fatty never knew exactly how he succeeded in breaking loose from Mr.
Turtle. Anyhow, he found himself free at last; and he lost no time in
scrambling up the bank to safety.

Afterward Timothy Turtle always complained that Fatty Coon didn't "fight
fair."

"He gouges," Timothy would explain. "He'd just as soon stick one of his
claws into your eye as not. And I claim that's something no real
gentleman will do."

Now, Fatty did not leave Black Creek at once, after his adventure with
Timothy Turtle. He paused for a time, to squat on the bank and nurse his
injured paw.

While he lingered there he happened to glance up. And whom should he
see, sitting motionless in a tree near-by, but that old rascal, Mr.
Crow!

"Oh! Naughty, naughty!" Mr. Crow cawed in a mocking voice. "You've been
fighting."

"It's all your fault," Fatty growled. "If you'd minded your own affairs
Timothy Turtle would never have known anything about those eggs."

"Bless your heart!" old Mr. Crow cried. "Timothy Turtle would have
seized you just the same, if you'd never touched his wife's eggs. You
don't know him as well as I do."

"Perhaps not!" Fatty Coon replied. "And what's more, I don't want to. I
never want to see Timothy Turtle again."

Old Mr. Crow laughed merrily at that speech. But Fatty Coon only turned
his back on him.

_He_ was in no mood for laughter.

V

MR. TURTLE'S MISTAKE

Mr. Crow was in no hurry to leave Black Creek. And after Fatty Coon had
limped away the old gentleman still sat in the tree which hung over the
water. He hoped that Timothy Turtle would crawl out upon the bank and
growl about Fatty.

The old black rascal was not disappointed. Fatty Coon had not been gone
long when Timothy Turtle dragged himself out of the creek and stretched
himself upon the sand in the warm sunshine.

"How's your eye?" Mr. Crow asked him hoarsely.

"It's feeling better; but it's a wonder that I can see with it at all,"
Timothy Turtle grumbled. "If I ever get hold of that fat young fellow
again I'll pull him under the water before he knows what's happened to
him. He doesn't fight _fair_."

Old Mr. Crow chuckled.

"You'll never have another chance to show him the right way," he
remarked. "He won't come near this cr