may--and then again, I may not!"

And since he stayed right there and laughed, old Mr. Crow himself flew
away. It was a long while, too, before he could bear to hear people
laugh. For he thought they must be laughing at him, because he had
lost a tail-feather.

And perhaps that was what amused Jolly Robin, though I never thought
of that before.

VII

A NEW WAY TO TRAVEL

The time had come when Jolly Robin was ready to begin his long journey
to the South, for it was growing quite cold. On some days there was no
sun at all. And even when the weather was fair the sun rose late and
went to bed early. It was exactly the sort of weather Jolly Robin did
not like.

"No doubt you'll be leaving us soon," Jasper Jay remarked to Jolly one
day, when the two chanced to meet in Farmer Green's woods, where the
beeches grew.

"I expect to start to-morrow," Jolly Robin answered with a short
laugh. The mere thought of his warm, light-flooded winter home in the
Southland made him feel glad.

"Well, well!" Jasper Jay exclaimed. "I'm glad I happened to see you,
for I know of a new way to travel."

And Jolly Robin wanted to know all about it.

"If it's a better way than the old, I'll be pleased to try it," he
said.

"Oh! it's much better," Jasper told him. "If I hadn't made up my mind
to spend the winter in Pleasant Valley, I'd go the new way myself. But
the beechnut crop is good this fall. So I shall stay right here to
enjoy it."

"Tell me how we're to go, if you please!" Jolly Robin urged him.

"We?" said Jasper. "You don't mean to say you are going with a
_crowd_, do you?"

"Why, yes!" Jolly Robin replied. "All the Robins are leaving
to-morrow. And I had intended to go with them."

Jasper Jay shook his head.

"Take my advice and don't do any such thing," he said. "You'll find it
quieter travelling alone. And though you may not know it, it's the
fashionable thing to do."

Jolly Robin laughed when Jasper said that.

"But I'm not a fashionable person!" he exclaimed.

"Then you should become one," Jasper told him. "Besides, the new way
is _easier_, as well as more stylish. But if you're _afraid_ to try
something new, of course I wouldn't think of urging you."

"I'm not afraid!" Jolly Robin cried. "And if you'll only tell me what
I'm to do, I promise you I'll do it!"

"Good!" said Jasper Jay. "Meet me here day after to-morrow and I'll
start you on your journey. I can't explain anything now, because I
must