in some way."

Now, nobody in Pleasant Valley could look gloomier than old Mr. Crow.
And when he hinted darkly, in his hoarse way, that there was trouble
ahead for the Robin family, he threw Jolly Robin's wife into a flutter.

"Oh, what does Grunty Pig mean to do to us?" Mrs. Robin quavered.

"I'd rather not tell you," said old Mr. Crow. "I don't want you to
worry."

Mr. Crow left them then. Of course he couldn't have chosen a better way
to upset Mrs. Robin. Even Jolly himself had to admit after a while that
he could think of nothing that seemed to cheer his wife in the least.
"I'll speak to Mr. Crow again," he told his wife. "I'll ask him just
what he meant."

Alas! Mr. Crow couldn't tell him. The truth was that Mr. Crow had
already told all he knew.

"I'll ask Grunty Pig himself what he means to do to us," Jolly then
declared to his wife. "I've noticed that he digs every day at the foot
of our apple tree. The next time he comes here I'll have a talk with
him." So that very day Jolly put his question to Grunty Pig.

"What is it," he asked, "that you intend to do to us?"

"You'll find out later," said Grunty Pig. "I expect to be in the top of
your apple tree before fall. And then--"

Jolly Robin couldn't wait for him to finish. He had to laugh right out,
on the spot. And his wife, who had been listening eagerly, burst into
the first giggle that had passed her bill for days and days.

So Grunty Pig expected to climb a tree! Mr. and Mrs. Robin gave each
other a merry look. It was all too funny for words.

"Umph!" said Grunty Pig. "You won't laugh when I'm in your tree top."

"How are you going to get up here?" Jolly Robin asked him, with a wink
at Mrs. Robin. "Are you going to _fly_?"

"No!" Grunty Pig said. "No!"

"Then you're going to _climb_," cried Mrs. Robin. And both she and her
husband choked, as they pictured fat Grunty Pig scrambling up the trunk
of the old apple tree.

"No!" Grunty Pig said. "No!"

"Well, well!" Jolly Robin exclaimed. "Don't be so short with your
answers! Explain how you expect to get up into the top of our apple
tree."

"I never said I expected to get up there," Grunty Pig corrected him.

"What?" cried Jolly Robin. "What?" cried his wife.

"No!" said Grunty Pig. "I said I'd be in the tree top before fall. If I
work here every day around the foot of the tree I'll have it uprooted at
last. And when it topples over and falls on the ground I'll have no
trouble getting into t