while I cut it down?"

Sammy grew black in the face with anger, for he knew that Paddy
was laughing at him. You remember how only a few days before he
had been so intent on calling Paddy bad names that he actually
hadn't noticed that Paddy was cutting the very tree in which he
was sitting, and so when it fell he had had a terrible fright.

"You think you are very smart, Mr. Beaver, but you'll think
differently one of these fine days!" screamed Sammy. "If you knew
what I know, you wouldn't be so well satisfied with yourself."

"What do you know?" asked Paddy, pretending to be very much
alarmed.

"I'm not going to tell you what I know," retorted Sammy Jay.
"You'll find out soon enough. And when you do find out, you'll
never steal another tree from our Green Forest. Somebody is going
to catch you, and it isn't Farmer Brown's boy either!"

Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. "Oh, who is it? Please
tell me, Mr. Jay," he begged.

Now to be called Mr. Jay made Sammy feel very important. Nearly
everybody else called him Sammy. He swelled himself out trying to
look as important as he felt, and his eyes snapped with pleasure.
He was actually making Paddy the Beaver afraid. At least, he
thought he was.

"No, Sir, I won't tell you," he replied. "I wouldn't be you for a