Mr. Crow cocked an eye up at the sky. "To-morrow will be fair," he said. "I'm told that a good newspaper ought to tell a few jokes," Brownie Beaver continued. But Mr. Crow sneered openly at that. "I'm a _newspaper_--not a _jest-book_," he announced. "Then you refuse to tell any jokes, do you?" Brownie Beaver asked him. "I certainly do!" Mr. Crow cried indignantly. "Very well!" Brownie said. "I see I'll have to take some other newspaper, though I must say I hate to change--after taking this one so long." "I hope you'll find one to suit you," Mr. Crow said in a cross voice. And he flew away without another word. He was terribly upset. You see, he had enjoyed being a newspaper, because it gave him an excuse for asking people the most inquisitive questions. He had intended all that week to ask Aunt Polly Woodchuck whether she wore a wig. But he hadn't been able to find her at home. And now it was too late--for Mr. Crow was a newspaper no longer. As for Brownie Beaver, he succeeded in getting Jasper Jay to be his newspaper. Though Jasper told him many jokes, Brownie found that he could not depend upon Jasper's news. And as a matter of fact, Jasper made up most of it himself. He claimed that the _newest news_ was the best. "That's why I invent it myself, right on the spot," he explained. IX THE SIGN ON THE TREE On one of Brownie Beaver's long excursions down the stream he came upon a tree to which a sign was nailed. Now, Brownie had never learned to read. But he had heard that Uncle Jerry Chuck could tell what a sign said. So Brownie asked a pleasant young fellow named Frisky Squirrel if he would mind asking Uncle Jerry to come over to Swift River on a matter of important business. When Uncle Jerry Chuck appeared, Brownie Beaver said he was glad to see him and that Uncle Jerry was looking very well. "I've sent for you," said Brownie, "because I wanted you to see this sign. I can tell by the tracks under the tree that the sign was put up only to-day. And I thought you ought to know about it at once, Uncle Jerry." As soon as he heard that, Uncle Jerry Chuck stepped close to the tree and began to read the sign. Now, there was something about Uncle Jerry's reading that Brownie Beaver had heard. People had told him that Uncle Jerry Chuck couldn't tell what a sign said unless he read it _aloud_. That was why Brownie Beaver had sent for him, for Brownie knew Uncle Jerry well enough to guess that if anybody _asked_ Uncle Jerry to read the sign, Uncle Jerry would insist on being paid for his trouble. But now Uncle Jerry was going to read the sign for himself. And Brownie Beaver moved up beside him, to hear what he said. The sign looked like this: NO HUNTING OR FISHING ALOUD Uncle Jerry repeated the words in a sing-song tone.