But Freddie Firefly laughed and told him not to worry.
"I always enjoy at least one dance in the meadow each night," he explained. "They"re expecting me over there now. And I don"t want to disappoint them."
"No!" Chirpy answered. "And neither do you want to disappoint me. So please don"t fail to be on hand when the music"s finished."
After telling Chirpy that he wouldn"t fail him, Freddie Firefly flitted away. But in spite of what he had said Chirpy Cricket couldn"t help feeling nervous and uneasy. And he fiddled so fast that the other fiddlers kept complaining. They said he wasn"t playing in time.
Chirpy Cricket was too well-mannered to contradict them. But he had his own opinion, which he kept to himself. He thought his companions were out of time. "Goodness!" he exclaimed under his breath. "I near heard such slow fiddling in all my life!"
There was another way, too, in which Chirpy annoyed the others. He kept asking them--first one and then another--what time it was. And of course n.o.body wants to stop and look at his watch when he is fiddling.
At last one of his cousins told him, in answer to his question, that it was time to stop talking and pay attention to the music.
After that Chirpy Cricket tried to be patient. But it was hard not to be restless. And he kept leaping into the air, hoping to get a glimpse of Freddie Firefly"s twinkling light. For it seemed to him that Freddie would never return from the meadow.
At last the fiddlers stopped playing, one after another; for the night was going fast. The Cricket family always liked to be home before daylight.
Chirpy had almost given up hope of seeing Freddie Firefly. But to his great delight Freddie came skipping up just as Chirpy stood before Miss Christabel Cricket, whom he expected to see to her home.
"I"m glad you"ve come!" Chirpy greeted him. "I"ll take your light now.
And I"ll return it to you to-morrow night."
"Oh! That would be too much trouble for you," Freddie Firefly said. "I"ll go right along with you and your young lady. And after I"ve lighted her home I"ll do the same thing for you."
"Oh! That would be too much trouble for you," Chirpy Cricket objected.
"Let me take the light, please!" He certainly didn"t want Freddie Firefly tagging along with Miss Christabel Cricket and himself.
Of course, Freddie Firefly _couldn"t_ give Chirpy his light. It was just as much a part of him as his head. And since Chirpy Cricket began to get excited, and said again and again that the light had been promised him, in the end Freddie had to explain everything.
It was a great disappointment to Chirpy Cricket. He had expected to have wonderful fun, flashing Freddie Firefly"s light.
But Miss Christabel Cricket did not seem to mind in the least.
"You oughtn"t to blame Freddie Firefly for not loaning his light," she said. "You know you wouldn"t let him take your fiddle."
Well, Chirpy Cricket hadn"t thought of that. And he had to admit that what she said was true.
And just then the sun peeped over Blue Mountain. So everybody hurried home alone, after all.
VII
JOHNNIE GREEN"S GUEST
There were enough night noises before Chirpy Cricket came to live in the farmyard. What with Solomon Owl"s hooting, his cousin Simon Screecher"s quavering call, and the musical Frog"s family"s concerts in Cedar Swamp, it was a wonder that Johnnie Green ever managed to fall asleep. The Katydids alone were almost enough to drive anybody frantic--if he let himself listen to them--with their everlasting cry of _Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did_.
Johnnie Green himself said he wished the Crickets had gone somewhere else to spend the summer. At least, he thought they might play some other tune besides _cr-r-r-i! cr-r-r-i! cr-r-r-i!_ over and over again. If they would only fiddle "Yankee Doodle" now and then he said he wouldn"t mind lying awake a while to listen to it.
Perhaps Chirpy Cricket heard what Johnnie Green said. Maybe he wanted to punish him. Anyhow, he crept into the farmhouse one evening and found his way into Johnnie Green"s chamber, where he hid in a gaping crack behind the baseboard. And that very night, as soon as Johnnie Green put out his light and jumped into bed, Chirpy Cricket began to fiddle for him.
Johnnie had been sleepy. But the moment Chirpy Cricket began fiddling right there in his room he became wide awake. He had had no idea how loudly one of the Cricket family could play his _cr-r-r-i!_ _cr-r-r-i!
cr-r-r-i!_ indoors. The high, shrill sound was piercing. It rang in Johnnie"s ears and drowned the m.u.f.fled concert of the fields and swamp which the light breeze bore through the window.
For a few minutes Johnnie lay still. And then he sat up in bed. "I"ll have to get up and find that fellow," he said. "If I don"t, he"ll keep me awake."
The moment he stirred, the fiddling stopped short. Johnnie was glad of that. And once more he laid his head upon his pillow. But in a few moments that _cr-r-r-i! cr-r-r-i!_ rang out again.
Then Johnnie Green tried several remedies. He shook the bed. He knocked over a chair. He caught up a shoe and threw it toward a corner of the room, whence the sound seemed to come. And then he threw the other shoe.
Every time Johnnie Green made a noise Chirpy Cricket stopped fiddling.
And if Johnnie had had enough shoes no doubt he could have kept Chirpy from making any more music that night. But of course Johnnie couldn"t have slept any, if he had done that. Besides, he would have kept the whole family awake, too. He thought of that after he had hurled the second shoe. For his father called up the stairs and asked him what was the matter.
"There"s an old Cricket in my room!" Johnnie explained. "He"s keeping me awake."
"I should think you were keeping him awake," said Farmer Green. "Get up and look for him if you must.... But don"t let him bite you!"
"You wouldn"t joke if this old Cricket was in your room," Johnnie grumbled.
He did not grumble often. But he had had a long, hard day, swimming in the mill-pond and climbing apple trees. And he wanted to go to sleep.
Johnnie Green thought it was no time to crack jokes.
VIII
PLEASING JOHNNIE GREEN
Johnnie Green knew that he could never find the Cricket in the dark. So he crawled out of bed and lighted a candle, blinking a few moments in its flickering flame.
From his hiding place in the crack of the baseboard, in a corner of Johnnie Green"s chamber, Chirpy Cricket saw the gleam of the candle. And he wondered whether it might be a relation of Freddie Firefly. It seemed to have a trick of moving about in a jerky fashion, as if it didn"t know where it was going and didn"t greatly care, so long as it was on the move.
Chirpy Cricket kept still as a mouse then. He soon saw that the bearer of the bright light was quite unlike Freddie Firefly, in one way. He made a tremendous racket, knocking over almost everything in the room.
In a few minutes a voice called up the stairway again. "Is the Cricket chasing you?" it asked. It was Farmer Green, speaking to Johnnie.
"Don"t tease me!" Johnnie Green cried. "Come up and help me find him!"
So Farmer Green climbed the stairs and looked into Johnnie"s room and laughed.
"Maybe I ought to have brought the old shotgun," he said. "I"d hate to have a Cricket jump at me."
Johnnie managed to grin at that. He was so wide awake that he no longer felt like grumbling.