XIV
ONE WAY TO STOP A HORSE
EVERY one of Daddy Longlegs" eight knees began to shake, when Sandy Chipmunk told him to stand in the middle of the road, in order to stop the old horse Ebenezer, who was pulling the wagon in which Johnnie Green and his grandmother were riding.
"I can"t do that!" Daddy shrieked, shrinking away from the dusty road.
"I"m so small that they wouldn"t see me and the first thing I"d know I"d be run over.... You"ll have to stop the wagon for me--you"re so much bigger than I am."
But Sandy Chipmunk said he didn"t like to speak to Johnnie Green, on account of a little trouble he had had with Johnnie"s father over a letter.
"Can"t you wave your tail at him?" Daddy Longlegs besought him. "That wouldn"t be _speaking_ to him, you know. Wave your tail at Johnnie Green until he stops the horse; and then you can run away, if you want to. And while the horse is standing still I"ll scramble into the wagon, without anybody seeing me."
Now, Sandy Chipmunk was a good-natured person. And he saw that unless the wagon was stopped, Daddy Longlegs was going to be terribly disappointed. So he told Daddy that he would do what he could to help him.
Then Sandy leaped nimbly to the edge of the watering-trough at one side of the road and began waving his tail backwards and forwards, like a flag.
"That"s right!" Daddy Longlegs shouted approvingly. "But I wish you"d wave a little harder. I"m afraid they won"t see you."
So Sandy Chipmunk redoubled his efforts. And he wagged his tail so hard that before he knew what was happening he had lost his footing, slipped off the edge of the trough, and found himself floundering in the water.
Daddy Longlegs was watching the wagon so anxiously that he never noticed what was happening to his friend. But he observed that Johnnie Green began to laugh. And pointing toward the watering-trough Johnnie cried, "Oh! look, Grandma--look!"
The old horse Ebenezer, too, seemed interested in what was going on.
Anyhow, he swerved to the right and walked straight up to the trough.
And the wagon came to a halt.
That was Daddy Longlegs" chance. He hurried to one of the rear wheels.
And in spite of the wind he clambered quickly up and hid himself in a corner of the wagon-box.
Meanwhile Sandy Chipmunk, spluttering and choking, managed to pull himself out of his unexpected bath and frisked out of sight among the sumacs that fringed the road.
"Well, I stopped the wagon, anyhow!" he said to himself as he scampered away.
And that was just where he was mistaken. The old horse Ebenezer wanted a drink. That was why he had paused at the trough. He thrust his muzzle deep into the cool spring-water and drank so long that Johnnie Green began to be worried, for fear he would burst.
But old Ebenezer wouldn"t budge until he had drunk his fill. When he was ready (and not before) the wagon went rumbling up the road again, taking Johnnie Green and his grandmother home to the farmhouse--and likewise bearing Daddy Longlegs back to the stone wall, where little Mr. Chippy lived in the wild grapevine.
XV
A CALL ON A NEIGHBOR
DADDY LONGLEGS was delighted to be at home again. And Mr. Chippy--as well as other neighbors--remarked that they had never seen him so happy and cheerful.
Perhaps one reason for Daddy"s good spirits was the fact that the wind no longer blew and he could venture abroad without being buffeted about.
He was so relieved by the change in the weather that it seemed to him there could be no danger anywhere.
Little did Daddy Longlegs dream that a great army was even then making plans to capture him. And still less did he imagine that he was going to meet with a real adventure before the day was done.
Daddy Longlegs had so many pleasant ideas in his head that there was no room in it for any thought of danger. He had found that his neighbors considered him a hero, because he had ridden in Farmer Green"s wagon. A good many of Daddy"s friends rushed at once to the stone wall, to talk with him--as soon as they heard the news. And naturally he began to feel quite important.
"Weren"t you frightened?" people asked him. "Weren"t you afraid that the horse would run away?"
"Oh, no! I wasn"t the least bit scared, though I admit it was a dangerous feat," Daddy Longlegs told them. Then he would strut and swagger about, trying to appear as if there wasn"t a braver person than he in all Pleasant Valley. And he talked about his wild ride to everybody that would listen to him.
At first Daddy"s friends enjoyed hearing about his adventure. But he boasted so much about his bravery that his listeners soon grew tired of hearing him talk. And instead of his having many callers, it was not long before Daddy Longlegs found that n.o.body came near him, even to say howdy-do.
He endured his loneliness as long as he could, though he found it hard not to talk when he had so much to say. And feeling, at last, that he was in danger of choking over the babble that surged up from within him, Daddy Longlegs decided that he would go and call on Rusty Wren, who lived in the cherry tree near Farmer Green"s bedroom window.
"Rusty will be glad to know of my ride in the wagon," Daddy thought.
"And besides, I"d like to hear about his cousin"s party, which I missed on account of the big wind." So off Daddy Longlegs started, the moment the idea popped into his head. He was the least bit uneasy, perhaps, for fear Rusty Wren might not be at home, in which case he would have n.o.body to talk to except Rusty"s wife. And everybody knew that she was a person of uncertain temper.
But Daddy found Rusty perched on the tin roof of his house (his house was made of a maple-syrup can). And the first thing that Daddy Longlegs said to him was this: "Is your wife at home?"
That may seem a strange question. But Rusty Wren appeared to know what his caller meant. Anyhow, Rusty said, "No!" in such a cheerful tone that Daddy Longlegs knew they could have a good chat without being disturbed.
XVI
BOASTFUL TALK
"I SUPPOSE you"ve heard of my great adventure?" Daddy Longlegs began, as soon as he learned that Rusty Wren was alone--that is, alone except for his six growing children inside the house. "No doubt you know all about my daring deed?"
"Why, no!" Rusty Wren replied, looking at his caller with no little wonder--for he had always believed Daddy Longlegs to be one of the mildest and most timid of all the field-people. "What have you been doing?" Rusty asked.
"Something that you"ve never done!" Daddy Longlegs told him proudly. "I took a ride in Farmer Green"s wagon yesterday, after the old horse Ebenezer!"
"Yes! yes! Go on!" Rusty urged him. "What happened to you?"
"What happened to me!" cried Daddy Longlegs. "I should think that _riding in a wagon_ was adventure enough for anyone, without any other sort of danger added to it."
But Rusty Wren didn"t agree with him.
"Riding in a wagon is nothing," he declared. "Farmer Green rides in one almost every day. And as for it"s being dangerous, there"s only the danger that you"ll be late arriving at the place where you"re going--especially if you have to depend on old Ebenezer to take you.
He"s several thousand times my size; yet I can fly further in a day than he can trot in two weeks."
Well, Rusty"s scoffing remarks made Daddy Longlegs quite peevish. He had come to Rusty"s house in order to boast. And of course he was disappointed when he found that Rusty Wren did not think him a hero at all.