Jolly Robin said somewhat doubtfully that he hoped Mrs. Robin would accept their plan. And then he dashed Major Monkey"s high hopes by remarking, "Of course, we always fly when we go South."
The Major"s face fell. He looked careworn and unhappy again.
"I don"t know how to fly," he faltered. "But if you"ll fly low, and slowly enough, perhaps I can run through the tree-tops fast enough to keep up with you. I hope it isn"t a long trip," he added somewhat anxiously.
"It"s about a thousand miles," Jolly Robin told him.
XIX
The Major"s Scheme
"I never can run a thousand miles through the tree-tops," Major Monkey told Jolly Robin in a tone of great disappointment. "I don"t see how I can spend the winter in the South; and I certainly don"t want to stay here, if it"s as cold as you say." The poor Major looked so glum that Jolly Robin was sorry for him.
"Can"t you get a ride?" he asked.
"I could ride a horse, if I had one," Major Monkey replied.
"That"s not a bad idea," Jolly Robin said. "But I"m afraid you"d have trouble finding a horse. Farmer Green would scarcely care to spare one of his horses for so long a trip."
"Well, I could ride a dog," said Major Monkey. "There"s that dog at the farmhouse--old Spot, as you call him. Surely Farmer Green wouldn"t mind if I rode _him_ away, for he"s nothing but a nuisance."
"Why don"t you ask Farmer Green?" Jolly Robin suggested.
But Major Monkey shook his head.
"No!" he said. "No! I don"t want to do that yet. Before I speak to Farmer Green I prefer to make sure that old dog Spot is _easy to ride on_."
Jolly Robin looked puzzled. His mouth fell open. And for a few moments he stared at Major Monkey without saying a word.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Man Began to Sing a Merry Song]
When he finally spoke, it was to ask Major Monkey how he was going to find out what he wanted to know about old dog Spot.
"There"s only one way," said Major Monkey. "There"s only one way; and that"s _to ride him and see_."
Jolly Robin thought what a bold fellow Major Monkey was. He entirely forgot the Major"s flight from the picnic grove. Riding a dog was such a feat as Jolly Robin himself would never, never attempt. And he was sure that if Major Monkey really undertook it there could be no doubt of his bravery.
"How do you know"--Jolly asked the Major timidly--"how do you know that old dog Spot will let you ride him?"
"Don"t you worry about that!" Major Monkey cried lightly, as he swaggered along a limb of the apple tree where they were talking.
"Leave that to me."
And Jolly Robin thought what a stout heart beat beneath Major Monkey"s red coat, and how fine it was to be one of his friends.
"I should like to see you when you first ride old Spot," said Jolly Robin.
"Delighted, I"m sure!" Major Monkey cried.
"And I hope you"ve no objection to my bringing my wife along, too."
Major Monkey was not so sure that he would care to have Mrs. Robin for an onlooker.
"Women are likely to be timid," he remarked. "They sometimes scream at the wrong time. And if your wife happened to cry out just as I was about to drop on old Spot"s back, he might jump. And that would spoil everything."
Jolly Robin decided that Major Monkey knew best.
"We"ll keep this affair a secret," he whispered.
The Major nodded.
"And now"--Jolly Robin asked him--"now where and when are you going to ride old Spot?"
Shutting his eyes tightly, Major Monkey wrinkled his low forehead until Jolly Robin began to fear that he was in great pain.
"Are you ill?" Jolly asked him.
"No!" said the Major. "I was only thinking. And it seems to me that the other end of the orchard, toward the farmhouse, would be the best place to begin my ride.... As for the time," he added, "that will be when old Spot happens to come that way."
"I"ll be there, whenever that may be," Jolly Robin a.s.sured him.
XX
A Fast Ride
For once Mrs. Robin had reason to complain that her husband did not do his share of the work. Jolly Robin _would_ spend most of his time at the further end of the orchard, talking with "that good-for-nothing Major Monkey," to use Mrs. Robin"s own words.
Whenever she flew over to speak to her husband, the Major was most polite to her, never failing to take off his cap and ask after her health. But Mrs. Robin had little to say to him. She had, however, a great deal to say to Jolly Robin. But no matter how much she urged him to stop idling and come home and help her look after their big family, Jolly insisted that he and the Major "had business to attend to."
At last, when Mrs. Robin gave up in despair, Jolly began to feel somewhat uncomfortable. And he tried to get Major Monkey to go and ask old dog Spot to come to the orchard, instead of waiting there uncertainly for days and days.
But Major Monkey would not consent to such a move. He was quite firm.
"I don"t want to _ask_ old Spot to give me a ride," he explained.
"Then how do you ever expect to get one?" Jolly asked him anxiously.
"Oh, there"s a way!" was the Major"s mysterious reply. And that was all he would say.
The longer Jolly Robin waited to see the fun, the more excited he became, and the more Major Monkey seemed to enjoy himself.