"Old dog Spot ought to be here soon," the Major kept saying. "I can see him now. No! I"m mistaken."
Jolly Robin had so many disappointments that one morning when the Major cried out that at last old Spot was actually crawling through the fence, and would be in the orchard in about a minute and a half, Jolly couldn"t believe him.
It was true, nevertheless. To Jolly"s delight, old dog Spot came darting in and out among the apple trees, with his nose close to the ground. He was following a trail made by Tommy Fox, who had visited the henhouse the night before. And he was so intent on what he was doing that never once did he glance up into the apple trees, where Major Monkey and Jolly Robin were watching him.
Major Monkey dropped quickly down to a low-hanging limb. And as luck had it, Tommy Fox"s trail led old dog Spot right under the tree where the Major waited, hanging gracefully by his tail and one hand.
As old Spot pa.s.sed below him, Major Monkey loosened his hold on the limb and dropped squarely upon old Spot"s back.
The moment he landed, the Major dug his fingers into Spot"s long fur and hung on grimly. And at the same instant old dog Spot leaped high into the air and let out a frenzied yelp.
Jolly Robin was glad that his wife was not present, for he knew that the sight, and the sound too, could not have failed to terrify her.
Old Spot seemed almost out of his mind. For a few moments the poor fellow tore about the orchard in wide circles, hoping in vain that he might shake that strange load off his back.
But he soon saw that his rider clung to him like a burr. And wheeling suddenly, Spot shot like a streak out of the orchard and flew across the meadow.
Just before he disappeared behind a high knoll Major Monkey turned his face over his shoulder and looked behind. Then, holding on with one hand, with the either he waved his red cap at Jolly Robin.
The next moment Jolly saw the Major and his strange steed no more.
"They headed straight for the river!" Jolly exclaimed. And he felt so worried about his friend the Major that though he went home at once, his wife complained that his mind wasn"t on his work and that he was more bother than help to her.
Some time later Major Monkey limped back to his home in the haystack, dripping wet. His fine coat was torn. And he had lost his red cap.
When Jolly Robin saw him he asked the Major if he had had a good ride.
"Well," said Major Monkey, "it was a good one; but it was _too fast_.
If I started to travel south on old dog Spot"s back I"d reach my journey"s end before you had gone half way."
"Dear me!" said Jolly Robin. "Then we can"t travel together after all."
XXI
A Sweet Tooth
After his ride on old dog Spot, Major Monkey went to the henhouse for eggs even oftener than he had gone before.
Perhaps he had become fonder of eggs. Or perhaps he had become bolder.
Anyhow, he noticed that old dog Spot gave him a wide berth. Whenever old Spot saw him he tucked his tail between his legs and ran, yelping, into the house.
Now, Johnnie Green soon discovered that something--or somebody--was frightening old Spot almost every day. And having nothing else to do one morning, he made up his mind that he would watch and see what happened. So he climbed to the cupola on top of the big barn. And there he stayed for a long time, keeping a sharp eye on old Spot as he wandered about the farm buildings.
It was a good while before anything happened. But Johnnie Green did not mind that. He had brought plenty of cookies to munch. And he pretended that he was a sailor in the crow"s nest of a ship, on the lookout for a sail.
After a while he almost forgot what he was really doing. He was leaning far out of the cupola, shading his eyes with one hand, and stuffing a cookie into his mouth with the other, and gazing off across the meadow, when all at once he heard old Spot yelping.
That sound brought Johnnie to his senses. And glancing down, he saw Spot tearing across the barnyard, making for the woodshed door in great bounds. And behind him, perched on the roof of the henhouse, Johnnie saw a familiar figure.
"It"s the monkey again!" Johnnie Green cried. And he clambered quickly to the ground.
But when he reached the henhouse Major Monkey had fled. Johnnie could see his red coat flickering among the leaves in the orchard. But he knew it was useless to follow.
Although Major Monkey was aware that Johnnie Green had seen him again, he did not stop visiting the henhouse. To be sure, he became somewhat more wary. He never went inside the henhouse for eggs without first looking around carefully, to make sure that Johnnie Green wasn"t watching him. And for a time the Major kept an eye out for traps.
He saw nothing of the sort anywhere. But one day when he leaped to the window-sill of the henhouse he was delighted to find a lump of maple sugar, which some one had carelessly left there.
At least, that was what the Major supposed. And with something a good deal like a chuckle he ate the dainty greedily. It was the first bit of sugar he had tasted since he came to Pleasant Valley. And Major Monkey was very fond of sweets.
Johnnie Green, or his father, or the hired man seemed all at once to grow terribly careless with maple sugar. The Major hardly ever visited the henhouse without finding a lump somewhere. And if his liking for eggs hadn"t brought him thither daily, his taste for sugar would have been enough to make him continue his visits.
At last there came a day when Major Monkey discovered a thick pitcher on the henhouse floor. A chain was looped through its handle and nailed to the wall.
The Major grinned when he saw the chain.
"They don"t want this pitcher to run away," he said to himself.
Being of a most curious turn of mind, he looked into the pitcher. And then he promptly thrust in a hand.
There was a good-sized lump of sugar inside. And Major Monkey"s fingers closed upon it greedily.
His queer face wrinkled with annoyance when he found that he could not withdraw his hand. Empty, it could easily have slipped through the mouth of the pitcher. But with the sugar clutched in it, his hand stuck fast.
XXII
Caught!
Though Major Monkey tugged and tugged, he couldn"t pull his hand out of the pitcher.
To be sure, if he had let go of the lump of maple sugar he might have withdrawn his hand easily enough.
But the Major loved sweets too dearly to loosen his hold on any such toothsome morsel--except to pop it into his mouth.
So he struggled and fretted. He even tried to break the pitcher by knocking it against the floor.
It might as well have been made of iron, it was so strong. And the Major only succeeded in hurting his own hand.
Of course he made a great racket. And the hens, who had become used to his more stealthy visits, began to flutter and squawk. They made such an uproar at last that Major Monkey wanted to hurl the pitcher at them. But he couldn"t do that, with his hand stuck inside it. And besides, the pitcher was chained fast to the wall of the henhouse.
And right there lay the Major"s greatest trouble. If the pitcher hadn"t been fastened he would have run off on three legs, to the woods, where he might have tried in peace and quiet to get at the sugar inside it.