morning came, and Daddy Longlegs crawled out of the hollow tree to continue his journey, he had a great disappointment. The moment he thrust his head out of his hiding-place he knew that he was in trouble. And he saw at once that he would have to miss Rustyp. 55 Wren's cousin's party, because he certainly couldn't go on, with the weather as it was.

Yet the sun was shining brightly. And there was scarcely a cloud to be seen in the sky.

A person might naturally wonder, then, what Daddy Longlegs could have found to worry him. It wasn't raining. And it certainly wasn't snowing, because it was not much later than midsummer.

Nevertheless Daddy Longlegs looked upon the fields with a most mournful face.

"I can't travel in this terrible wind!" he muttered. "If I had known there was going to be such a blow I would never have left home."

And now you know what Daddy's trouble was. With his small body raised so high in the air by his long, thin legsp. 56 he always found it hard to walk when the wind was blowing a gale. The strong gusts buffeted him about so that he pitched and tossed like a chip on the mill pond when its surface was ruffled. And Daddy had learned quite early in his life to seek some sheltered spot on windy days, venturing forth only when the air was calmer.

Of course it was never any too pleasant, to be obliged to lie low like that, when there were a hundred things he wanted to do. But it was much worse to be caught far away from home in a terrible gale. Not only was there no knowing how long he would have to stay hidden in the fallen tree before he dared begin his long homeward journey, but he had no one with whom he could talk. And it had always been Daddy's custom to spend gusty days as agreeably as possip. 57ble by gossiping with his neighbors.

Besides, there was the party on the bank of Black Creek! Daddy Longlegs knew right away that it was useless for him to try to attend it. And so it was no wonder that he felt unhappy.

p. 58

XII

GOOD NEWS ON A BAD DAY

For a long time Daddy Longlegs lay inside the hollow, fallen tree and looked out upon the wind-swept fields. If the stone wall hadn't been so far away he would certainly have tried to return home. But the weather was altogether too dangerous. He knew it would be risky to attempt so long a journey.

As he sat looking out of the chink in the old tree, through which he had crept inside it, Daddy suddenly saw a reddish, brownish flash flicker past the opening.

"Goodness!" he exclaimed. "I wonder what that was!" And in another moment the same bright patch of color again whisked across the hole.

Then Daddy Longlegs heard a soundp. 59 as of some one scratching upon the tree-trunk. And being of a very curious nature, he crawled half through the hole and peered out to see what was happening. Daddy Longlegs was all ready for a fright. He was so upset, on account of being caught away from home on a windy day, that he was unusually jumpy and fidgety. But—as it often happens at such times—he met with a pleasant surprise. For there sat Sandy Chipmunk, with his long tail curled over his back, and something very like a smile on his bright face.

Knowing that Sandy Chipmunk never harmed anybody that minded his own affairs, Daddy Longlegs spoke to him at once.

"It's a bad day, isn't it?" he called.

Hearing that tiny voice, which seemed to come from inside the fallen tree, Sandyp. 60 Chipmunk was so startled that he leaped high into the air; and when he came down again upon all fours he found himself staring straight into Daddy Longlegs' beady eyes.

"Oh! It's you, eh?" cried Sandy Chipmunk. And he looked decidedly foolish, because he knew that he had no reason to fear anybody as mild as Daddy Longlegs.

"It's a bad day, isn't it!" said Daddy Longlegs once more.

"I'm sorry I can't agree with you," Sandy replied. "I think it's the finest weather that ever was."

"You don't mean to say you like this wind?" Daddy Longlegs cried. "Why, I don't see how you dare to be out in it!"

"Oh, it's nothing when you're used to it," Sandy Chipmunk answered lightly.

"I shall never get used to the wind, I'm afraid," Daddy told him sadly. "Itp. 61 blows me about so terribly." And he went on to explain how he had started on a long journey the day before, and how he didn't dare go on—nor turn around and go home, either.

"Well, well!" Sandy Chipmunk exclaimed. "You seem to be in a fix. But why don't you ride home?"

"Ride?" Daddy Longlegs shrilled. "On what, I should like to know?"

"On Farmer Green's wagon!" Sandy told him promptly. "I happen to know that Johnnie Green and his grandmother drove to the miller's this morning to have a sack of wheat ground into flour. And they'll be coming back home this afternoon."

p. 62

XIII

A DANGEROUS BUSINESS

Sandy Chipmunk did not tell Daddy Longlegs how he had been tied up in the sack of wheat and had had a ride in the wagon himself. He did not like riding in wagons. And he had been so glad to escape from the sack and jump into the bushes by the roadside that he had stopped to dance on Daddy's tree before scampering back home.

His suggestion took Daddy Longlegs by surprise. At first he felt a bit timid about riding in a wagon. But Sandy Chipmunk assured him it was not half as bad as it was said to be.

p. 63"Is it far to the road?" Daddy asked him.

"Not if you hurry," Sandy told him. "If you start now you surely ought to be able to reach the road by the time old Ebenezer passes this field."

"Ebenezer! Who's he?" Daddy inquired.

"Oh! He's the horse that draws the wagon you're going to ride in," Sandy Chipmunk explained.

Daddy Longlegs thought deeply for a few minutes—or as deeply as anybody could who had so small a head as he. And then he said:

"I'll try your plan, for I want to go home. But it's very dangerous for me to do so much walking on such a windy day as this."

"Come on!" cried Sandy. "I'll show you the way to the road." And havingp. 64 started Daddy in the right direction, he hastened off to the road himself, to wait for the wagon.

Sandy waited by the roadside for a long, long time. And while he was lingering there, Daddy Longlegs was battling with the wind and having hard work to keep his feet. But by hurrying along fences, and dodging behind bowlders and bushes and every other sort of shelter that he could find, Daddy managed to reach the roadside at last, where he arrived quite out of breath.

"Hurrah!" Sandy Chipmunk shouted, as soon as Daddy joined him. "Here you are—and you're just in time! For there's the wagon rattling down the next hill. And old Ebenezer (that's the horse, please remember!) he'll climb this rise as fast as he can, because he's in a hurry to get home."

p. 65"He can't be half as anxious to reach home as I am," Daddy Longlegs remarked. "And if he doesn't go his fastest after I'm aboard the wagon I hope Johnnie Green will whip him hard."

"Johnnie can't do that," said Sandy Chipmunk. "His father won't let him have a whip."

"Well, he could cut a switch, I should think!" Daddy Longlegs exclaimed.

But Sandy shook his head.

"Johnnie's grandmother wouldn't let him do that," he replied. "But you don't need to worry. You'll get home soon enough."

Soon the two watchers saw the old horse Ebenezer come jogging up the road. And then Sandy Chipmunk said something that sent Daddy Longlegs into a flutter of excitement.

"Here they come!" cried Sandy.p. 66 "You'd better stand right in the middle of the road, so you'll be sure to stop them."

And the mere thought of doing such a dangerous thing as that made Daddy Longlegs turn quite pale.

p. 67

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."

p. 68But 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 thep. 69 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,p. 70 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 sop. 71 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.

p. 72

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 hep. 73 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. Andp. 74 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 nobody 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 bep. 75sides, 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 nobody 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.

p. 76

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!"