Part 8 (1/2)
He had hardly begun to tie the harness together when Grandmother Green screamed again.
The horse Ebenezer looked around once more, as if to say, ”I wonder what's come over the old lady.”
And Johnnie Green turned his head, too.
”My goodness!” his grandmother said. ”Did you see that? Something ran right up my back and jumped off my shoulder. There it goes now!” She pointed at a small object which was scurrying through the roadside fence.
”Why, it was a chipmunk, I do believe!” she cried. ”Now, where do you suppose he came from?”
Johnnie Green didn't know. And to tell the truth, he didn't much care.
You see, he felt very proud, mending the harness with n.o.body to help him. And he was not interested in chipmunks just then.
So Sandy escaped. To be sure, he was so far from home that he didn't know where he was. But he was so glad to get out of the sack of wheat that he didn't worry about being lost. He thought he could find some one who would know where Farmer Green's pasture was.
XV
THE ROWDY OF THE WOODS
One of the most quarrelsome of all Sandy Chipmunk's neighbors was Rowdy Red-Squirrel. He was happiest when he was fighting. But perhaps that was because he had never lost a fight. If Rowdy had had a sound beating, maybe fighting would not have seemed so pleasant to him.
Ever since Rowdy whipped Frisky Squirrel, who (being a gray squirrel) was bigger than he was, Rowdy bullied every squirrel in the neighborhood--no matter what color he might be. As for chipmunks, Rowdy Red-Squirrel boasted that he could whip six chipmunks at a time.
”That is, I could if they would stand still,” he said. ”Of course, if they ran off in six different directions it might be a hard thing to do.”
Rowdy was talking to Jasper Jay, who sat in a tree not far away. His boasting amused Jasper. First Jasper smiled. Then he laughed aloud. And after that he gave a hoa.r.s.e shriek, which rang through the woods most unpleasantly. At least, that was what Rowdy Red-Squirrel thought.
”What's the joke?” he asked.
”The joke?” Jasper answered. ”Why--ha! ha!--_you_ are the joke! I don't believe you can whip _one_ chipmunk. And when you talk of whipping _six_, I can't help laughing.”
”You wouldn't laugh if I could catch you,” Rowdy Red-Squirrel growled.
And if he hadn't known that Jasper Jay would fly away, he would have jumped into Jasper's tree and chased him.
”You mustn't expect me to believe you can whip _six_ until I've seen you whip _one_,” Jasper went on. ”There's Sandy Chipmunk in that beech tree.
Why don't you steal over there and show me whether you can whip him?”
”I'll do it!” Rowdy cried. ”Not that I find much pleasure in fighting a single chipmunk--for I can whip _one_ with my hands tied behind me.”
”Can you?” Jasper Jay asked. ”Then let me see you tie your hands.”
”I can't!” Rowdy Red-Squirrel replied. ”Who ever heard of anybody who could tie his own hands behind him?... _You_ will have to do that for me,” he said.
Jasper Jay gave another loud shriek and rocked back and forth on the limb where he sat.
”Another joke!” he gasped--for he was too clever to be caught like that.