Part 11 (2/2)

”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.

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