The Tale of Daddy Longlegs Part 4

He soon saw that he might call for help until his voice was cracked worse than ever without its doing him the least bit of good. So he stopped shouting and began to climb out of the pile of shoes that surrounded him. And he was very glad, then, that he had eight long legs to help him. But when he found himself free of the shoes he seemed but little better off than before. There he was, a prisoner in the shoe shop! And the daylight was fast fading.

If Daddy Longlegs had been half as wise as his neighbors believed him he wouldn't have stayed in his prison two minutes. But after trying the door and the two windows and finding that he couldn't open them he made up his mind that there was nothing for him to do except to wait until Jimmy Rabbit came back the following day.

And there was the chimney all the time! Daddy Longlegs could have crawled up it just as easily as Santa Claus could have crept down it!

But because he had never left anybody's house or shop by way of the chimney, Daddy Longlegs never once thought of doing such a thing.

And his thinking that Jimmy Rabbit wouldn't come back until the next morning shows that Daddy knew very little about the ways of his neighbors. Almost anybody else would have been sure that Jimmy Rabbit would keep his shoe shop open at night, because he was always wider awake after dark. And many others of the field-people were exactly like him in that respect.

Daddy Longlegs had been sleeping soundly for some time--inside the toe of a shoe--when the sound of voices awakened him. At first he kept very still. Being naturally a timid person he did not want to show himself until he was sure he was safe from harm.

And then, before he realized what was happening, he felt himself picked up--shoe and all--and he heard Jimmy Rabbit say, "Try on this shoe, Peter Mink!"

Since there was no doubt--the next instant--that Peter Mink was thrusting his foot into Daddy's hiding-place, there was only one thing for Daddy to do. Knowing that he was in great danger of being crushed, he withdrew into the very tip of the shoe. And luckily for him, Peter Mink's toes did not quite reach him.

After that Daddy Longlegs could hear nothing more; nor did he know what was happening. But to make a long story short, Jimmy Rabbit gave Peter Mink another shoe--for Peter's other foot--and bowed his customer politely out of his shop.

After that Jimmy Rabbit promptly locked the door again. But this time he locked himself _in_ instead of _out_. You see, he never felt safe in Peter Mink's company.

Naturally, Jimmy locked Daddy Longlegs out of the shop, too, though he didn't know it.

And there Peter Mink stood in the moon-lit meadow, with his new shoes on his feet, and with Daddy Longlegs hidden in the toe of his right shoe.

But no matter if it _was_ the right shoe, Daddy Longlegs thought it was all wrong.

X

RIDE BY MOONLIGHT

IT was not exactly a pleasant ride that Daddy Longlegs had in the toe of Peter Mink's shoe. Not only was it dark pocket inside the shoe, but it was so cramped that Daddy was most uncomfortable. And what was still worse, he hadn't even the faintest idea where he was going.

Sometimes Daddy was almost sure that Peter Mink was carrying him around Blue Mountain. And at other times he thought that Peter must be following Swift River--to see where it went, perhaps. Anyhow, Daddy suffered such a pitching and tossing and tumbling and jouncing as he had never known in all his life.

Then at last, to Daddy's great relief, Peter Mink kept quite still for a long time.

That was when Peter burrowed into a haystack to take a nap. And since it was then many hours past Daddy Longlegs' regular bedtime, he went to sleep too. But he awoke with a great start when Peter Mink crawled out of his shelter about dawn. And at first Daddy couldn't imagine what was happening. But after he had been bounced about a bit he remembered the terrible accident that had happened to him in Jimmy Rabbit's shoe shop in the meadow.

Suddenly Peter Mink stopped. And to Daddy Longlegs' great delight Peter began to take off his shoes.

Yes! Peter Mink removed his shoes. And then he removed himself. That is to say, he dropped his shoes carelessly upon the ground (for that was his way!) and took himself off.

Daddy Longlegs waited until Peter Mink had stolen away. And then he dashed out of the shoe much faster than he had entered it the evening before.

Yes; the evening before! For now it was the following morning--and broad daylight.

Daddy Longlegs stretched his eight legs, first one after another, and then all together. He was so glad to escape from his cramped quarters that he had little thought for anything except the joy of being free once more.

Then he remembered all at once that he was lost. And that was enough to start his eight legs to shaking beneath him in a very unpleasant fas.h.i.+on. Daddy Longlegs was frightened. Anybody could have seen that.

After a few moments he looked about him, wondering which way he had better go. And as he gazed at his surroundings he saw--not far off--a familiar looking object.

At first Daddy could scarcely believe his eyes. And he looked steadily at what he saw, as if he half expected it would fly away and vanish.

But the object did nothing of the kind. And how could it, anyhow?

Because it was Farmer Green's house that had caught Daddy Longlegs'

eye.... And there stood the great barn too, a little way off! And there was the bridge across Swift River!

Without knowing what he was doing, Peter Mink had brought Daddy Longlegs almost home. And then he had taken off his shoes because he wanted to go for a swim in the duck pond, in the hope of catching an eel for his breakfast.

Well, Daddy Longlegs lost no time in making his way back to the stone wall by the roadside. And the first person he met there was no other than little Mrs. Ladybug, who seemed delighted to see him and asked him how he liked working for Farmer Green.

"Yes! It's a fine day," said Daddy Longlegs. "The rain is holding off.

And it looks as if Farmer Green was going to get his oats harvested without their being wet, after all."

"I see you're deaf to-day," Mrs. Ladybug observed in a pitying tone.

"It's a shame. And Farmer Green ought to be very grateful to you for your help."

"He hasn't said a word to me," Daddy Longlegs told her. And Mrs.

Ladybug declared she couldn't understand it.

But there were many other things, too, that she didn't understand. She had heard that Daddy was a harvestman. But she didn't know that some people called him by that name merely because he was seen in Pleasant Valley about the time Farmer Green harvested his crops. As for working in the fields, Daddy Longlegs knew no more about that than did that fat drone, Buster b.u.mblebee. And Farmer Green would have laughed heartily at the idea of either of them helping him.

XI

THE BIG WIND

FOR several days after his unlucky journey across the meadow, when he tried to reach the field where Farmer Green was harvesting his oats, Daddy Longlegs did not wander far from the stone wall.

But one day Rusty Wren told him that his cousin, Long Bill Wren, was going to give a party at his house in the reeds on the bank of Black Creek. And although he had not been invited to the party, Daddy Longlegs thought it would be pleasant to go to it.

Accordingly he started off at once, though the party was not to take place until the afternoon of the following day. But Daddy Longlegs knew that he was a slow walker--and Black Creek was a long distance away.

Now, it was a fine, beautiful morning when Daddy set forth on his journey. And he travelled steadily all day long without meeting with an adventure of any sort.

When night came he crept inside an old fallen tree-trunk. And he went to sleep feeling very happy, because he was thinking what a good time he was going to have at the party the next afternoon.

But when 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 Rusty Wren's cousin's party, because he certainly couldn't go on, with the weather as it was.

Yet the sun was s.h.i.+ning 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.