Chapter 2

"Oh! It's not ten minutes' journey," said Buster. "I've just come from the clover-patch myself; and that's twice as far."

Daddy Longlegs thanked him. And then he turned and tottered on again. For a long time he walked as fast as he could. It seemed to him that he must have been travelling at least half an hour. But he saw not the slightest sign of the oat field, though he climbed a fence and peered across the rolling meadow.

Then he happened to catch sight of Chirpy Cricket hopping through the grass. And Daddy called to him and asked him how far it was to the oat field.

"It's a good half-day's journey from here," said Chirpy Cricket cheerfully. But Daddy Longlegs did not feel the least bit cheerful when he heard that.

"For the land's sake!" he exclaimed. "Are you sure you're not mistaken? Buster Bumblebee told me a long time ago that it was only a ten-minute trip."

"Ah! So it is--for him!" said Chirpy Cricket. "You must remember that he flies very fast. But I have to hop along much more slowly. And as for you, at the pace you were travelling before you stopped to speak to me you wouldn't reach the oat field before to-morrow morning! No--not even if you walked all night!"

VIII

IN NEED OF NEW SHOES

DADDY LONGLEGS couldn't help feeling discouraged when Chirpy Cricket told him that he wouldn't be able to reach the oat field before the next morning.

"I declare," he said, "if I had known it was such a long journey I wouldn't have tried to go there to help Farmer Green with his harvesting. I've already walked so far that my shoes are all worn out. And I can neither go on nor go back until I get some new ones." He looked very doleful--for he didn't know what to do. But Chirpy Cricket laughed merrily--as was his custom.

"Cheer up!" he cried. "You're in luck! Jimmy Rabbit has a shoe shop in this very meadow. Just follow me and I'll show you where it is!"

So off they went. And soon they arrived at the shoe shop, in front of which they found Jimmy Rabbit all smiles and bows.

"Here's a friend of mine who needs some new shoes," Chirpy Cricket announced.

"Come right in!" cried Jimmy Rabbit. "Any friend of Chirpy Cricket's is a friend of mine too. And if I can't fit your feet with shoes it won't be my fault. Only yesterday I sold a pair of shoes to old Mr. Crow. And his feet are enormous, as every one knows."

"Well, I want more than just _one_ pair," Daddy Longlegs piped up. "I want four--making eight shoes in all. And I flatter myself that my feet are very small," he added.

Jimmy Rabbit looked a bit surprised at that remark. He was not accustomed to seeing eight-legged people in his shop. But he made no comment, though he couldn't help staring at his new customer.

Meanwhile Chirpy Cricket had hopped away, after telling Daddy that he was leaving him in good hands. And then Jimmy Rabbit went to work briskly. He began setting shoes of all sorts and sizes before Daddy Longlegs. And soon he was not only placing them in front of Daddy, but on both sides of him--and behind him as well.

Jimmy Rabbit was so spry, and most of the shoes were so big, that in no time at all Daddy Longlegs was completely surrounded by a wall of shoes, which rapidly grew higher and higher.

"Stop! stop!" cried Daddy Longlegs. But Jimmy Rabbit was so busy that he didn't hear him. And he kept piling more and more shoes around his tiny visitor, until Daddy Longlegs was lost in a small mountain of big, little, and medium-sized shoes of many different colors.

Not till then did Jimmy Rabbit pause for breath. And when he saw that his customer had disappeared he was more than surprised.

"Where can he have gone?" Jimmy exclaimed. "I didn't see him go out. He was sitting right here only a moment ago. And now he's certainly not in my shop."

Even at that very moment Daddy Longlegs was frantically crying "Help! help!" But his thin, weak voice was quite muffled by the great heap of shoes that buried him.

After waiting for a few minutes Jimmy Rabbit closed--and locked--his door, and went skipping off to Farmer Green's garden, where the cabbages grew.

IX

LOCKED IN!

POOR Daddy Longlegs! Buried as he was under dozens of shoes--all of them many times bigger than he was--he couldn't help being alarmed when he heard Jimmy Rabbit walk out of the shoe shop and lock the door behind him.

Daddy wished that he had told Mrs. Ladybug in the beginning that he wouldn't help Farmer Green with his harvesting. Then he would never have started on his long journey to the oat field and worn out his shoes. And if he hadn't worn out his shoes, of course he would never have visited Jimmy Rabbit's shoe shop and got himself into such terrible trouble.

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 fashion. 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 Bumblebee. 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 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 legs 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 possible 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.

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 sound 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, Sandy 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. "It 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."

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.

"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 having 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."

"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. "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.

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."

But 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 the 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, 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 so 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.

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 he imagine that he was going to meet with a real adventure before the day was done.