Back Aa

Tale of Kiddie Katydid

Close

<h3>THE SHORT-HORNS ARRIVE</h3> In at least one respect, the short-horned messenger had told the truth. Before twenty-four hours had gone by, the fellow returned to Farmer Green's dooryard; and with him came a great, fat person who belonged without question to the Locust family. Nobody could call his horns long. Nor could anyone call them medium. They were short; and no one in his right mind would deny it. "Where's that fellow you call Leaper?" the messenger asked Chirpy Cricket. "Here's his cousin! And the rest of the[105] family will be dropping down here in just a few minutes." Chirpy Cricket replied that he hadn't seen Leaper the Locust since the night before. "That's strange!" the messenger remarked, turning to his fat companion. "He was to be here to welcome you." "Ah! I see him now! He's right here in this tree!" exclaimed the fat one. And he half-jumped, half-flew into Kiddie Katydid's favorite tree. "You're wrong!" said Kiddie Katydid. "I'm a Long-horn—and you can't claim to be a cousin of mine." "My mistake! My mistake!" said the fat gentleman hastily. And he left even more suddenly than he had come. "I hope your friend Leaper hasn't given us the slip," he remarked to the messenger as he joined him again.[106] "Never fear! If he fails us we'll find him and punish him as he deserves," said the messenger with a savage frown. And Kiddie Katydid, looking down from his tree-top, was gladder than ever that he had escaped this terrible trouble that had come to Leaper the Locust. Soon a patter, patter, patter made itself heard among the leaves. "My goodness! Can that be rain?" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. "The moon is shining. And I don't see a cloud in the sky." Even as he spoke the strange sound grew louder. "Can it be hailing?" Freddie asked Kiddie Katydid anxiously. "Oh, no!" Kiddie told him. "What you hear is nothing but Leaper the Locust's cousin's family. They're just beginning to arrive."[107] Freddie Firefly could scarcely believe his own ears. "Why, there must be dozens of them!" he cried. "More than that!" Kiddie Katydid replied. "Hundreds, then!" "Still more!" Kiddie Katydid said. "Well, thousands, then!" cried Freddie Firefly. "You don't mean to say there are more of 'em than that?" "There are tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands," Kiddie Katydid declared solemnly. "They'll eat everything they can find. And we shall be lucky if they leave enough for the rest of us to live on, after they pass on." "How did you learn all this?" Freddie Firefly wanted to know. "That's another of my secrets," said Kiddie Katydid.[108] So Freddie Firefly went off to hunt for Leaper the Locust. He knew now why Leaper had struggled to escape from that mysterious messenger with the curious message. And Freddie intended to ask Leaper a good many questions about his cousins. But he couldn't find Leaper anywhere. He searched for him high and low, and far and wide. But nobody knew where Leaper was. "There are lots of Short-horns everywhere to-night," Benjamin Bat told him. "I claim any one of them is just as good as another." And Benjamin grinned horribly. Freddie Firefly shuddered. It seemed to him that he had never passed such a dreadful night before. But Benjamin Bat was having the time of his life. He said that he hoped the[109] Short-horns would like Pleasant Valley so well that they would decide to stay right there for the rest of their days. But, strange to say, Benjamin made things as unpleasant as possible for the newcomers. He ate as many of them as he could, remarking that from such a horde a few would scarcely be missed.[110] <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2>XXIII</h2> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2