The Tale of Daddy Longlegs | Page 9

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