CHAPTER V
THE “WELCOME HOME” PARTY
AT last it was nearly time to start for the party. The only thing there was to wait for now was for Mr. and Mrs. Watson to go to bed, as it would never do for the animals to start and then have Mr. Watson come out to the barn and discover them all gone.
To-night of all nights it seemed as if he would never turn out the lights. All eyes in the barnyard were watching the living-room, waiting for the lights there to be turned out and for those in the bedroom to be switched on. The window shades were up and the animals could see Mr. Watson comfortably seated in his big armchair reading the evening paper, his wife near him busy with her knitting.
“Oh!” exclaimed one of the young heifers, “I am growing so nervous waiting I could kick down the barn doors! It is such a glorious evening I want to start early and stay late.”
“There,” said another cow, “he has gone out to the pump to get his last glass of cold water before retiring, for I can hear the old pump handle squeak. But oh, dear me, he is sitting down again! He never does that! He always goes to bed directly after he drinks his glass of water.”
“See, Mrs. Watson is holding up the sock she is knitting and she is pointing to the toe. I believe she is asking him to wait until she finishes it. Yes, that is surely what she has done, for he is taking up his paper again,” remarked a third.
“I shall just die,” said the young heifer, “if they do not soon go to bed and let us get off. There are so many of us, why couldn’t some of us go on ahead? Then if he comes out, there would be plenty left and he would not miss those who have gone.”
This was being discussed when oh, joy! the lights in the living-room went out and those upstairs flashed on. A minute after that the procession, Billy at its head, moved silently but quickly out of the barnyard and down the hill to the little stream in the meadow which they followed until it brought them to Mr. Smith’s farm as this was the same little brook that wandered through Mr. Smith’s pasture where the party was to be held.
First came Billy and Nannie, then Billy Junior and Daisy, and then followed in pairs the pigs, sheep, young cattle, old cows and horses last. In this way the shortest went first and each could see over the heads of the animals in front of them. You never saw such a clean, glossy lot of animals as every one of them had spent most of the day in cleaning and shining their coats, either by taking a bath in the brook or rolling in the sand. Then to make themselves smell sweet, they had rolled in the mint bed by the stream or else crushed the sweet smelling garden pinks that had boldly pushed their heads through the garden fence.
They had gone about half their way when in the dim light they saw Farmer Jones’ cattle hurrying helter skelter in their direction, likewise bound for the party. They were coming in no regular order at all. First one would be ahead and then another. And their coats looked mussed and dirty. One white cow had great chunks of mud clinging to her sides.
When the Jones cattle saw how beautifully clean and spick and span the Watson animals looked, they were so ashamed of their own appearance that they felt like going home, and, in fact, the white cow did go back and clean up, arriving much later. She could not face the glossy cattle while she was in such a mess.
The leader of the Jones cattle was an old, old cow, and when she came up to Billy and saw how fine his procession looked, she gave a deep sigh and said, “I never thought of asking my cattle to clean up or to form into a procession, and here we come to the party looking just as we do every day. My, oh my! I can’t tell you how mortified I feel! But I assure you I never thought of cleaning up or of marching over in a dignified way instead of all rushing along pell-mell. But then you are young and up-to-date while I am old and set in my ways and how I am going to look never enters my head. I guess I am too old to be the leader of young stock and I shall resign my place to-morrow. Do you think we would have time to clean up a bit before we go to the party?” she inquired anxiously.
“Certainly! There is lots of time. Just go down to the brook and wade in it a little while and you will even then have ample time to get to the party before it is late. We came early because the younger cattle were so impatient to be off that I consented to an early start,” said Billy.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Whiskers, for your kind advice. I shall take it, and when we appear at the party at least we shall have the dust and dirt washed out of our hair, even if we do not shine like all of you. We won’t have time to let our hair dry and lick it down. What is more, when we do arrive, we will come in some sort of order, and not all helter skelter,” and she walked off to issue instructions covering what she planned to do.
She really expected to have a great deal of trouble in persuading her cattle to stop to clean themselves. But not so; they were every one glad to do so as they saw what a sorry sight they made compared to Billy’s procession.
When Billy arrived, he took his stand beside Mr. and Mrs. Spots, who were receiving under an old gnarled weeping willow tree beside the stream. He then presented to Mr. and Mrs. Spots those of his animals who had never met their host and hostess, after which the procession broke rank and wandered at will in little groups, mingling with the animals from the other farms. It was a very large party—the largest by far ever given by animals in these parts.
About half an hour after Billy’s group arrived, the Jones cattle came, and you never saw such a difference in appearance in the way they looked now and in the meadow.
The animals were having a most enjoyable time when suddenly they heard the most distressing baaing and groaning down in the meadow, but coming nearer and nearer as if the animal was running. As they listened, they could distinguish the words “Mama, mama, save us, save us!” Daisy pricked up her ears and recognizing the voices, she was off with a bound. Her husband followed, and Billy Whiskers too.
“What ever can be the trouble?” said Nannie. “The Twins wanted to come with us, but of course we would not permit that. Probably they have followed us and been frightened by something.”
That is just what it proved to be. The Twins grew lonesome after their father, mother, grandfather and grandmother and all the farm animals had departed, so they decided to follow them but keep out of sight when they reached the party. But when they were in the meadow where the grass grew away over their heads, they became frightened and were debating whether or not to go back home when with a bound there came a wolf out of the tall grass. Now if there is one thing a goat fears more than all else, it is a wolf.
The Twins let out a wild baa and began to run like mad toward the party, where they knew they would gain safety. As they ran they could feel the hot breath of the wolf and they were about to drop in sheer fright and exhaustion from running and crying when just before them they saw their grandfather, father and mother. With one bound Billy was beside them, ready to kill the grey wolf he saw close behind them. But when he looked a second time, instead of a wolf, he saw a neighbor’s big grey dog. He was also coming to the party and the Twins in their fright had mistaken him for a wolf.
Daisy was determined to take the Twins right back home, but Mr. and Mrs. Spots insisted that she put them to bed with their children in the stable, where they could sleep in safety until the party was over. This was finally agreed upon, and when everything was quiet again, Billy was asked to give them a talk about his travels.