CHAPTER IV
AN INVITATION TO A “WELCOME HOME” PARTY
WHILE Billy Whiskers and his family were eating their breakfast the next morning, who should come fluttering down beside them but a beautiful fan-tailed pigeon from Mr. Smith’s farm, bearing an urgent invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Billy Whiskers, Mr. and Mrs. Billy Whiskers, Jr., as well as Stubby and Button, to attend that very night, as soon as the moon was up, a “welcome home” party Mr. and Mrs. Spotted Goat were giving in honor of the home-coming of Billy Whiskers and his Chums. The affair was to be held in the hollow between two high hills down in the pasture by the side of the little brook. And all the other animals on the Watson farm were likewise invited, as were those on the Jones farm. Even the pigs had been bidden to the feast of welcome!
“Thank Mr. and Mrs. Spotted Goat for their kind invitation to myself and family. Give them our regards and tell them we all accept, including Stubby and Button, and that I personally consider it a great honor for them to give such a party.”
“Oh, grandfather, can’t we go too?” asked Punch.
“Do say yes, grandfather!” pleaded Judy. “We want to go so much! We love to play with the little goats and lambs on the Smith farm, and we won’t be a bit of bother or get into mischief even once.”
“No, truly, we won’t!” chimed in Punch.
“I am sorry, but I could not take you out to an evening party. Besides, no children are included; just grown-ups.”
“Well, but we won’t bother them. We can get some of the little kids and lambs and go away off from the party to play. Oh, do let us go! We never have been to a big party like that,” pleaded Judy.
“Children,” commanded their mother, “stop teasing. You cannot go and that settles it. Besides, what did I tell you, Judy? If you do not break yourself of this habit of teasing, I will punish you severely. It is a most annoying habit for a kid to have. I simply won’t permit you to do it. What is more, you need not go off pouting for that is as bad as teasing.”
The Twins walked off behind the barn with gloomy faces, but they had scarcely turned the corner when Judy’s face brightened, and she exclaimed, “I tell you what let’s do, Punch! Let’s run away and go over to Mr. Smith’s farm and watch them prepare for the party and play with Mrs. Spots’ twins. We can have a fine time before the party begins. Almost as much as if we went to it, for we won’t have the grown-ups there to say, ‘Don’t do that!’ to us all the time.”
“Oh, Judy, you are a brick for thinking of that plan! It will be lovely. I’ll go ask mother if we may go down in the pasture and play in the brook,” replied Punch. “If we ask her, they won’t be looking for us all the time and discover we are gone. You know our pasture adjoins Mr. Smith’s where the party is to be held, and the same brook runs through both. We can walk up the stream and crawl under the wire that stretches across the stream to separate the two pastures. And if we should happen to get on the other side of the wire when wading, no one could blame us for not noticing that, could they?”
“Of course not! Run along and ask her. I’ll wait for you here.”
“Mother, where are you?” called Punch.
“Over here by the watering trough,” she answered.
“Well, mother, may Judy and I go down in our meadow and play by the brook? It is so nice and cool down there and we love to stand in the water and watch the fish swim around.”
“Yes, if you will be careful and stay away from the holes, for you could easily drown in one of them, the water is so deep. But you well know where they are, don’t you? Each one has a long stick driven in it, standing well out of the water, with a red flag on it. So you can’t help knowing where they are. Good-by, and come home early for luncheon.”
“I won’t promise about that. We may be having too good a time to come home and we can eat some nice green grass and peppermint down by the stream, which will be a better luncheon than you will have. So don’t look for us, mother.”
“Very well! Be good children, and be careful about the deep holes.”
“All right. We won’t go near the holes. Good-by!” and Punch was off with a skip and a jump around the barn.
“Hurrah! Hurrah! We may go, Judy! Come along! I’ll race you down the hill.”
“It is very nice of Mr. and Mrs. Spots to give a party for us and such a big one, too, for there are dozens of animals on the farms round about us, and they have invited them from every farm that adjoins theirs,” said Billy.
“Yes, but you must remember, my dear, that not one-third of them will be able to come, as they cannot get out of their stables and pastures on account of the high fences and the locked doors of the stables.”
“Yes, I know that. But isn’t it a shame they cannot get away, for they all have such quiet lives that it would do them good to have a little excitement now and then.”
“Here come some of the sheep and goats to ask you not what they shall wear, having only one dress to their names, but how in the world they are to get the dirt off their wool and hair.”
“Good-morning, Mr. and Mrs. Billy Whiskers! Isn’t it lovely that the Spots are going to give a party for you?” said Mrs. Wire Hair, one of the goats. “But I am in despair. Just look at my hair! It is all stained with yellow clay. And worse than that, with black muck, too. I nearly stranded in the quagmire down by the pond yesterday and now I am a sight!”
“None of us looks particularly well,” said another. “What say you we have a swimming party and all go down to the brook and stand in the water until the stain and dirt is washed off?” said Billy Whiskers.
“A splendid idea! We knew if we came to you, Mr. Whiskers, you would think of some way we could look respectable at the party.”
In less than half an hour, had you stood on the brow of the hill in the Watson barnyard and gazed down into the valley, you would have seen cows, horses, pigs, goats and sheep all standing in the pond into which the stream widened. Every animal had a happy face, for was not the water washing off the grime in fine shape? Billy’s and Nannie’s long white hair would soon look like spun silk. As for Button, he sat on a flat rock on the bank and licked his fur until it shone as if made of black satin.
All this time what do you suppose those mischievous Twins were doing but helping the Spots family carry things to eat down to the pasture where the party was to be? There was a shock of fresh green cornstalks in the Spots barnyard and this delicacy Mr. and Mrs. Spots, their children and several horses and cows were pulling out of the shock and carrying in their mouths down by the stream where the party was to be given. If the Twins had been asked to do this at home, they would have carried one mouthful and then complained that their legs were weary with climbing the hill. But to do it for other people was fun, and they never complained once, nor stopped until Mrs. Spots said they would not dare to carry away any more or it would be missed by Mr. Smith when he came into the barnyard.
As it was, Mr. Smith did wonder why it was so many of his horses, cows and pigs stayed in the barnyard that morning instead of going out into the pasture to eat the nice fresh clover. But finally he passed it by, thinking they just happened to remain as in all probability they had come in from the pasture to get a drink of nice cool water at the trough by the pump.
“I feel sick to my stomach, Punch. Let’s go home,” said Judy.
“Oh, no! You will feel better in a few minutes. You have been eating too many of those luscious green cornstalks. They act on goats just as too much candy acts on children. Go over and lie down on that nice soft turf by the haystack. Keep in the warm sun for a while and then if you do not feel better, I will take you home.”
“Come,” said one of the other goats, “let’s go over with Judy and tell stories. My legs ache from going up and down that hill so many times carrying those cornstalks that I can scarcely stand. Besides, it will not be so lonesome for her and she will forget she feels ill.”
When they were all lying down in a wide circle around Judy, Jill, one of Mrs. Spots’ twins, said, “Now Punch, you tell the first story for it will be an interesting one, ’cause you can tell us one you have heard from Grandfather Whiskers.”
“Oh, yes, do!” exclaimed Jack, the other twin.
“Oh, no,” replied Punch. “I am tired of hearing him tell the same ones over and over again to the different animals that call. You two tell stories instead.”
“But we do not know any interesting ones!” they objected.
“Go ahead, Punch, and tell them about the time Grandfather went up in a hydroplane over the city of Rio de Janeiro in South America,” urged Judy.
“Yes, do, do! That will be most exciting!” they all exclaimed.
So Punch began and their eyes were almost popping out of their heads at the thrilling experiences he was relating when they were nearly frightened out of their skins by a big cross dog running around the barn and suddenly appearing before them. For a moment he was as much surprised as they, for he had just come in with a farmer and was exploring things, as he had never been on this farm before. But in a minute he recovered himself and with a bark and a leap he landed in their midst. Such a hurrying and a scurrying as there was! Judy forgot she was ill and tried to climb up the haystack, steep as it was, but fell over backward, landing on the dog, frightening one as much as the other for a moment. On seeing the dog standing beside Judy, Punch pitched on him, though he was afraid of big dogs. But he had been taught he must always protect Judy, as she was a girl. Now Punch had short baby horns, but they could hurt, and the first thing this great dog knew, two sharp horns were running into his side. He turned with a snarl, ready to bite whatever it was that was hurting him so, when lo! at that second a red cow with long, sharp horns came around the corner of the barn and seeing Punch about to be attacked by a strange dog, she gave one jump forward and the next thing that dog knew, he was going up in the air at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour. He thought he was never coming down, but at last he did, though to his dismay he landed on top of a shed.
One of the little white calves that had been listening to Punch’s story was so panic-stricken that she fled, but instead of keeping her eyes open to see where she was going, she shut them tight. The consequence was she fell headfirst into a tub of red dye and when she stood up she was no longer a snow-white calf but a brilliant red one.
Another calf was so frightened that she ran straight into the farmhouse kitchen and fell down the cellar stairs. The cook, who heard the commotion, came to see who was stamping around on her freshly scrubbed floor. But she saw no one, though she did hear a groan of pain down in the cellar.
“Who is there?” she called.
No answer—just a groan came from below.
She peered down the stairs, but no one was visible in the pitch black of the cellar. At last the cook gathered up courage enough to light a candle and go down two or three steps.
On seeing the light, the calf was so frightened she forgot her pain and went rushing around the cellar, stumbling over and upsetting everything. All the cook saw was a big red monster with glaring eyes. She dropped the candle in her fright and fled. Out the kitchen door she went, loudly calling for help. In a jiffy Mr. Smith and the farmer whose dog had made all this trouble came running to discover the cause of the commotion.
“There is something awful in the cellar! All hair and eyes! And it is running around upsetting everything!” she said.
“Wait until I get a pitchfork to drive it out, and I will see what it is. Light a lantern for me,” Mr. Smith commanded.
With a pitchfork in one hand and a lantern in the other, Mr. Smith started down the cellar stairs with the neighbor farmer close behind him brandishing a long whip in one hand and holding his dog by the collar with the other.
The dog quickly smelt the calf, gave a jerk and down the stairs he bounded, knocking the lantern out of Mr. Smith’s hand, putting out the light and smashing the chimney. Then the hubbub began. The dog chased the calf around the cellar, giving her nips every once in a while that made the poor frightened beast bellow. At last the calf made for the stairs. Seeing a big red animal with blazing eyes come out of the darkness, the two farmers turned and fled. But the animal came after them, followed by the dog. When they were out in the light of day, Mr. Smith saw it was only a calf, but a very queer calf. By this time the calf was standing on the kitchen table right in the midst of the luncheon dishes. She had been so terrified by the dog that she had jumped on a chair and from there to the table. The dog was barking furiously and trying to get up on the table too.
“Get out of here! You have made enough trouble for one day!” and the farmer grabbed his dog by the collar and dragged him out. Indeed, he literally had to drag him away from the calf. He whined and made a terrific fuss as he was dragged along, and it was only by tying him to the back of the wagon that his owner took him away.
The moment the Twins saw the dog disappear into the house they had cut sticks for home, and never stopped running until they came to the pond where their father and mother and all the rest of the Watson farm animals were standing in the water.
“What are you all standing in the water for?” asked Punch.
“We are making ourselves clean for the party,” answered their father. “But where have you been? You look as if you had been standing in a lake too, you are so wet with perspiration.”
“Oh, we have been racing down the hill to see which could reach here first,” easily replied Punch.
“Well, you better lie down in the shade and cool off. Don’t you dare come into this cold pond until you are perfectly dry. If you do, both of you may have chills.”
So off the Twins walked and lay down under a tree to watch the other animals. “My, Punch, but that was an awful scare! He frightened me so I am still trembling,” confessed Judy.