of good to be thinner. But Aunt Nancy felt sorry for him.
"Whoever leads the way over the wall must pick out another spot," she
declared, looking straight at Snowball as she spoke. "It's a shame to
annoy this gentleman."
Everybody agreed with her good-naturedly. And Snowball said meekly that
if he found himself running towards the wall he would try to turn his
steps in another direction.
No one said anything more about the matter. For somebody suddenly cried,
"_Baa! baa!_" and scrambled over the wall.
Of course the whole flock followed instantly, leaving Uncle Jerry Chuck
to creep out of his hole and watch the last tail of all bob out of
sight.
It was Aunt Nancy's.
"They're a queer lot," Uncle Jerry said aloud. He gave a long whistle.
"I'm glad I'm not one of 'em," he added.
XVI
AUNT NANCY'S PLAN
All was quiet once more, after the race from the ledge near Uncle Jerry
Chuck's home. The flock was feeding again. And if you hadn't noticed how
Aunt Nancy Ewe puffed from her fast running you wouldn't have supposed
there had just been a wild scramble over the stone wall and back.
Aunt Nancy was still feeling sorry for Uncle Jerry Chuck, whose rest had
been disturbed by the thud of hoofs above his head. "Remember!" she said
to Snowball sternly. "Don't go near Uncle Jerry's home again!"
"I won't!" he promised. "That is," he added, "I won't if I can help it.
If I find myself running that way I may not be able to stop myself."
Now, that sort of promise wasn't enough for Aunt Nancy.
"You must turn aside!" she told Snowball. "Just make believe that
there's a bear beyond the stone wall, instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck!
_Then_--" she said--"_then_ you'll turn quickly enough!"
"That's a good idea!" cried Snowball. "If only I don't forget it!"
Aunt Nancy's words never left his mind all the rest of the morning. Just
thinking about bears made Snowball frightfully uneasy. Whenever one of
the flock happened to stray up behind him Snowball jumped, fearing for a
moment that it was a bear.
If anybody said _baa_ in his ear he leaped to one side, expecting the
_baa_ to turn into a _woof!_
He began to wish that Aunt Nancy hadn't told him of her idea.
And all at once, when somebody came up behind him and gave him a nudge,
Snowball started to run.
"There's a bear behind me!" he thought.
Of course the rest of the flock thought he was only playing Follow My
Leader. So they followed him, every one of them.
Snowball went bounding across the pasture towards the stone wall, headed
straight for the spot where Uncle Jerry Chuck had his home. When he was
only a few jumps away from the wall he glanced back. He saw then that
there was no bear behind him. But he did notice Aunt Nancy Ewe, doing
her best to keep up with the rest. And then Snowball remembered what
she had said to him. If a bear--instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck--lived in
the hole at the foot of the ledge!
Well, that thought was enough to make Snowball swerve sharply to his
right. And a few moments later he bobbed over the wall a little further
up the hillside.
Just beyond the wall grew a tangle of berry bushes. And into the midst
of them Snowball jumped. And out of the midst of them, right in front of
him, there rose up on his hind legs--a bear!
Snowball gave a frightened, frantic blat. The next instant he was
scrambling back over the wall.
The foremost of the oncoming flock of sheep saw him. They couldn't think
what had happened. Anyhow, they couldn't stop. Close behind them pressed
the flock, all bunched together and hurrying blindly on.
XVII
A TERRIBLE MIX-UP
There was a terrible mix-up. Some sheep were trying to cross the stone
wall in one direction. Some were trying to cross it in the other. And in
the midst of the fleecy tangle Snowball struggled in vain. He found
himself face to face with Aunt Nancy Ewe, who was so huge that he
couldn't budge her. He pushed and shoved until she cried out, "Where are
your manners, young man?"
"I--I don't know," Snowball stammered. "Maybe I left them in the berry
bushes, with the bear."
[Illustration: Snowball Gave A Frantic Blat.
_The Tale of Snowball Lamb._ _Page 87_]
Well, the moment she heard the word _bear_ Aunt Nancy blatted at the
top of her lungs. With a mighty heave she turned about on the top of the
wall, sweeping Snowball off it as if he were nothing but a fly.
He fell backwards among the raspberry bushes, fully expecting to be
eaten by the bear. He shut his eyes and held his breath, and lay with
his feet in the air, waiting for the bear to seize him.
"Oh, dear!" he groaned. "I wonder if he'll begin with my head or my
tail!"
Just then he felt a terrible nip at the end of his tail.
"He's begun! The bear has begun to eat me!" Snowball thought.
As for the bear, he didn't say a single word. And that seemed odd.
Somehow Snowball didn't quite like it because the bear didn't exclaim
how nice and tender he was. His tail was still held fast. And that was
as much as Snowball knew.
At last he slowly opened his eyes. To his astonishment he saw no bear.
In fact he saw nobody at all. For the last of Farmer Green's flock of
sheep had vanished. And Snowball noticed, resting on the tip of his
tail, a stone. Though he did not know it, the last sheep to leave had
kicked it down upon him purely by accident.
Snowball gave a _baa_ of surprise and relief. With a little effort he
managed to jerk his tail from under the stone. Then he sprang to his
feet. And since there was no knowing where the bear was, Snowball made
all haste to get on the other side of the stone wall and join the flock
of sheep once more.
When Aunt Nancy saw him she did not act half as pleased as he had
expected she would.
"You got us into a pickle, young man!" she greeted him.
"It seems to me," he replied, "that you are the one that made all the
trouble. If you hadn't made me jump the wall----"
"If _I_ hadn't made _you_----" Aunt Nancy interrupted. And turning to
her companions she cried, "Did you ever hear anything like that in all
your days?"
And everybody said, "No!"
And then somebody asked, "Where's the bear?"
But nobody could answer that question.
The only one that could have answered it was Cuffy Bear himself. And he
was way up under the mountain--and still running.
There wasn't a sheep in the flock that had been more frightened than
he.
XVIII
THE SWING
As Snowball grew older he began to enjoy a fine, new sport. At least
this sport was new to him. All the old rams had enjoyed it for years.
But it was not until Snowball's horns began to grow that he became
interested in having fun in this way.
The new sport was _butting_. Snowball was careful not to butt any sheep
that were much bigger than he was. For instance, he never even
threatened to butt the black lamb, who was some months the older of the
two. And Snowball didn't butt Johnnie Green; for Snowball was fond of
him.
Snowball didn't feel the same toward other boys. Other boys liked to
tease him. A neighbor's boy called "Red" was the biggest tease of them
all. He never missed a chance to bother Snowball--unless Johnnie Green
objected.
So it was only to be expected that Snowball should want to butt Red.
More than once he had stolen up behind Red and butted him as hard as he
could butt.
At first Red only laughed. But as Snowball grew bigger--and heavier--Red
no longer found anything to laugh at in Snowball's favorite sport.
Instead of laughing, Red was more likely to go to rubbing himself where
Snowball had struck him.
"You'll have to get rid of this pet of yours!" Red said to Johnnie
Green. "That is, you'll have to if you expect me to come to your place
any longer."
"I won't get rid of Snowball," Johnnie Green declared. "It serves you
right if he butts you. You've teased him too often. I don't blame
Snowball at all."
"Send him away, now; or I'll go home," Red threatened.
At that Johnnie Green drove Snowball behind the barn. But he wouldn't
stay there. He came trotting back to the farmyard in no time.
"Leave him alone! Don't pay any attention to him and he won't touch
you!" Johnnie advised Red.
However, that young man was uneasy. But he said nothing more about the
matter. And turning to the swing under the big old apple tree he cried,
"Come on, Johnnie! I'll swing you."
Now, Johnnie Green had swung in that swing thousands of times. But it
wasn't often anybody was willing to stand and push him until he went
up, up, up, high among the leafy branches.
"All right!" he said. "None of your tricks, now!"
Red only grinned. And he began pushing Johnnie. He pushed so hard that
for once Johnnie was satisfied. Once he thought the swing seat--with him
on it--was going to turn completely over.
The whole thing was most strange. It was most unusual. Red was always
ready to be swung. Never had he been willing, before, to swing anybody
else. So Johnnie decided to enjoy the fun while he could. Back and forth
he rode in long sweeps.
Meanwhile Snowball kept edging nearer. He was behind Red. And all the
time Red kept a careful eye on him. But of this Johnnie Green saw
nothing. For of course his back was turned to Red and to Snowball, too.
There was no doubt that Snowball wanted to take a hand in the sport--or
perhaps it would be better to say _take a horn_. Anyhow he lowered his
head now and then, and shook it. And at last he stamped upon the ground.
"Hang tight, Johnnie!" Red cried. "Here comes the biggest push of all!"
And he gave Johnnie a mighty shove.
Then Red waved his tattered hat almost in Snowball's face.
That was a deadly insult. At least so Snowball thought. He gathered his
legs beneath him. He shot forward.
Already Johnnie Green had begun his long backward swing.
For a moment you would have thought Red was going to get caught in a
tight place. Johnnie Green was almost upon him. Snowball was almost upon
him.
And then Red jumped.
XIX
THE WRONG TARGET
"Give me another push like that one!" Johnnie Green shouted from the
swing.
Little did he dream that Snowball was rushing towards him from behind,
rushing with head lowered in his best butting style.
Of course when the boy Red slipped out of the way there was only one
thing that could happen. A moment after Johnnie shouted, Snowball struck
the swing seat.
Crash! Bang! Split! A terrible cry from Johnnie Green! And a second or
two later a dull thud!
The crash, bang and split came when Snowball's head met the swing seat.
The thud followed when Johnnie hit the ground.
Then all was quiet, except for a low moaning from the spot where Johnnie
Green lay.
Red had climbed spryly into a wagon which stood near-by. But he soon saw
that he needn't have gone to that trouble. For Snowball plainly had no
more butts left in him for the time being. He stood still in a dazed
fashion and stared dully about him. The heavy oaken swing seat had been
no soft mark to hit, sailing swiftly through the air with eighty pounds
of boy upon it.
Red had given one great shout. But now he too was very quiet. He jumped
out of the wagon and ran to Johnnie Green, and lifted Johnnie's head.
"Are you hurt, Johnnie?" he asked.
But it was almost a minute before Johnnie Green could speak. It was
almost as long as that before he could even breathe. He lay there
gasping, with his hands clutched across his stomach. His eyes rolled
about in the queerest way. If Red hadn't been frightened he would have
laughed in Johnnie's face.
At last Johnnie Green spoke.
"Wh-wh-what happened?" he asked in a halting whisper. "Did the ropes
break?"
"No!" Red answered. "The ropes held--though it's a wonder."
"Can't you tell me what happened?" Johnnie begged him. "If it wasn't the
ropes, what was it?"
"It was Snowball," said Red. "He butted you."
"I don't believe it," cried Johnnie. "He never butted me in his whole
life."
Johnnie Green was sitting up now. And since he didn't seem to be much
hurt the boy Red couldn't help grinning.
"Look at that swing seat!" he exclaimed, pointing to the splintered bit
of oak board near Johnnie. "You don't think--do you?--that I split that
thing with _my_ head?"
And then Johnnie Green just had to believe him. And Johnnie began to get
angry, too.
"You must have seen Snowball coming," he growled. "Why didn't you warn
me?"
Red swallowed a few times as he tried to think of a good answer.
"Well," he replied finally, "I didn't _know_ he was going to butt you,
did I? Didn't you just say yourself that he never _had_ butted you?"
To all this Johnnie Green made no answer.
"If you ask me," Red went on more easily, "I should say you were lucky.
You were lucky to have that swing seat under you."
Johnnie Green rose slowly to his feet.
"There's something queer about this," he declared.
"That's so," Red agreed. "There is. You'd just asked for another hard
push. . . . And you got one--a harder one than I could have given
you. . . . So I don't see what you're complaining about."
And then he pretended that he didn't understand why Johnnie Green tried
to hit him.
XX
THE SWIMMING HOLE
After the affair at the swing it was as much as a week before Johnnie
Green saw anything of his neighbor Red.
It was almost a week before Snowball felt like butting anybody. Even
when other sheep bullied him Snowball edged away from them; and once he
would have run into them head first.
Somehow he couldn't forget that frightful jolt he had received when he
knocked Johnnie Green out of the swing.
At last, however, he tried a gentle butt one day against the soft side
of one of his mates. And finding only pleasure, and no pain, in the
trick he became once more one of the most active butters in Farmer
Green's whole flock.
Now, Johnnie Green had noticed that for a few days Snowball was
unusually well behaved. And Snowball's gentleness did not please him.
For Johnnie had hoped that sometime Snowball would butt the neighbor's
boy Red.
So Johnnie Green began to whistle a merry tune a little later, when he
chanced to see Snowball charging the hired man as he crossed the
pasture.
Not long after that Johnnie Green went swimming. He found other boys at
the swimming hole, which they had made by damming Broad Brook where it
cut across the end of the meadow. Among the swimmers was the boy Red. It
was the first time Johnnie had seen him since that day when Snowball
butted Johnnie.
When Johnnie spied Red in the water he thought for a moment or two that
he would find Red's clothes on the bank and tie knots in them. That was
a favorite trick of Red's--tying hard knots in other boys' clothes.
Sometimes he even wet the knots, to make them harder to untie.
But Johnnie Green decided that he wouldn't knot Red's clothes. Besides,
Red seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on them.
Johnnie slipped out of his own clothes quickly and soon he had dived off
a flat rock and joined the boys in the swimming hole.
Red had called "Hullo!" pleasantly enough. And then Johnnie was sure he
said something in an undertone to the others. Anyhow they all grinned.
And one boy cried, "I didn't expect to see you down here. I thought
you'd be swinging. Wouldn't you rather swing than swim?"
Johnnie Green gave a sickly smile.
"Why didn't you bring your lamb with you?" another inquired. "Doesn't he
follow you any more?"
But Johnnie Green had ducked down where he couldn't hear and was
swimming under water. When he came up everybody yelled at him. That is,
everybody yelled except Red. _He_ looked very innocent, as if he didn't
know what the joke was.
Well, Johnnie Green had a good swim, anyhow. And the boys soon stopped
teasing him. They had several swimming races, with a good deal of
splashing mixed in. And there was so much fun that nobody noticed when
Red crawled out upon the bank and slipped away behind the drooping
willows that overhung the stream.
The boys saw him plainly enough a little while afterward. Fully dressed
he stood on the bank and jeered at them. And they knew what that meant.
It meant that he had tied plenty of knots in everybody's clothes.
All the boys except Johnnie Green yelled at him.
"We'll fix you when we catch you!" they cried.
As for Johnnie, he said never a word. In fact he didn't even look angry.
On the contrary, he smiled. For he saw something that his friends had
overlooked.
Some distance behind Red Johnnie saw the willows part. And a white face
peered out.
It was Snowball's.
XXI
A DUCKING
As he stood there on the great flat rock over the swimming hole Red
never guessed that Snowball was behind him. But the swimmers soon
noticed Snowball. And they all began to call to Red. They didn't care
what they said, so long as they could keep Red so busy answering them
that he wouldn't turn around and discover Snowball. They splashed about,
and hooted, and on the whole made such an uproar that Red couldn't have
heard the Muley Cow had she walked up behind him.
Now, there was nothing that Red enjoyed any more than a wordy battle.
Whenever a boy called him a name Red hurled a worse one back at him. It
seemed as if he actually took pride in making blood curdling retorts.
Certainly he didn't mean to leave, so long as anybody gave him an excuse
for a jibe.
Meanwhile Snowball had spied Red. And to Snowball he was a tempting
sight. As Snowball drew nearer Red leaned forward with his hands upon
his knees and taunted Johnnie Green: "You'd better keep that ole
ram-lamb of yours out of my way! If he ever comes near me I'll----"
Nobody ever found out what it was that Red meant to do. His threat stuck
fast in his throat. For before he could utter it Snowball lowered his
head and dashed at him. He gave Red a butt that lifted him off the rock
and sent him sailing through the air with arms and legs waving wildly,
to fall with a great splash into the swimming hole, where the water was
deepest.
There was a howl of delight. But it did not come from Red. He was
somewhere between the surface of the water and the mucky bottom.
Presently he appeared, spluttering and blowing and gasping. For once in
his life Red had nothing to say in answer to the jibes and jeers of his
mates.
His hat was floating near him. Johnnie Green snatched it up, scooped it
full of water and clapped it upon Red's head.
Even then Red didn't say a word.
But when Snowball looked blandly down at the boys from the great flat
rock and said, "_Baa-a-a!_"--then Red spoke.
He spoke his mind very freely and at some length. And he dared Johnnie
to come out upon the bank with him.
Johnnie Green promptly swam towards the bank where Snowball stood.
"Not that side!" cried Red. "The other one!"
But Johnnie remarked mildly that he supposed of course Red meant the
side towards home. "You've got all your clothes on," said Johnnie. "You
wouldn't want to have to cross the brook, later, and get them wet."
Now, since Red's clothes were as wet as clothes could be, that seemed a
very stupid remark. And Red told Johnnie Green--well, he told him a
number of things. And then Red scrambled up the opposite bank from the
one where Snowball stood, and started off, leaving a trail of water
behind him.
Johnnie Green and his friends forsook the swimming hole and took their
clothes out upon the flat rock, which was warm in the sunshine. And
there they spent a pleasant time untying the knots that Red had made in
them. But first the boys made Johnnie Green drive Snowball away.
"Red will catch it when he gets home," said one of them. "His father
told him not to go swimming to-day."
And not one of them said he was sorry.
XXII
A GREAT JOKE
Farmer Green played a great joke on his flock of sheep. At least that
was what Snowball thought. Since he was not really one of Farmer Green's
flock, but belonged to Johnnie Green, he escaped this joke himself. And
that was the reason why he was able to laugh so heartily at all his
companions.
[Illustration: Snowball and the Black Ram Met Head to Head.
_The Tale of Snowball Lamb._ _Page 115_]
The joke was this: Farmer Green and the hired man sheared the sheep.
Close clipped as they were, the flock looked very odd. When Snowball
caught his first glimpse of the young black ram, after Farmer Green had
sheared him and turned him back into the pasture, minus his fleece,
Snowball did not know him. Just for a moment Snowball thought the young
black ram was a new kind of dog.
"Old dog Spot won't care for this stranger," Snowball thought. He was
about to warn the stranger to leave the farm at once, when he saw that
he wasn't a dog after all. For Snowball noticed that he ate grass.
"He's a queer creature. And whatever he may be, Spot's sure to dislike
him. So I'll advise him to run along, anyhow," Snowball decided.
So Snowball called out, "There's an old dog on this farm that will chase
you if he catches you here. You'd better go away before he finds you."
To Snowball's amazement the stranger looked at him boldly and said,
"_Baa-a-a!_" Then, in a flash, Snowball knew that it was the voice of
the young black ram, and no other.
"What's happened to you?" Snowball cried, as soon as he could speak.
"Haven't you heard the news?" the black ram asked him. "Didn't you know
that Farmer Green and the hired man had begun to shear us?"
"No!" Snowball exclaimed.
"Well, they have," said the black ram. "And Farmer Green paid me the
honor of shearing me himself, the first of all."
"The honor!" Snowball repeated. "I don't see why you think it's an
_honor_. Why, you're the queerest looking animal on the farm." And he
began to laugh at the black ram, and blat at him.
Now, the black ram was a peppery chap. He promptly lost his temper and
stamped his feet and shook his head at Snowball.
"I'll butt you for that!" he bawled.
Once Snowball would have retreated. The black ram had always been both
older and bigger than he. But now, though the black ram was still older,
he looked smaller. That, of course, was because he had lost his thick
fleece. He looked so much smaller that Snowball was no longer afraid of
him.
For the first time since he had come to the farm to live Snowball
lowered his head at the black ram. And he didn't even wait for the black
ram to make the first move. Instead, Snowball charged him.
A moment later they met, head to head, with a shock that knocked
Snowball off his feet.
"My goodness!" Snowball exclaimed as he picked himself up. "You're
bigger than you look."
"Do you want any more?" the black ram demanded fiercely. "I've done you
the honor to knock you down. Is once enough?"
Snowball thought once was even too much. He left the black ram hurriedly
and ran down toward the bars.
Some very odd looking creatures were entering the pasture.
XXIII
A MYSTERY
As Snowball drew near the pasture bars he forgot about the blow on the
head that the black ram had given him. The strange sights that greeted
his eyes drove all unpleasant things out of his mind.
Snowball knew that the sheep he saw before him must be his old
companions. But they were so changed, by shearing, that he couldn't tell
who was who.
He stood still and stared at them and grinned.
"What amuses you, young man?" one of them asked him in a tart voice. The
speaker was a big old dame. Even with her fleece closely cropped she
looked undeniably fat. Yet she was wrinkled, too. And her neck had a
scrawny look.
Not until she spoke did Snowball guess that this person was Aunt Nancy
Ewe. The moment he heard her voice he knew her. And he couldn't help
laughing right in her face.
"Don't be rude, young man!" Aunt Nancy scolded. "Anybody would think you
had never seen a sheared flock before."
"I haven't," Snowball answered. "You're all so funny that I can't keep
my face straight."
"Well," she said, "you'll have a chance to laugh at yourself a little
later. For you'll certainly be sheared too."
Snowball turned sober instantly.
"Oh! Do you think so?" he cried.
"They'll never let you keep that fleece on all summer," Aunt Nancy
declared.
She had scarcely finished speaking when Farmer Green came into the
pasture. And Snowball was sure that Farmer Green looked directly at him.
But before Snowball could make up his mind to run, Johnnie Green came
hurrying after his father, and shouting.
"Don't touch Snowball!" he called. "Don't you shear him!"
"Why not?" his father asked him.
"Because," said Johnnie, "I want to shear him myself. He belongs to me."
"Very well!" his father replied. "Now we're here we may as well catch
him. And you can begin shearing him. It will probably take you all day,
because you've never sheared a sheep before."
"I don't want to shear him now," said Johnnie. "I'm going fishing
to-day. I'll do it to-morrow."