WHY LOUIE THOMSON DIDN’T ENJOY HIS VISIT
“Watch, come back!” Nibble squealed breathlessly, when he caught up with
Tommy and the old dog in the end of the Pasture. “Come back and bring
Tommy, too. I can tell you the Red Cow’s secret. She has a little new
baby calf and she says she’ll trust it to Tommy Peele.”
“Er-r yah!” barked Watch, very pleased and proud because the other
animals were beginning to love his Tommy. And he turned right around to
follow Nibble.
But of course Tommy hadn’t heard a word they said. They talk too low,
for one thing, and they use all sorts of sign languages, too, for
another. He thought Watch was chasing Nibble. So he shouted and scolded
and called him a bad old dog. But Watch only wagged his tail and kept
right on.
[Illustration: Nibble and Muskrat visit the Red Cow.]
Meantime, something had been happening back at the pond. The strange Man
who set all those strange traps had come to look at them. And the Red
Cow heard him. But she wasn’t scary any more because she had her new
calf and she meant to take care of him. And she didn’t mean to let any
one else in the world but Tommy Peele lay a hand on him.
He had a nice meal of warm milk inside of him and he’d gone to sleep.
Besides, Doctor Muskrat was still there to look after him. So out of the
thicket she bounced and after the Man.
“M-m-moo!” she roared, just like the first cows did when they told
Mother Nature they’d punish the wicked wolves for themselves if she gave
them their teeth again. But you remember Mother Nature couldn’t do that,
so she gave them horns longer and sharper than the teeth of any wolf.
The Red Cow’s horns certainly were. So that strange Man climbed up the
nearest tree to get away from them.
“Get out!” she snorted. “Go away from here!” But of course he couldn’t
because she was walking around and around the trunk of that big tree,
roaring at him and sending the mud over her shoulders with her big,
horny toes. Only she never thought of that, because she was rather
stupid. Then Watch came bouncing up and he barked and snapped very
fiercely. But Tommy just laughed.
“Oh, Louie Thomson,” he jeered. “You will set your traps in my woods,
will you? See what you get now!” For this was the greedy boy who had
sold him the trap that wouldn’t work.
“You’ll see what you get if that crazy cow takes after you!” yelled
Louie.
Tommy was just a little bit afraid, for the cow was watching him with
that scary look in her eyes. But he wasn’t going to let Louie Thomson
know it. So he stood perfectly still and called her, “Come Bossy, Co’
Boss.”
“Go along, Red Cow!” barked Watch.
“I know,” squealed Nibble, “I can see Chaik Jay’s present sticking right
out of Tommy’s pocket. Ask him for that ear of corn.”
Now the Red Cow was really very hungry. She reached out her sniffing
nose. Tommy didn’t move. So she picked the corn right out of his pocket
with her long curling tongue. And then he laid such a gentle hand on her
that she knew she wouldn’t be afraid of him ever again.
So here was Tommy Peele stroking the Red Cow’s neck while she ate the
corn he had meant to give Chaik Jay. Here, too, was Nibble Rabbit
enjoying the haws off a wild rose bush the Red Cow had trampled down,
while old Doctor Muskrat watched the Red Cow’s sleepy new baby, and
pricked his ears to hear all that was going on.
Even Watch the Dog was happy. He was lying at the foot of the tree, with
his nose on his paws as though he expected to stay there all day, and
wagging his tail.
But Louie Thomson, perched on one of its branches in the cold wind, was
very unhappy. Whenever he moved Watch would raise the hair all along his
back and growl, and the Red Cow would roll her scary eyes at him. “Hey,
Tommy!” he called. “Drive off those brutes and let me come down!”
“No, I won’t,” said Tommy. “This is two times you’ve cheated me. You
cheated me with that old trap, and now you tried to come over here into
my very own woods and catch my very own Beasts. That’s stealing. I’m
going to let them watch you while I go up to the house and get my father
to come for you.”
Of course not one of the Woodsfolk knew what he meant. But they knew he
was very angry.
“Oh, please, please don’t do that!” begged Louie. “I’ll promise never to
set foot in your woods again. Honest, cross my heart and hope to die, I
will! Please let me go this time.”
Nibble sat straight up and listened hard. For Louie sounded just like
Chatter Squirrel the night of the Terrible Storm when he was so terribly
afraid. “My whiskers, but isn’t Tommy wonderful,” he breathed to Watch.
“You and the Red Cow can scare that Man when you can reach him, but
Tommy scares him without doing anything.” And he came close up to
Tommy’s tall rubber boots and cocked his head on one side, trying to see
how Tommy did it.
“I know you’ll promise,” Tommy was saying, “and you’ll keep it, too, or
else I’ll know about it.” He just meant he and Watch would find Louie’s
footprints.
But Louie saw that rabbit sitting by Tommy and looking exactly as though
he were talking to him.
“And if you want your traps,” Tommy went on, “you’ll have to get that
muskrat to find them.” He just meant he’d thrown them into the pond.
But Louie Thomson didn’t know what to think of that. He guessed perhaps
he’d better leave Tommy Peele and his wild things very much alone.