Robert Wbite, Jr. 305 



fortably bent. The monster thudded almost upon 

 him, then halted and emitted a thunderous rum- 

 bling, the sound of which almost scared Robert to 

 death. 



To our ears that sound merely would have meant 

 "I seen ye skip, ye little cuss, and I see ye a-lyin' 

 there. I must be mighty keerful where I step, for 

 there's a sight o' ye round here an' I wouldn't hurt 

 one o' ye fur a price," for the towering monster, or 

 what to Robert appeared that way, was good Farmer 

 Brown, owner of two hundred acres thereabouts. 

 He passed along smiling at outstretched Robert, 

 who never even quivered as minute after minute 

 passed away. Robert was anything but comfort- 

 able, yet in spite of his accidentally awkward position 

 he never stirred till his mother's voice uttered a 

 peculiar low twitter. At the sound he sprang to 

 his feet and raced to her in time to see the others 

 trooping in from various directions. Not one was 

 missing as she promptly discovered, and after she 

 had led them a few yards from the path all resumed 

 their tireless quest for insect food. The dread of the 

 monster vanished with his disappearance, for young 

 wild things are blessed with exceedingly short mem- 

 ories and never bother about a peril that has passed. 

 Once assured, and the mother's voice is an assur- 

 ance beyond question, they are as unconcerned 

 as though the thing had never happened. Were it 

 not for this their little lives would be an agony of 

 terror, a thing unknown in Nature's beautiful plan. 



Long, lazy days passed in pleasant succession, and 

 Robert grew fat and rather long-legged. His erst- 

 while pretty, downy coat was thin and pale and 



