t was the noise the flock made when leaping down upon
the ledge that alarmed Uncle Jerry Chuck. Drowsing in his underground
chamber Uncle Jerry had thought there must be an earthquake. That was
why his teeth chattered. That was why his nose twitched, when he peeped
out of his doorway.

As soon as Snowball learned all this he took great pains to land upon
the ledge as heavily as he could. He liked to hear Uncle Jerry Chuck's
teeth chatter; he liked to see Uncle Jerry shiver; he liked the sound of
Uncle Jerry's squeaky voice asking what was the matter.

So Snowball enjoyed his days in the pasture--or _in and out_ of it. In
fact he enjoyed them more than anybody else in the flock. For the others
began to grow tired of being led helter-skelter in a headlong flight.
And the old folks especially became annoyed because Snowball took them
so often over the stone wall.

At last the old dame known as "Aunt Nancy," all hung with great folds of
thick fleece, spoke her mind plainly to Snowball himself.

"You're making a nuisance of yourself," she told him. "In all my days I
never knew another youngster--a mere lamb!--to lead the flock. And here
you're making us run our legs off every day! When I was your age we
children never started a game of Follow My Leader. We _followed_ behind
the rest of the flock. We never _led_."

All this was a great surprise for Snowball. "D-don't you like the game?"
he stammered.

"The game's all right," the old lady said. "But nobody cares to play it
a dozen times a day. And nobody enjoys having to clamber over the stone
wall again and again."

Snowball said nothing for a few minutes. He was thinking.

"When I run, why do you follow me if you don't wish to?" he inquired at
last.

"I don't know," the old lady confessed. "Maybe I fell into the habit of
following when I was young. Anyhow, I can't help myself now. I just have
to go along with the others."

Poor lady!

XV

UNCLE JERRY OBJECTS

Snowball really _meant_ to be kind to the elderly dame, Aunt Nancy, who
had objected to being led on the wild goose chases in which he
delighted.

"I mustn't start another game of Follow My Leader," he said to himself.
"Aunt Nancy says she can't help following. And for a person of her years
it must be hard work to run."

But Snowball soon learned that he had set himself a hard task. Soon
afterward he found himself suddenly running. He hadn't _meant_ to run.
Yet there he was, bounding along t