ut really thinking, he tried to get to it, for
there looked as if there might be room for him to hide under it. It was
hard work, for you know his long hind-legs, which he uses for jumping,
were tied together. The best he could do was to crawl and wriggle and
pull himself along. Just as Farmer Brown's boy started to climb the
fence back into the Long Lane, his hat in his hand, Grandfather Frog
reached the old board and crawled under it.

Now when the Merry Little Breezes had thrown the dust in Farmer Brown's
boy's face and snatched his hat, he had dropped Grandfather Frog in such
a hurry that he didn't notice just where he did drop him, so now he
didn't know the exact place to look for him. But he knew pretty near,
and he hadn't the least doubt but that he would find him. He had just
started to look when the dinner horn sounded. Farmer Brown's boy
hesitated. He was hungry. If he was late, he might lose his dinner. He
could come back later to look for Grandfather Frog, for with his legs
tied Grandfather Frog couldn't get far. So, with a last look to make
sure of the place, Farmer Brown's boy started for the house.

If the Merry Little Breezes had known this, they would have felt ever so
much better. But they didn't. So they hurried as fast as ever they could
to find Grandfather Frog's friends and worked until they were almost too
tired to move, for it seemed as if every single one of Grandfather
Frog's friends had taken that particular day to go away from home. So
while Farmer Brown's boy ate his dinner, and Grandfather Frog lay hiding
under the old board in the Long Lane, the Merry Little Breezes did their
best to find help for him.

XVII

STRIPED CHIPMUNK CUTS THE STRING

"Hippy hop! Flippy flop! All on a summer day
My mother turned me from the house and sent me out to play!"

Striped Chipmunk knew perfectly well that that was just nonsense, but
Striped Chipmunk learned a long time ago that when you are just bubbling
right over with good feeling, there is fun in saying and doing foolish
things, and that is just how he was feeling. So he ran along the old
rail fence on one side of the Long Lane, saying foolish things and
cutting up foolish capers just because he felt so good, and all the time
seeing all that those bright little eyes of his could take in.

Now Striped Chipmunk and the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West
Wind are great friends, very great friends, indeed. Almost every morning
they