be the best
place to begin my ride.... As for the time," he added, "that will be
when old Spot happens to come that way."

"I'll be there, whenever that may be," Jolly Robin assured him.

XX

A Fast Ride

For once Mrs. Robin had reason to complain that her husband did not do
his share of the work. Jolly Robin _would_ spend most of his time at
the further end of the orchard, talking with "that good-for-nothing
Major Monkey," to use Mrs. Robin's own words.

Whenever she flew over to speak to her husband, the Major was most
polite to her, never failing to take off his cap and ask after her
health. But Mrs. Robin had little to say to him. She had, however, a
great deal to say to Jolly Robin. But no matter how much she urged him
to stop idling and come home and help her look after their big family,
Jolly insisted that he and the Major "had business to attend to."

At last, when Mrs. Robin gave up in despair, Jolly began to feel
somewhat uncomfortable. And he tried to get Major Monkey to go and ask
old dog Spot to come to the orchard, instead of waiting there
uncertainly for days and days.

But Major Monkey would not consent to such a move. He was quite firm.

"I don't want to _ask_ old Spot to give me a ride," he explained.

"Then how do you ever expect to get one?" Jolly asked him anxiously.

"Oh, there's a way!" was the Major's mysterious reply. And that was
all he would say.

The longer Jolly Robin waited to see the fun, the more excited he
became, and the more Major Monkey seemed to enjoy himself.

"Old dog Spot ought to be here soon," the Major kept saying. "I can
see him now. No! I'm mistaken."

Jolly Robin had so many disappointments that one morning when the
Major cried out that at last old Spot was actually crawling through
the fence, and would be in the orchard in about a minute and a half,
Jolly couldn't believe him.

It was true, nevertheless. To Jolly's delight, old dog Spot came
darting in and out among the apple trees, with his nose close to the
ground. He was following a trail made by Tommy Fox, who had visited
the henhouse the night before. And he was so intent on what he was
doing that never once did he glance up into the apple trees, where
Major Monkey and Jolly Robin were watching him.

Major Monkey dropped quickly down to a low-hanging limb. And as luck
had it, Tommy Fox's trail led old dog Spot right under the tree where
the Major waited, hanging gracefully by his tail and one