For Kiddie Katydid made no reply to his inquiries.
Kiddie merely smiled in a most annoying fashion and kept on repeating
the refrain.

"Doesn't your voice ever get tired, singing those silly words over and
over again all night long?" Freddie Firefly finally asked.

"Oh! no, indeed!" said Kiddie Katydid. "On the contrary it rests my
voice to do this." And he solemnly shrilled the chorus more rapidly than
ever.

"There's something queer about that cry of yours!" Freddie Firefly
suddenly exclaimed. "I'm watching you closely; but I can't see that your
mouth moves the least bit."

Again Kiddie Katydid smiled. He saw that Freddie Firefly was puzzled.

"Why do you keep moving your wings when you say _Katy did_?" Freddie
Firefly asked him at last.

But Kiddie refused to answer that question--a fact which at once made
Freddie suspicious. He moved nearer Kiddie Katydid and flashed his light
upon him every time Kiddie repeated his odd statement about Katy. And
soon Freddie Firefly grew much excited. He actually danced up and down,
he was so astonished.

"I've found you out!" he cried in a loud voice. "It's no wonder your
voice doesn't get tired from that song! For you don't really _sing_ it
at all! You make that queer _sound by rubbing your wing covers
together_!"

Kiddie Katydid abruptly ceased his shrilling. He looked most
uncomfortable. And it was not surprising. He had not supposed that
Freddie Firefly--or anybody else--would be shrewd enough to discover
that secret. It was a family secret--one that had been closely guarded
by the Katydids since the beginning of time, almost. And here he had
gone and let Freddie Firefly find it out!

"I'm right about that and you can't deny it!" cried Freddie Firefly
boldly. "You may as well admit that what I say is true," he added.

"I certainly won't dispute you," Kiddie Katydid replied. "I have too
good manners to do anything so rude as that."

"I don't care about your manners," Freddie answered. "I dare say they're
good enough, although some people think it's rather rude of you to make
so much noise when a good many others are trying to sleep."

"I should like to know who objects to my music?" Kiddie Katydid
exclaimed hotly. "If Farmer Green has been talking to you, I should like
to state that he had better be careful. Anyone who drives a clattering
mowing-machine around, when a lot of us are trying to get our rest in
the daytime, ought not to complain about a little _music_