ut the committee met with a sad disappointment. When they invited
Kiddie Katydid to join the Pleasant Valley orchestra he told them that
he couldn't.

"Why not?" Freddie Firefly asked.

"I've promised somebody that I wouldn't," Kiddie said.

And though they pressed him for an explanation, he wouldn't give them
any. He wouldn't say another word.

It was a downcast company that left Farmer Green's front yard. And they
quarreled among themselves, too, before they parted. For there wasn't
one of them that was willing to tell Mr. Crow that Kiddie had declined
his invitation.

But they finally hit upon a plan that suited everybody. They agreed to
get Mr. Crow's cousin, Jasper Jay, to break the news gently to the old
gentleman.

It turned out that Jasper was delighted to undertake the task. He hoped
that Mr. Crow would fly into a passion when he heard the sad tale. And
Jasper was not disappointed. For old Mr. Crow was furious.

"It's the work of that sly rascal, Mr. Frog!" he squalled. "He must have
called on Kiddie Katydid and hoodwinked him somehow.... I'd like to know
what he said."

But Mr. Crow never found that out. So Kiddie Katydid had another secret,
which was known only to himself and Mr. Frog.

And Mr. Frog wouldn't tell anybody, because he preferred to tease Mr.
Crow.

And Kiddie Katydid wouldn't tell anybody, because he liked secrets. So
when people tried to pry into the affair, he just folded his wings
tightly over himself--and said nothing.

XV

BENJAMIN BAT'S PLAN

Of course, Kiddie Katydid was not always to be found in his favorite
nook among the trees in Farmer Green's front yard. Quite often he went
skipping about from tree to tree or from bush to bush, sometimes flying
and sometimes leaping. It really made little difference to him which
mode of travel he used. And he never stopped to think how lucky he was
to be able to move so spryly with the help of either his legs or his
wings. He took his good fortune as a matter of course.

There was Mr. Frog! He was a famous jumper; but he couldn't fly. And
there was Mr. Nighthawk! He was a skillful flier; but he couldn't jump.

Such thoughts, however, never entered Kiddie Katydid's head. He went
cheerfully about his business--which was _eating_, principally--and
jumped or flew as the mood seized him. Indeed, if it hadn't been for
that queer fellow, Benjamin Bat, probably Kiddie never would have
realized just what he could--or couldn't--do.