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Tale of Grumpy Weasel

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<h3>XX A FREE RIDE</h3> Inside the jug, where he had hidden to escape Henry Hawk, Grumpy Weasel yawned widely and licked his chops. He was having a dull time, waiting until he was sure that Henry Hawk had given up the chase and gone away. In a little while Grumpy believed he could venture out in safety. But suddenly, to his great disgust, a wagon came clattering in from the road and pulled up right beside the pile of empty barrels near him. It was Farmer Brown, driving his old horse Ebenezer. And of course Grumpy[Pg 89] Weasel didn't care to show himself just then, especially with old dog Spot nosing around. He had already heard Spot give several sharp yelps. "That old dog knows I'm here somewhere but he can't tell exactly where," Grumpy said to himself. "He can yelp his head off, for all I care." And then Spot began to whine, and run in and out among the barrels, until he all but tripped Farmer Green, who was loading the barrels into the wagon. "Let him whine!" said Grumpy Weasel softly. "His yelping and whining don't scare me. He can't get inside this jug of mine. And I certainly shan't leave it so long as he stays here." Meanwhile he could hear Farmer Green talking to old Spot, telling him not to be silly. "From the way you're acting anybody[Pg 90] might think there was a bear around here," he told Spot. Old dog Spot explained to Farmer Green in no uncertain fashion that it was no bear—but a weasel—that he was looking for. His nose told him that. And there was no mistake about it. But somehow Farmer Green couldn't understand a word he said. So after putting the last barrel on the load Farmer Green climbed up himself and started to drive off. But old dog Spot wouldn't budge an inch. He hovered about the jug where Grumpy Weasel was hiding and made such a fuss that Farmer Green looked back at him. "Well! well!" he exclaimed. And he stopped the horse Ebenezer and jumped down and walked back again. "I declare I'd have forgotten to take this jug if you hadn't reminded me of it,"[Pg 91] he told Spot. And thereupon he picked up the jug and set it in the back of the wagon. This time Spot followed. This time he was in the wagon before Farmer Green was. And all the way down the road, until they reached the farmyard, he acted (or so Farmer Green told him!) like a simpleton. The whole affair made Grumpy Weasel terribly angry. He thought it was an outrage for Farmer Green to kidnap him like that. And he was so enraged that he would have taken a bite out of anything handy. But there wasn't a thing in the jug except himself. At last the strange party drew up in front of the barn and stopped. Farmer Green led Ebenezer into his stall. And then he took the jug, with Grumpy Weasel still inside in, and in spite of Spot's[Pg 92] protests set it high up on a shelf in the barn. It was easy for Grumpy, after that, to crawl out of the jug. He scurried along the shelf, climbed up the wall, and glided through a crack in the ceiling, to hide himself in the haymow above. "Old Spot didn't get me this time!" he said gleefully. "Not by a jugful, he didn't!" <hr style="width: 65%;" /> [Pg 93] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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