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And leaping nearer him, in order to see him better, Chirpy Cricket discovered that he had been talking to Buster Bumblebee! Buster was a blundering, good-natured chap. And to Chirpy's relief, instead of getting angry he merely laughed. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Chirpy told him. "If I'm disagreeable this morning, it's because I need a good rest. And your family's humming disturbs me."
"It would be very unlucky for me if I found that I wasn't spry enough to escape Simon Screecher!" Mr. Meadow Mouse had to admit that there was a good deal of truth in Chirpy's remark. But he said he was ready with another suggestion. "It's a good one, too," he declared. "What is it?" Chirpy asked him. "You'll have to think of some other way" said Mr.
So he scrambled up into the daylight, to be greeted with a shout and a pounce, both at the same time. And Chirpy Cricket saw, too late, that it was a creature much bigger than a hen that had captured him. It was Johnnie Green! Of course Johnnie himself had not entered Chirpy's underground home.
And your light would be a great help to me, for Miss Christabel lives beyond the barnyard fence." For just a few moments Freddy Firefly appeared greatly surprised. To tell the truth, Chirpy's request almost took his breath away. And while he recovered himself he forgot to flash his light a most unusual oversight. But Freddie was no person to disappoint a friend.
Meadow Mouse had been searching about on the ground for seeds, while he was enjoying Chirpy's fiddling. And when the music came to a sudden end he looked up and saw that something was troubling the fiddler. "What's the matter now?" he inquired. "An unpleasant idea has just come into my head," Chirpy told him.
Since he was so fond of hearing Chirpy's songs, it was lucky for Freddie that his sprightly neighbor usually chose to sing at night, when Freddie could better enjoy his shrill ditty. And Freddie frequently went out of his way on a fine, dark, summer's night to find Chirpy Cricket and thank him for his kindness.
Having spent a good deal of the previous day in listening to the humming of the musical Bumblebee family, who lived next door to him, Chirpy was more than ready to rest. All was quiet at that hour of the morning, except for the creaky fiddling of a relation of Chirpy's who didn't appear to know that it was time to go home. But Chirpy Cricket didn't mind that. Fiddling never bothered him.
Cricket Frog began to sing somewhat slowly and gradually sang faster and faster. After he had sung about thirty notes he would pause to get his breath. And then he would begin again, exactly as before. Mr. Cricket Frog hadn't sung long before Chirpy's spirits began to rise. Indeed, he soon felt so cheerful that he began to fiddle.
Chirpy cricket was so good-natured that he wouldn't quarrel with his cousin, Tommy Tree Cricket. Although Tommy had said bluntly that Chirpy's fiddling reminded him of Farmer Green's creaking pump, Chirpy made no disagreeable answer. He did not want to hurt his pale cousin's feelings. After making his rude remark Tommy Tree Cricket began his re-teat! re-teat! re-teat! once more.
But that happened only when Johnnie Green led old Ebenezer, or some other horse, to the watering-trough, passing right over Chirpy's home. And Chirpy had soon learned that he was in no danger. Then at other times he heard an odd tearing and scratching, as if some giant had discovered Chirpy's doorway and meant to dig him out of his hiding place.
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