Farmer Green's flock of sheep had followed Snowball over the stone wall and back into the pasture. And soon every one of them was grazing again as if nothing had happened.
Now, Snowball was greatly pleased. It was the first time he had ever started that game called Follow My Leader. And there wasn't a sheep nor a lamb that hadn't gone chasing after him when he showed them the way.
Snowball saw many merry games ahead of him. "I'll give them some good runs!" he promised himself.
And he did. Before that morning was over he led the flock up to the furthest corner of the pasture in a mad scramble. And before the afternoon was over he took them on a brisk run to the bars.
That made three times for the day.
On each summer's day that followed Snowball played Follow My Leader oftener than he had the day before. So it happened that by the end of a week, when evening came, the older sheep were weary from all the running they had done, all the scrambling over the stone wall. For Snowball's favorite trick was to lead the sheep over the wall and into the tangle of raspberry bushes where Uncle Jerry Chuck lived.
Snowball had soon learned that there was nothing to fear over there. He discovered that it was the noise the flock made when leaping down upon the ledgethat alarmed Uncle Jerry Chuck. Drowsing in his underground chamber Uncle Jerry had thought there must be an earthquake. That was why his teeth chattered. That was why his nose twitched, when he peeped out of his doorway.
As soon as Snowball learned all this he took great pains to land upon the ledge as heavily as he could. He liked to hear Uncle Jerry Chuck's teeth chatter; he liked to see Uncle Jerry shiver; he liked the sound of Uncle Jerry's squeaky voice asking what was the matter.
So Snowball enjoyed his days in the pasture—orin and outof it. In fact he enjoyed them more than anybody else in the flock. For the others began to grow tired of being led helter-skelter in a headlong flight. And the old folks especially became annoyed because Snowball took them so often over the stone wall.
At last the old dame known as "Aunt Nancy," all hung with great folds of thick fleece, spoke her mind plainly to Snowball himself.
"You're making a nuisance of yourself," she told him. "In all my days I never knew another youngster—a mere lamb!—to lead the flock. And here you're making us run our legs off every day! When I was your age we children never started a game of Follow My Leader. Wefollowedbehind the rest of the flock. We neverled."
All this was a great surprise for Snowball. "D-don't you like the game?" he stammered.
"The game's all right," the old lady said. "But nobody cares to play it a dozen times a day. And nobody enjoys having to clamber over the stone wall again and again."
Snowball said nothing for a few minutes. He was thinking.
"When I run, why do you follow me if you don't wish to?" he inquired at last.
"I don't know," the old lady confessed. "Maybe I fell into the habit of following when I was young. Anyhow, I can't help myself now. I just have to go along with the others."
Poor lady!
Snowball reallymeantto be kind to the elderly dame, Aunt Nancy, who had objected to being led on the wild goose chases in which he delighted.
"I mustn't start another game of Follow My Leader," he said to himself. "Aunt Nancy says she can't help following. And for a person of her years it must be hard work to run."
But Snowball soon learned that he had set himself a hard task. Soon afterward he found himself suddenly running. He hadn'tmeantto run. Yet there he was, bounding along towards the stone wall asfast as he could jump! And the whole flock was following him, with Aunt Nancy puffing hard among the stragglers, doing her best to keep up.
Over the wall went Snowball. Over the wall went all the rest. Aunt Nancy was the last to leap down upon the ledge where Snowball had stopped. And he could see that she was upset. He edged away from her. But she shouldered her friends aside (she was a huge person!) and walked straight up to him.
"You're a spoiled child," she told Snowball. "Here you've gone and led us over this wall again! And I just told you I didn't want to run anywhere—over this wall least of all places!"
Snowball felt much ashamed.
"I—I didn't mean to do it," he faltered. "Something set my feet a-going. Ihadto go along with them!"
"Is that so?" she cried in dismay. "My goodness! You've been and gone and got the habit of being leader! And you can't stop! . . . I don't know what I'm going to do!" she wailed. "There'll be nothing left of me if this keeps up. I'll be nothing but fleece and bones if I have to run so much."
Somehow her friends didn't seem alarmed. Aunt Nancy was very fat. In fact she was so very, very fat that nobody thought shecouldwaste away. And everybody smiled a little.
But she didn't notice that. And then a squeaky voice piped up:
"Is there an earthquake?"
It was Uncle Jerry Chuck peeping out of his hole, with his teeth chattering so fast that it seemed as if they must all drop out of his mouth.
"There's no earthquake," Aunt Nancytold him. "We just jumped off the wall upon this ledge—that's all."
"I was sure there was an earthquake," he said. "And the last quake was the worst of all."
There were more smiles then, for Aunt Nancy herself had been the last of the flock to plump down off the wall.
"I wish—" said Uncle Jerry Chuck—"I wish, when you folks jump the wall, you'd pick out a different place. You disturb me a dozen times a day. I'm losing lots of sleep on your account. And if I continue to lose my rest I'll be nothing but fur and bones."
Well, Uncle Jerry was fat, too. He looked as if it would do him a world of good to be thinner. But Aunt Nancy felt sorry for him.
"Whoever leads the way over the wall must pick out another spot," she declared,looking straight at Snowball as she spoke. "It's a shame to annoy this gentleman."
Everybody agreed with her good-naturedly. And Snowball said meekly that if he found himself running towards the wall he would try to turn his steps in another direction.
No one said anything more about the matter. For somebody suddenly cried, "Baa! baa!" and scrambled over the wall.
Of course the whole flock followed instantly, leaving Uncle Jerry Chuck to creep out of his hole and watch the last tail of all bob out of sight.
It was Aunt Nancy's.
"They're a queer lot," Uncle Jerry said aloud. He gave a long whistle. "I'm glad I'm not one of 'em," he added.
All was quiet once more, after the race from the ledge near Uncle Jerry Chuck's home. The flock was feeding again. And if you hadn't noticed how Aunt Nancy Ewe puffed from her fast running you wouldn't have supposed there had just been a wild scramble over the stone wall and back.
Aunt Nancy was still feeling sorry for Uncle Jerry Chuck, whose rest had been disturbed by the thud of hoofs above his head. "Remember!" she said to Snowball sternly. "Don't go near Uncle Jerry's home again!"
"I won't!" he promised. "That is," he added, "I won't if I can help it. If I find myself running that way I may not be able to stop myself."
Now, that sort of promise wasn't enough for Aunt Nancy.
"You must turn aside!" she told Snowball. "Just make believe that there's a bear beyond the stone wall, instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck!Then—" she said—"thenyou'll turn quickly enough!"
"That's a good idea!" cried Snowball. "If only I don't forget it!"
Aunt Nancy's words never left his mind all the rest of the morning. Just thinking about bears made Snowball frightfully uneasy. Whenever one of the flock happened to stray up behind him Snowball jumped, fearing for a moment that it was a bear.
If anybody saidbaain his ear he leapedto one side, expecting thebaato turn into awoof!
He began to wish that Aunt Nancy hadn't told him of her idea.
And all at once, when somebody came up behind him and gave him a nudge, Snowball started to run.
"There's a bear behind me!" he thought.
Snowball Gave A Frantic Blat.Snowball Gave A Frantic Blat.The Tale of Snowball Lamb.Page87
Of course the rest of the flock thought he was only playing Follow My Leader. So they followed him, every one of them.
Snowball went bounding across the pasture towards the stone wall, headed straight for the spot where Uncle Jerry Chuck had his home. When he was only a few jumps away from the wall he glanced back. He saw then that there was no bear behind him. But he did notice Aunt Nancy Ewe, doing her best to keep up with the rest. And then Snowball remembered what she had said to him. If a bear—instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck—lived in the hole at the foot of the ledge!
Well, that thought was enough to make Snowball swerve sharply to his right. And a few moments later he bobbed over the wall a little further up the hillside.
Just beyond the wall grew a tangle of berry bushes. And into the midst of them Snowball jumped. And out of the midst of them, right in front of him, there rose up on his hind legs—a bear!
Snowball gave a frightened, frantic blat. The next instant he was scrambling back over the wall.
The foremost of the oncoming flock of sheep saw him. They couldn't think what had happened. Anyhow, they couldn't stop. Close behind them pressed the flock, all bunched together and hurrying blindly on.
There was a terrible mix-up. Some sheep were trying to cross the stone wall in one direction. Some were trying to cross it in the other. And in the midst of the fleecy tangle Snowball struggled in vain. He found himself face to face with Aunt Nancy Ewe, who was so huge that he couldn't budge her. He pushed and shoved until she cried out, "Where are your manners, young man?"
"I—I don't know," Snowball stammered. "Maybe I left them in the berry bushes, with the bear."
Well, the moment she heard the wordbearAunt Nancy blatted at the top of her lungs. With a mighty heave she turned about on the top of the wall, sweeping Snowball off it as if he were nothing but a fly.
He fell backwards among the raspberry bushes, fully expecting to be eaten by the bear. He shut his eyes and held his breath, and lay with his feet in the air, waiting for the bear to seize him.
"Oh, dear!" he groaned. "I wonder if he'll begin with my head or my tail!"
Just then he felt a terrible nip at the end of his tail.
"He's begun! The bear has begun to eat me!" Snowball thought.
As for the bear, he didn't say a single word. And that seemed odd. Somehow Snowball didn't quite like it because the bear didn't exclaim how nice and tender he was. His tail was still held fast. Andthat was as much as Snowball knew.
At last he slowly opened his eyes. To his astonishment he saw no bear. In fact he saw nobody at all. For the last of Farmer Green's flock of sheep had vanished. And Snowball noticed, resting on the tip of his tail, a stone. Though he did not know it, the last sheep to leave had kicked it down upon him purely by accident.
Snowball gave abaaof surprise and relief. With a little effort he managed to jerk his tail from under the stone. Then he sprang to his feet. And since there was no knowing where the bear was, Snowball made all haste to get on the other side of the stone wall and join the flock of sheep once more.
When Aunt Nancy saw him she did not act half as pleased as he had expected she would.
"You got us into a pickle, young man!" she greeted him.
"It seems to me," he replied, "that you are the one that made all the trouble. If you hadn't made me jump the wall——"
"IfIhadn't madeyou——" Aunt Nancy interrupted. And turning to her companions she cried, "Did you ever hear anything like that in all your days?"
And everybody said, "No!"
And then somebody asked, "Where's the bear?"
But nobody could answer that question.
The only one that could have answered it was Cuffy Bear himself. And he was way up under the mountain—and still running.
There wasn't a sheep in the flock that had been more frightened than he.
As Snowball grew older he began to enjoy a fine, new sport. At least this sport was new to him. All the old rams had enjoyed it for years. But it was not until Snowball's horns began to grow that he became interested in having fun in this way.
The new sport wasbutting. Snowball was careful not to butt any sheep that were much bigger than he was. For instance, he never even threatened to butt the black lamb, who was some months the older of the two. And Snowball didn't butt Johnnie Green; for Snowball was fond of him.
Snowball didn't feel the same toward other boys. Other boys liked to tease him. A neighbor's boy called "Red" was the biggest tease of them all. He never missed a chance to bother Snowball—unless Johnnie Green objected.
So it was only to be expected that Snowball should want to butt Red. More than once he had stolen up behind Red and butted him as hard as he could butt.
At first Red only laughed. But as Snowball grew bigger—and heavier—Red no longer found anything to laugh at in Snowball's favorite sport. Instead of laughing, Red was more likely to go to rubbing himself where Snowball had struck him.
"You'll have to get rid of this pet of yours!" Red said to Johnnie Green. "That is, you'll have to if you expect me to come to your place any longer."
"I won't get rid of Snowball," Johnnie Green declared. "It serves you right if he butts you. You've teased him too often. I don't blame Snowball at all."
"Send him away, now; or I'll go home," Red threatened.
At that Johnnie Green drove Snowball behind the barn. But he wouldn't stay there. He came trotting back to the farmyard in no time.
"Leave him alone! Don't pay any attention to him and he won't touch you!" Johnnie advised Red.
However, that young man was uneasy. But he said nothing more about the matter. And turning to the swing under the big old apple tree he cried, "Come on, Johnnie! I'll swing you."
Now, Johnnie Green had swung in that swing thousands of times. But it wasn't often anybody was willing to stand andpush him until he went up, up, up, high among the leafy branches.
"All right!" he said. "None of your tricks, now!"
Red only grinned. And he began pushing Johnnie. He pushed so hard that for once Johnnie was satisfied. Once he thought the swing seat—with him on it—was going to turn completely over.
The whole thing was most strange. It was most unusual. Red was always ready to be swung. Never had he been willing, before, to swing anybody else. So Johnnie decided to enjoy the fun while he could. Back and forth he rode in long sweeps.
Meanwhile Snowball kept edging nearer. He was behind Red. And all the time Red kept a careful eye on him. But of this Johnnie Green saw nothing. For of course his back was turned to Red and to Snowball, too.
There was no doubt that Snowball wanted to take a hand in the sport—or perhaps it would be better to saytake a horn. Anyhow he lowered his head now and then, and shook it. And at last he stamped upon the ground.
"Hang tight, Johnnie!" Red cried. "Here comes the biggest push of all!" And he gave Johnnie a mighty shove.
Then Red waved his tattered hat almost in Snowball's face.
That was a deadly insult. At least so Snowball thought. He gathered his legs beneath him. He shot forward.
Already Johnnie Green had begun his long backward swing.
For a moment you would have thought Red was going to get caught in a tight place. Johnnie Green was almost upon him. Snowball was almost upon him.
And then Red jumped.
"Give me another push like that one!" Johnnie Green shouted from the swing.
Little did he dream that Snowball was rushing towards him from behind, rushing with head lowered in his best butting style.
Of course when the boy Red slipped out of the way there was only one thing that could happen. A moment after Johnnie shouted, Snowball struck the swing seat.
Crash! Bang! Split! A terrible cry from Johnnie Green! And a second or two later a dull thud!
The crash, bang and split came when Snowball's head met the swing seat. Thethud followed when Johnnie hit the ground.
Then all was quiet, except for a low moaning from the spot where Johnnie Green lay.
Red had climbed spryly into a wagon which stood near-by. But he soon saw that he needn't have gone to that trouble. For Snowball plainly had no more butts left in him for the time being. He stood still in a dazed fashion and stared dully about him. The heavy oaken swing seat had been no soft mark to hit, sailing swiftly through the air with eighty pounds of boy upon it.
Red had given one great shout. But now he too was very quiet. He jumped out of the wagon and ran to Johnnie Green, and lifted Johnnie's head.
"Are you hurt, Johnnie?" he asked.
But it was almost a minute beforeJohnnie Green could speak. It was almost as long as that before he could even breathe. He lay there gasping, with his hands clutched across his stomach. His eyes rolled about in the queerest way. If Red hadn't been frightened he would have laughed in Johnnie's face.
At last Johnnie Green spoke.
"Wh-wh-what happened?" he asked in a halting whisper. "Did the ropes break?"
"No!" Red answered. "The ropes held—though it's a wonder."
"Can't you tell me what happened?" Johnnie begged him. "If it wasn't the ropes, what was it?"
"It was Snowball," said Red. "He butted you."
"I don't believe it," cried Johnnie. "He never butted me in his whole life."
Johnnie Green was sitting up now. Andsince he didn't seem to be much hurt the boy Red couldn't help grinning.
"Look at that swing seat!" he exclaimed, pointing to the splintered bit of oak board near Johnnie. "You don't think—do you?—that I split that thing withmyhead?"
And then Johnnie Green just had to believe him. And Johnnie began to get angry, too.
"You must have seen Snowball coming," he growled. "Why didn't you warn me?"
Red swallowed a few times as he tried to think of a good answer.
"Well," he replied finally, "I didn'tknowhe was going to butt you, did I? Didn't you just say yourself that he neverhadbutted you?"
To all this Johnnie Green made no answer.
"If you ask me," Red went on more easily, "I should say you were lucky. You were lucky to have that swing seat under you."
Johnnie Green rose slowly to his feet.
"There's something queer about this," he declared.
"That's so," Red agreed. "There is. You'd just asked for another hard push. . . . And you got one—a harder one than I could have given you. . . . So I don't see what you're complaining about."
And then he pretended that he didn't understand why Johnnie Green tried to hit him.
After the affair at the swing it was as much as a week before Johnnie Green saw anything of his neighbor Red.
It was almost a week before Snowball felt like butting anybody. Even when other sheep bullied him Snowball edged away from them; and once he would have run into them head first.
Somehow he couldn't forget that frightful jolt he had received when he knocked Johnnie Green out of the swing.
At last, however, he tried a gentle butt one day against the soft side of one of his mates. And finding only pleasure, and nopain, in the trick he became once more one of the most active butters in Farmer Green's whole flock.
Now, Johnnie Green had noticed that for a few days Snowball was unusually well behaved. And Snowball's gentleness did not please him. For Johnnie had hoped that sometime Snowball would butt the neighbor's boy Red.
So Johnnie Green began to whistle a merry tune a little later, when he chanced to see Snowball charging the hired man as he crossed the pasture.
Not long after that Johnnie Green went swimming. He found other boys at the swimming hole, which they had made by damming Broad Brook where it cut across the end of the meadow. Among the swimmers was the boy Red. It was the first time Johnnie had seen him since that day when Snowball butted Johnnie.
When Johnnie spied Red in the water he thought for a moment or two that he would find Red's clothes on the bank and tie knots in them. That was a favorite trick of Red's—tying hard knots in other boys' clothes. Sometimes he even wet the knots, to make them harder to untie.
But Johnnie Green decided that he wouldn't knot Red's clothes. Besides, Red seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on them.
Johnnie slipped out of his own clothes quickly and soon he had dived off a flat rock and joined the boys in the swimming hole.
Red had called "Hullo!" pleasantly enough. And then Johnnie was sure he said something in an undertone to the others. Anyhow they all grinned. And one boy cried, "I didn't expect to see you down here. I thought you'd be swinging.Wouldn't you rather swing than swim?"
Johnnie Green gave a sickly smile.
"Why didn't you bring your lamb with you?" another inquired. "Doesn't he follow you any more?"
But Johnnie Green had ducked down where he couldn't hear and was swimming under water. When he came up everybody yelled at him. That is, everybody yelled except Red.Helooked very innocent, as if he didn't know what the joke was.
Well, Johnnie Green had a good swim, anyhow. And the boys soon stopped teasing him. They had several swimming races, with a good deal of splashing mixed in. And there was so much fun that nobody noticed when Red crawled out upon the bank and slipped away behind the drooping willows that overhung the stream.
The boys saw him plainly enough a little while afterward. Fully dressed he stood on the bank and jeered at them. And they knew what that meant. It meant that he had tied plenty of knots in everybody's clothes.
All the boys except Johnnie Green yelled at him.
"We'll fix you when we catch you!" they cried.
As for Johnnie, he said never a word. In fact he didn't even look angry. On the contrary, he smiled. For he saw something that his friends had overlooked.
Some distance behind Red Johnnie saw the willows part. And a white face peered out.
It was Snowball's.
As he stood there on the great flat rock over the swimming hole Red never guessed that Snowball was behind him. But the swimmers soon noticed Snowball. And they all began to call to Red. They didn't care what they said, so long as they could keep Red so busy answering them that he wouldn't turn around and discover Snowball. They splashed about, and hooted, and on the whole made such an uproar that Red couldn't have heard the Muley Cow had she walked up behind him.
Now, there was nothing that Red enjoyed any more than a wordy battle.Whenever a boy called him a name Red hurled a worse one back at him. It seemed as if he actually took pride in making blood curdling retorts. Certainly he didn't mean to leave, so long as anybody gave him an excuse for a jibe.
Meanwhile Snowball had spied Red. And to Snowball he was a tempting sight. As Snowball drew nearer Red leaned forward with his hands upon his knees and taunted Johnnie Green: "You'd better keep that ole ram-lamb of yours out of my way! If he ever comes near me I'll——"
Nobody ever found out what it was that Red meant to do. His threat stuck fast in his throat. For before he could utter it Snowball lowered his head and dashed at him. He gave Red a butt that lifted him off the rock and sent him sailing through the air with arms and legs waving wildly, to fall with a great splash into the swimming hole, where the water was deepest.
There was a howl of delight. But it did not come from Red. He was somewhere between the surface of the water and the mucky bottom.
Presently he appeared, spluttering and blowing and gasping. For once in his life Red had nothing to say in answer to the jibes and jeers of his mates.
His hat was floating near him. Johnnie Green snatched it up, scooped it full of water and clapped it upon Red's head.
Even then Red didn't say a word.
But when Snowball looked blandly down at the boys from the great flat rock and said, "Baa-a-a!"—then Red spoke.
He spoke his mind very freely and at some length. And he dared Johnnie to come out upon the bank with him.
Johnnie Green promptly swam towards the bank where Snowball stood.
"Not that side!" cried Red. "The other one!"
But Johnnie remarked mildly that he supposed of course Red meant the side towards home. "You've got all your clothes on," said Johnnie. "You wouldn't want to have to cross the brook, later, and get them wet."
Now, since Red's clothes were as wet as clothes could be, that seemed a very stupid remark. And Red told Johnnie Green—well, he told him a number of things. And then Red scrambled up the opposite bank from the one where Snowball stood, and started off, leaving a trail of water behind him.
Johnnie Green and his friends forsook the swimming hole and took their clothes out upon the flat rock, which was warm in the sunshine. And there they spent a pleasant time untying the knots that Redhad made in them. But first the boys made Johnnie Green drive Snowball away.
"Red will catch it when he gets home," said one of them. "His father told him not to go swimming to-day."
And not one of them said he was sorry.
Farmer Green played a great joke on his flock of sheep. At least that was what Snowball thought. Since he was not really one of Farmer Green's flock, but belonged to Johnnie Green, he escaped this joke himself. And that was the reason why he was able to laugh so heartily at all his companions.
The joke was this: Farmer Green and the hired man sheared the sheep. Close clipped as they were, the flock looked very odd. When Snowball caught his first glimpse of the young black ram, after Farmer Green had sheared him andturned him back into the pasture, minus his fleece, Snowball did not know him. Just for a moment Snowball thought the young black ram was a new kind of dog.
"Old dog Spot won't care for this stranger," Snowball thought. He was about to warn the stranger to leave the farm at once, when he saw that he wasn't a dog after all. For Snowball noticed that he ate grass.
"He's a queer creature. And whatever he may be, Spot's sure to dislike him. So I'll advise him to run along, anyhow," Snowball decided.
So Snowball called out, "There's an old dog on this farm that will chase you if he catches you here. You'd better go away before he finds you."
To Snowball's amazement the stranger looked at him boldly and said, "Baa-a-a!" Then, in a flash, Snowball knew that itwas the voice of the young black ram, and no other.
"What's happened to you?" Snowball cried, as soon as he could speak.
Snowball and the Black Ram Met Head to Head.Snowball and the Black Ram Met Head to Head.The Tale of Snowball Lamb.Page115
"Haven't you heard the news?" the black ram asked him. "Didn't you know that Farmer Green and the hired man had begun to shear us?"
"No!" Snowball exclaimed.
"Well, they have," said the black ram. "And Farmer Green paid me the honor of shearing me himself, the first of all."
"The honor!" Snowball repeated. "I don't see why you think it's anhonor. Why, you're the queerest looking animal on the farm." And he began to laugh at the black ram, and blat at him.
Now, the black ram was a peppery chap. He promptly lost his temper and stamped his feet and shook his head at Snowball.
"I'll butt you for that!" he bawled.
Once Snowball would have retreated. The black ram had always been both older and bigger than he. But now, though the black ram was still older, he looked smaller. That, of course, was because he had lost his thick fleece. He looked so much smaller that Snowball was no longer afraid of him.
For the first time since he had come to the farm to live Snowball lowered his head at the black ram. And he didn't even wait for the black ram to make the first move. Instead, Snowball charged him.
A moment later they met, head to head, with a shock that knocked Snowball off his feet.
"My goodness!" Snowball exclaimed as he picked himself up. "You're bigger than you look."
"Do you want any more?" the black ram demanded fiercely. "I've done youthe honor to knock you down. Is once enough?"
Snowball thought once was even too much. He left the black ram hurriedly and ran down toward the bars.
Some very odd looking creatures were entering the pasture.
As Snowball drew near the pasture bars he forgot about the blow on the head that the black ram had given him. The strange sights that greeted his eyes drove all unpleasant things out of his mind.
Snowball knew that the sheep he saw before him must be his old companions. But they were so changed, by shearing, that he couldn't tell who was who.
He stood still and stared at them and grinned.
"What amuses you, young man?" one of them asked him in a tart voice. The speaker was a big old dame. Even withher fleece closely cropped she looked undeniably fat. Yet she was wrinkled, too. And her neck had a scrawny look.
Not until she spoke did Snowball guess that this person was Aunt Nancy Ewe. The moment he heard her voice he knew her. And he couldn't help laughing right in her face.
"Don't be rude, young man!" Aunt Nancy scolded. "Anybody would think you had never seen a sheared flock before."
"I haven't," Snowball answered. "You're all so funny that I can't keep my face straight."
"Well," she said, "you'll have a chance to laugh at yourself a little later. For you'll certainly be sheared too."
Snowball turned sober instantly.
"Oh! Do you think so?" he cried.
"They'll never let you keep that fleece on all summer," Aunt Nancy declared.
She had scarcely finished speaking when Farmer Green came into the pasture. And Snowball was sure that Farmer Green looked directly at him. But before Snowball could make up his mind to run, Johnnie Green came hurrying after his father, and shouting.
"Don't touch Snowball!" he called. "Don't you shear him!"
"Why not?" his father asked him.
"Because," said Johnnie, "I want to shear him myself. He belongs to me."
"Very well!" his father replied. "Now we're here we may as well catch him. And you can begin shearing him. It will probably take you all day, because you've never sheared a sheep before."
"I don't want to shear him now," said Johnnie. "I'm going fishing to-day. I'll do it to-morrow."
Then Farmer Green and Johnnie wentaway. And they hadn't passed the bars when a great uproar broke out. The whole flock crowded around Snowball. And everybody except him said, "Baa!"
"He laughs best who laughs last," Aunt Nancy remarked to him. "To-morrow we'll laugh best—at you!"
But Snowball stood his ground and shook his head.
"I'm not going to be sheared," he declared. "I guess you don't know what Johnnie Green's 'to-morrow' means. . . . It means 'never!'"
Snowball really thought he was right about that.
The next morning he found that he had been mistaken. For Johnnie Green came and cornered—and caught—him. And amid a chorus ofbaasJohnnie led Snowball to the barn.
"Let's wait at the bars until Johnniebrings Snowball back!" cried the young black ram, who bad knocked Snowball down the day before. "We want to give him a good welcome when he comes back without his fleece."
"It's useless to wait," said Aunt Nancy. "You know Farmer Green said it would take Johnnie all day to shear him."
Along toward noon the black ram came hurrying to the upper end of the pasture, where most of the sheep were feeding.
"Snowball's here!" he blatted. "And he's sheared, too!"
And just then Aunt Nancy Ewe came puffing and panting to join the others.
"Snowball's back in the pasture!" she gasped. "And he isn't sheared at all!"
Well, nobody knew what to think of that.
All the sheep in the pasture hurried down the hillside toward the bars to look at Snowball. And soon dozens of disputes might have been heard: "He is!" "He isn't!" "He's sheared!" "He's not!" About half the flock were sure Johnnie Green had sheared Snowball; while the other half were just as sure that Snowball still wore his fleece.
At last Aunt Nancy Ewe went close to Snowball and walked all the way around him. And when she joined her friends she announced that she had solved the mystery.
"Snowball is sheared on one side only!" she exclaimed.
It was true. And the moment the flock learned what had happened they set up a deafeningbaaing. "Baa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" they laughed. "Now who's a sight?" they asked Snowball. "Now who looks funny?"
Poor Snowball couldn't say a word. He hung his head. For he was terribly ashamed of his appearance.
"It's not my fault," he wailed at last. "When Johnnie Green had me half sheared that horrid boy Red came along and asked Johnnie to go fishing. And you know Johnnie Green! He can't miss a fishing trip. . . . He said he'd finish shearing me to-morrow."
"Ha!" cried Aunt Nancy Ewe. And she flung at Snowball the very words he had used the day before. "JohnnieGreen's 'to-morrow' means 'never!'"
"Oh! I hope not!" cried Snowball. "That would be awful!"
Somehow Snowball managed to get through that first dreadful day. But the following day he gave up all hope; for Johnnie Green never came near him. Nor did he come the next day, nor the next, nor the next.
Little by little the sheep stopped teasing Snowball. Little by little he became used to having one side of him sheared and the other side thick with fleece.
For some time he tried to keep as much out of sight as possible, grazing along the stone wall where he could bury himself in the bushes whenever one of the flock strayed near him. Or if he couldn't hide, he took pains to stand so that only one side of him should show.
It was a long while before his neighborsstopped smiling when they saw him. But finally there were only two in the flock that couldn't seem to forget how ridiculous Snowball looked. These were the young black ram and old Aunt Nancy Ewe. And perhaps they can't be blamed, because Snowball had once openly made fun of them. When they were near him Snowball was very uncomfortable. But with the rest of the flock he felt more at his ease. And sometimes he even went so far as to say that heenjoyedbeing half sheared.
"On a cool day I find it pleasant to turn my clipped side toward the sun," he would remark. "And if there's a chilly wind I don't have to shiver. I let it blow against my fleecy side; and I never feel it."
In two weeks Snowball was claiming that hepreferredto be only half sheared.
Maybe that was true. Maybe he wasonly trying to make himself think it was. Anyhow, when Johnnie Green came into the pasture one day and called to him Snowball bounded down the grassy slope toward the bars.
And when he came back to the pasture, some time later, he didn't look very different from his companions. One side of him, however, showed a pinkish tinge, because Johnnie Green had just sheared that side very close. And the fleece on his other side had already begun to grow out a bit.
But Snowball didn't mind that. He had a pink nose, always. And he said that pink was his favorite color.
And never again did he laugh at anybody, no matter how queer a person might look.