All About Johnnie Jones Part 13

"No indeed," she answered. "Tim and f.a.n.n.y love them too well to hurt them."

But just then Tim and f.a.n.n.y began to play "Tag," as they often did, for they were great friends. f.a.n.n.y pretended to bite Tim, and came galloping up the field as fast as ever she could. She did not see Little Brother, lying directly in front of her, hidden by the tall gra.s.s. On she came, galloping rapidly towards him.

Mother saw her, and was so frightened she could hardly stand, for she thought the baby would be trampled down by the pony. She started to run, but of course she could not run as fast as f.a.n.n.y, and besides, she was much further away.

f.a.n.n.y rushed on until she was within a few feet of the baby. Then she saw him! She tried to stop, but was moving too rapidly. Being a wise little pony, she saw there was but one thing to do, and she did it. She jumped and landed on the other side of the baby without touching him, though her foot just did miss his head.

Mother caught Little Brother up in her arms, and examined him carefully.

She could scarcely believe he had escaped without any injury, and was very happy indeed, when she found that such was the case.

"I don't believe any other pony would have had so much sense," she said.

That evening, when Father had heard of Little Brother's narrow escape, he told Mother and Johnnie Jones about an experience he had had when a baby.

His father had owned a wise old horse whose name was Charley. One day Charley was eating the gra.s.s in the yard, and Johnnie Jones's father, who was then only a baby three years old, was lying on the ground, playing with the leaves After a while old Charley had eaten all the gra.s.s near by, except the very long delicious blades underneath the baby. He couldn't ask the little boy to move away, because he couldn't talk. So, very carefully, he took hold of the baby's dress with his teeth, lifted him up, and set him down on the other side of the yard.

He did not even frighten him, but the mother, who was looking out of the window, was very much frightened, until she saw that the baby had not been harmed.

Mother and Johnnie Jones agreed that Charley had shown almost as much sense as f.a.n.n.y, but that it wasn't very safe to leave little children alone when there were horses and ponies about.

When Johnnie Jones Learned to Swim

One summer, when Johnnie Jones was six, he and the other members of the family spent a month in the woods. They lived in a small log house which was close to a beautiful lake, and almost completely surrounded by trees. Johnnie Jones enjoyed the life there immensely. He learned to row a light boat on the water, and every day he went for a long walk through the woods, meeting many birds and small wild animals on the way. Sometimes, in the distance, he caught a glimpse of the beautiful, graceful deer, which were too timid to permit him to come very near them.

Just in front of the house was a wooden dock where Johnnie Jones liked to play, but where he was never allowed to go alone as the water about it was very deep. "Teach me to swim," he said to his father. "Then I shall be able to play wherever I please."

Father had been intending to give Johnnie Jones lessons in swimming and was only waiting for a warm, sunshiny day. Such a day came very soon, and, about twelve o'clock, he and Johnnie Jones, dressed in their bathing suits, went in the water. The little boy considered bathing great fun as long as he remained close to sh.o.r.e where the water was shallow but he did not like it so well when Father carried him out to the raft, where the water was so deep that it reached the shoulders of the grown people standing in it.

"Now, son," Mr. Jones said, "I want you to stand on the raft, and jump when I count three. I will catch you in my arms, let you go down under the water, and bring you up again. Remember to hold your breath, so that you will not take any of the water into your nose or mouth. Perhaps you had better keep one hand over your face for fear you might forget and try to breathe before you reach the surface. Now jump, I am quite ready to catch you."

Johnnie Jones stood on the raft and looked down at the water. He did not want to jump into it, but neither did he want to disappoint his father.

Besides he wished very much to learn to swim.

"Will you be certain to catch me?" he asked Father.

"I promise you I will," he answered.

Johnnie Jones knew that Father always kept his promise, so, after a moment or two, he said he was ready.

"One, two, three, jump!" said Father. And Johnnie Jones obeyed.

As soon as he touched the water he felt Father's strong arms about him, and then he did not mind going down, down, into it. In a second he came to the surface again, of course dripping wet, but without having swallowed any water, as he had remembered to hold his breath.

After the first plunge, he enjoyed taking others, and jumped into the water as many times as Father would catch him. Next day they went in bathing again, and Father carried Johnnie Jones out to the raft as before. But when the little boy was ready to jump, Father said: "To-day, I shall not catch you when you first touch the water; I shall wait until you come to the surface by yourself, and then I shall hold you up."

After he had jumped into the water, Johnnie Jones was surprised to find that he came up again just as quickly as when Father's arms had been under him. Then while Father held him he lay flat on the water and paddled himself about with his hands and feet.

In a few days the little boy learned to swim a short distance, quite alone, although he was not allowed to go into the water unless an older person were with him.

One day, before Johnnie Jones had learned to swim very well, he had an exciting experience. He was on the dock with his uncle, and a very high wind was blowing the water into waves, which dashed against the dock with a roaring sound. Indeed the waves were so noisy, that when Johnnie Jones suddenly slipped and fell off the dock, his uncle, whose back was turned, did not hear the splash.

However, a boatman at the boat-house saw Johnnie Jones fall, and he ran as fast as possible, towards the dock.

Meantime Johnnie Jones sank down into the water, and came up to the surface again. The brave little fellow remembered what to do. He closed his mouth, and holding one hand over his nose, he paddled with the other, until he was able to grasp the dock, against which the wind was blowing him. He held on bravely, never opening his mouth to cry, nor taking his hand from his face.

In less than a minute, though it seemed much longer to Johnnie Jones, his uncle and the boatman had drawn him from the water. He was not in the least harmed by his unexpected bath because he had remembered, even while he was falling, the proper thing to do.

Mother stripped off his wet clothing, and after she had rubbed him until he was all in a glow, she wrapped him in blankets so that he should not take cold.

Johnnie Jones went to sleep. When he awoke he felt very well, and was glad when he heard Father say: "You were a brave boy and I am proud of you."

Johnnie Jones's uncle was sorry he had been so careless as to turn his back when the wind was blowing such a gale, and promised that it should never happen again.

Johnnie Jones was more careful, too, and had no further trouble in the water. Every day, Father gave him a swimming lesson, and before the time came to return to the city, Johnnie Jones felt very much at home in the water. He could swim very well, and could float, lying flat on his back, but another summer pa.s.sed before he had quite learned to dive.