The Tale of Snowball Lamb Part 11

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. _He_ looked 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 n.o.body 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 s...o...b..ll's.

XXI

A DUCKING

As he stood there on the great flat rock over the swimming hole Red never guessed that s...o...b..ll was behind him. But the swimmers soon noticed s...o...b..ll. 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 s...o...b..ll. 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 s...o...b..ll had spied Red. And to s...o...b..ll he was a tempting sight. As s...o...b..ll 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----"

n.o.body ever found out what it was that Red meant to do. His threat stuck fast in his throat. For before he could utter it s...o...b..ll lowered his head and dashed at him. He gave Red a b.u.t.t 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 s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, scooped it full of water and clapped it upon Red's head.

Even then Red didn't say a word.

But when s...o...b..ll 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 s...o...b..ll 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 s...o...b..ll 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 Red had made in them. But first the boys made Johnnie Green drive s...o...b..ll 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.

XXII

A GREAT JOKE

Farmer Green played a great joke on his flock of sheep. At least that was what s...o...b..ll 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: s...o...b..ll and the Black Ram Met Head to Head.

_The Tale of s...o...b..ll Lamb._ _Page 115_]

The joke was this: Farmer Green and the hired man sheared the sheep.

Close clipped as they were, the flock looked very odd. When s...o...b..ll caught his first glimpse of the young black ram, after Farmer Green had sheared him and turned him back into the pasture, minus his fleece, s...o...b..ll did not know him. Just for a moment s...o...b..ll thought the young black ram was a new kind of dog.

"Old dog Spot won't care for this stranger," s...o...b..ll 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 s...o...b..ll noticed that he ate gra.s.s.

"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," s...o...b..ll decided.

So s...o...b..ll 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 s...o...b..ll's amazement the stranger looked at him boldly and said, "_Baa-a-a!_" Then, in a flash, s...o...b..ll knew that it was the voice of the young black ram, and no other.

"What's happened to you?" s...o...b..ll cried, as soon as he could speak.

"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!" s...o...b..ll exclaimed.