The cat was very angry. And it was no wonder,
because Sandy Chipmunk had drunk her breakfast.
She seemed to think that since Sandy had made away
with her breakfast it would be only fair if she should
make away with him.
[Illustration: Farmer Green’s Cat Leaped
Out of the Doorway]
But Sandy did not agree with her at all. Though
he had washed only one side of his face, he jumped
sideways off the step and ran and hid in the woodpile
close by.
You might think he would have had to stay there a
long time. For the old cat crouched down and
watched the hole into which Sandy had crawled.
She seemed to have made up her mind to wait there
until Sandy came out of that hole again.
If she had waited for that to happen she would have
been there yet. For Sandy crept through the woodpile,
stole out the other side of it, and ran home.
He was glad to get away from the cat. But he
was sorry there wasn’t more of that delicious
drink which he had found in the saucer.
Later that day Sandy told Fatty Coon what had happened.
“I know what that was,” Fatty Coon exclaimed.
“It was milk.”
“I wonder where Farmer Green gets it,”
Sandy said.
“From the cows, of course!” Fatty replied.
“You don’t say so!” Sandy Chipmunk
cried. “I’m glad to know it.”
And he scampered off across the pasture, toward three
of Farmer Green’s cows which were chewing their
cuds under the shade of a big maple tree.
When Sandy asked them if they would please give him
some milk to drink two of the cows (they were the
good-natured ones) only smiled at each other.
But the third cow (a surly old creature with long,
sharp horns) told him not to be silly.
Well, Sandy Chipmunk saw that he could get no milk
there. And he was feeling quite downcast when
he chanced to meet Henry Skunk, to whom he told his
troubles.
“Of course the cows couldn’t give you
any milk!” Henry Skunk said. “It’s
not milking time yet. So what could they do?
You go down to the barnyard late this afternoon and
you’ll find all the milk you could drink in a
thousand years.”
Sandy Chipmunk thanked him. And somehow he managed
to wait until the afternoon was almost gone.
Then he skipped down the hill to Farmer Green’s
barn. He thought it must be milking time, because
Johnnie Green and old dog Spot had driven all the
cows home.
WHAT THE OLD COW DID
When Sandy Chipmunk reached Farmer Green’s barn
he crept inside and looked all around. He had
expected to find the barn crowded with saucers full
of milk. But not a single saucer did he see.
There were two long rows of cows stabled in the barn.
And Sandy noticed Farmer Green and his boy and his
hired man, each sitting on a low stool beside a cow.
They were milking the cows. But Sandy did not
know it.
He began to think that Henry Skunk had played a trick
on him. And he was about to leave the barn when
he turned to look at several bright tin pails standing
on the floor.
