ring deed?"

"Why, no!" Rusty Wren replied, looking at his caller with no little
wonder--for he had always believed Daddy Longlegs to be one of the
mildest and most timid of all the field-people. "What have you been
doing?" Rusty asked.

"Something that you've never done!" Daddy Longlegs told him proudly. "I
took a ride in Farmer Green's wagon yesterday, after the old horse
Ebenezer!"

"Yes! yes! Go on!" Rusty urged him. "What happened to you?"

"What happened to me!" cried Daddy Longlegs. "I should think that
_riding in a wagon_ was adventure enough for anyone, without any other
sort of danger added to it."

But Rusty Wren didn't agree with him.

"Riding in a wagon is nothing," he declared. "Farmer Green rides in one
almost every day. And as for it's being dangerous, there's only the
danger that you'll be late arriving at the place where you're
going--especially if you have to depend on old Ebenezer to take you.
He's several thousand times my size; yet I can fly further in a day than
he can trot in two weeks."

Well, Rusty's scoffing remarks made Daddy Longlegs quite peevish. He had
come to Rusty's house in order to boast. And of course he was
disappointed when he found that Rusty Wren did not think him a hero at
all.

"We'll say no more about the matter," Daddy observed stiffly. "I can see
that you are jealous. And I always make it a rule not to dispute with
jealous people."

Rusty Wren couldn't help feeling somewhat ashamed. He realized that
perhaps he had not been very polite to his caller. "I meant no harm," he
ventured "And if you want to change the subject, I've no objection."

"Very well!" Daddy Longlegs replied. "Let's talk about your cousin's
party at Black Creek. I was sorry not to be present at it. But the high
wind prevented me from travelling that day."

Then it was Rusty Wren's turn to look disappointed.

"There wasn't any party," he said. "Old Mr. Crow was mistaken. My
cousin's party took place exactly a year earlier. So Mr. Crow was twelve
months late with his news."

When he heard that, Daddy Longlegs couldn't help laughing right in Rusty
Wren's face.

"I don't see any joke," Rusty snapped. "I can tell you that it's a good
deal of a disappointment to have your mind all made up for a party, and
then find that there is none."

"Perhaps you're right," said Daddy Longlegs. "Anyhow, I'm glad now that
there was a wind that day, because the wind prevented my walking all the
way to Black C