edge of the battle-field General Antenna shed so
many bitter tears that Captain Kidd had to move aside slightly, to keep
her feet from getting wet.

"Don't weep!" cried the Captain in a husky voice. "It's not your
fault--really!"

"Whose is it, then?" asked the General brokenly.

"Why, Farmer Green is to blame, of course!" Captain Kidd replied. "If he
hadn't made his stepladder so big we might have used it and won the
battle just as easily as not."

"That's so!" the General agreed, drying her tears on a lace
handkerchief. "And from this time forth, Farmer Green and I are deadly
enemies!"

Meanwhile the battle still raged furiously. But Daddy Longlegs had not
received a single wound. And perceiving, at last, that he was quite
unharmed, he took heart again.

Finally it occurred to him that the ant army was totally unable to reach
him, borne high in the air as he was by his long legs. And as his fear
left him, he could think of no reason why he should stay where he was
any longer.

Accordingly he pulled himself together and began to walk away. He moved
right through the ant army; and the soldiers were powerless to stop him.

Just then General Antenna happened to glance over the battle-field. And
her sad look at once gave way to one of great joy. She even gave Captain
Kidd a hearty slap on the back--much to that lady's distress (because it
knocked her cap awry).

"Look!" cried the General. "We've won the battle after all; for the
enemy is retreating! Daddy Longlegs is running away!"

Hurrying off then, General Antenna joined her army, and told her
soldiers that they had shown themselves to be very brave, and that as a
reward they might each have an extra drink of milk that night with their
supper.

There was great rejoicing in the ant colony that evening. And General
Antenna caused the news of the victory to be carried throughout Pleasant
Valley.

But when he heard it, after he reached home, Daddy Longlegs laughed
merrily.

"Why, they never touched me!" he exclaimed.

XX

LOST--A JACKKNIFE!

JOHNNIE GREEN couldn't find his new jackknife anywhere. Since it was the
third knife Johnnie had lost that summer, anyone might think that he
wouldn't have cared much, being so used to losing jackknives.

But Johnnie had been particularly proud of that knife. It had two
blades, a small saw, a corkscrew, a gimlet, a leather-punch, and a hook
for pulling a stone out of the hoof of the old horse Ebenezer.