Johnnie had worked in the hayfield on many hot days to earn enough to
buy that knife. So it was no wonder that he wanted to find it. He
hunted for it carefully--in the woodshed (where he had gone for an
armful of wood), in the barn (where he had helped milk the cows that
morning), and under the big oak in the dooryard (into which he had
chased the cat). And not finding his knife in any of those places, he
went into the pantry, for he remembered getting some jam and cookies
there between breakfast and dinner-time.

The jackknife was not in the pantry. Johnnie even looked for it inside
the cookie-jar. And failing to find the knife there, he consoled himself
by taking three more cookies. Then he slipped out of the house and sat
down behind the stone wall to enjoy his lunch.

All the time he was munching his cookies Johnnie Green was trying to
recall exactly what he had done and where he had been since he jumped
out of bed that morning. If there was any place he had forgotten, he
intended to go there at once and look for his lost jackknife.

Having swallowed the last crumb of his goodies, Johnnie leaned back
against the stone wall and closed his eyes in thought. He wondered if
there wasn't some out-of-the-way nook he had visited that day.

As he sat there, something tickled his ear. Then it tickled his
cheek--and finally his nose.

Johnnie Green couldn't help sneezing. And opening his eyes, whom should
he see but Daddy Longlegs, standing on the tip of his nose.

"My goodness!" Daddy exclaimed when Johnnie Green sneezed. "I didn't
think the wind was going to blow to-day. But there's an awful blast!
I'd better hurry home at once."

He had scarcely turned to go back where he came from when Johnnie sat
up; and seizing his visitor quickly--but carefully--Johnnie removed him
from his perch and held him, a captive, in his hands.

When he stepped from a stone to Johnnie's head Daddy Longlegs had no
idea that he was not walking on another stone. Who would have expected
to find the head of a boy lying motionless against a wall?

As soon as he recovered from his surprise, Daddy Longlegs struggled to
escape. But his captor guarded him with great pains.

"You don't think I'm going to let you get away, do you?" Johnnie Green
asked him.

XXI

JUST A NOTION

IN common with all the other youngsters that went to school in the
little red school-house, Johnnie Green thought that Daddy Longlegs and
every one of his rela