t the head of the stairs! So downstairs he
hurried. The door below was wide open. And in less time than it takes
to tell the story, Frisky was in Farmer Green's kitchen. He remembered
that room very well, for he had been there when he came to taste that
white-frosted cake.

But this time Frisky did not stop to look for any cake. He just
scampered across the floor toward the wide doorway. And as he bounded
across the room something sprang out from behind the stove and started
after him.

Frisky Squirrel saw that some animal had leaped at him. He didn't stop
to take a good look; but he supposed that it was a small dog that had
been drying himself by the fire. Frisky knew that dogs couldn't climb
trees. So he sprang through the door, never touching the big stone
doorstep at all, and hurried toward a tree in Farmer Green's yard. He
laughed as he scurried up the tree-trunk. And then he looked down at
his enemy.

Then Frisky Squirrel's heart almost stood still. That small animal was
coming right up the tree after him! Of course, it wasn't a dog at all.
It was Farmer Green's cat. Frisky had never seen a cat before and he
began to wonder whether the small creature could fly, as well as climb
trees. He scampered to the top of the tree; and then he leaped upon a
branch of another tree close by.

No! The small animal could not fly. She climbed as high as she dared.
And then she stopped. Her eyes glared fiercely; and her tail grew as
big as Frisky's own. But that didn't help her at all. She could only
sit there and watch Frisky Squirrel as he dropped from branch to
branch, until she lost sight of him among the leaves.

XVIII

The Threshing-machine

One day, late in the summer, Frisky Squirrel saw something that caused
him great excitement. Right into the center of one of Farmer Green's
fields he saw Farmer Green's horses drag a queer sort of wagon. It was
bigger than any other wagon he had ever seen, and had wheels upon it
in all sorts of strange places, instead of just at the four corners,
like all the wagons he had ever noticed before.

Frisky climbed a tree, in order to get a better view of what was
happening. As he watched, he saw still another odd wagon hauled upon
the field alongside the first one. This wagon carried a broad walk
which led from the back and went right up what you might call a hill,
to the front of the wagon. And there it stopped, with a wooden bar
blocking the way. Frisky Squirrel thought t