hem is just as good as another." And Benjamin
grinned horribly.

Freddie Firefly shuddered. It seemed to him that he had never passed
such a dreadful night before.

But Benjamin Bat was having the time of his life. He said that he hoped
the Short-horns would like Pleasant Valley so well that they would
decide to stay right there for the rest of their days. But, strange to
say, Benjamin made things as unpleasant as possible for the newcomers.
He _ate_ as many of them as he could, remarking that from such a horde a
few would scarcely be missed.

XXIII

THE BEST OF FRIENDS

In spite of his lengthened horns, Leaper the Locust hardly dared show
himself while his cousins remained in the neighborhood.

But when he did venture out, not one of the hungry horde paid the
slightest heed to him. They just ate and ate and ate. And Pleasant
Valley soon began to take on a brown, withered look, as if fall had
already come.

Kiddie Katydid soon saw that he would have to move, if Leaper's cousins
lingered there much longer. And he didn't like the thought of quitting
his home.

"I wouldn't mind going, if I could take Farmer Green's dooryard with
me," he remarked to a long-horned gentleman who stopped to talk with him
one evening. "But of course," Kiddie added with a smile, "that's out of
the question."

"I quite agree with you," said the other. "In fact, I'm ready to agree
to almost anything you say."

"These Short-horns are a terrible lot!" Kiddie Katydid observed.

"They are, indeed!" exclaimed the polite stranger. "I wish they'd finish
their visit here and leave us in peace."

"I never want to see another Short-horn as long as I live," Kiddie
Katydid declared.

"Nor I!" echoed the strange gentleman.

And Kiddie Katydid couldn't help thinking what a pleasant person the
long-horned stranger was and how gentle were his manners.

"I'd like to know your name!" he cried. "It's a long time since I have
met anybody so agreeable as you are."

The stranger drew nearer and lowered his voice.

"Don't you know me?" he asked.

Kiddie Katydid stared at him for a moment.

"No!" he said at length. "To be sure, you do have a familiar look, in a
way. But I must say I don't recognize you."

Then the stranger spoke in a whisper:

"They used to call me 'Leaper the Locust'!"

"Go 'way!" cried Kiddie Katydid. "_He_ was nothing but a Short-horned
Grasshopper. And anyone can see with half an eye that your horns are
fully as