pt leaping into the air, hoping to get a glimpse of
Freddie Firefly's twinkling light. For it seemed to him that Freddie
would never return from the meadow.

At last the fiddlers stopped playing, one after another; for the night
was going fast. The Cricket family always liked to be home before
daylight.

Chirpy had almost given up hope of seeing Freddie Firefly. But to his
great delight Freddie came skipping up just as Chirpy stood before Miss
Christabel Cricket, whom he expected to see to her home.

"I'm glad you've come!" Chirpy greeted him. "I'll take your light now.
And I'll return it to you to-morrow night."

"Oh! That would be too much trouble for you," Freddie Firefly said. "I'll
go right along with you and your young lady. And after I've lighted her
home I'll do the same thing for you."

"Oh! That would be too much trouble for you," Chirpy Cricket objected.
"Let me take the light, please!" He certainly didn't want Freddie Firefly
tagging along with Miss Christabel Cricket and himself.

Of course, Freddie Firefly _couldn't_ give Chirpy his light. It was just
as much a part of him as his head. And since Chirpy Cricket began to get
excited, and said again and again that the light had been promised him,
in the end Freddie had to explain everything.

It was a great disappointment to Chirpy Cricket. He had expected to have
wonderful fun, flashing Freddie Firefly's light.

But Miss Christabel Cricket did not seem to mind in the least.

"You oughtn't to blame Freddie Firefly for not loaning his light," she
said. "You know you wouldn't let him take your fiddle."

Well, Chirpy Cricket hadn't thought of that. And he had to admit that
what she said was true.

And just then the sun peeped over Blue Mountain. So everybody hurried
home alone, after all.

VII

JOHNNIE GREEN'S GUEST

There were enough night noises before Chirpy Cricket came to live in the
farmyard. What with Solomon Owl's hooting, his cousin Simon Screecher's
quavering call, and the musical Frog's family's concerts in Cedar Swamp,
it was a wonder that Johnnie Green ever managed to fall asleep. The
Katydids alone were almost enough to drive anybody frantic--if he let
himself listen to them--with their everlasting cry of _Katy did, Katy
did; she did, she did_.

Johnnie Green himself said he wished the Crickets had gone somewhere else
to spend the summer. At least, he thought they might play some other tune
besides _cr-r-r-i! cr-r-r-i! cr