had only been
as wise as Farmer Green's cat they would have kept still and waited and
watched. And sooner or later they would have given Chirpy Cricket the
surprise of his life, when he came crawling out of his hole to get a few
blades of grass for his supper.

But even if the hens had thought of such a plan they never could have
kept their minds upon it long enough to carry it out. So perhaps it was
no wonder that Chirpy Cricket got the idea into his head that he was safe
from everybody. Sometimes, when he was dozing, even the footsteps of old
Ebenezer failed to rouse him.

But there came a day when Chirpy Cricket awoke with a great start.
Something had touched his long feelers. Something had come right down
into his hole and was prodding him.

He thought it must be a hen. And he did not laugh. No! Nor did he
fiddle!

X

CAUGHT!

Whatever or whoever it was that had entered Chirpy Cricket's home--the
hole in the ground near Farmer Green's barn--it caused him a terrible
fright. It kept poking him in a most alarming fashion. Chirpy couldn't
move away from it, for his home was only big enough for himself alone.
And since he didn't care to share it with another, he soon made up his
mind that there was only one thing for him to do. He would quit his house
for the time being, with the hope of finding it empty later. Indeed
Chirpy Cricket thought he would be lucky to escape in safety. So he
scrambled up into the daylight, to be greeted with a shout and a pounce,
both at the same time. And Chirpy Cricket saw, too late, that it was a
creature much bigger than a hen that had captured him. It was Johnnie
Green!

Of course Johnnie himself had not entered Chirpy's underground home. What
he had done was merely to run a straw into the hole where Chirpy lived
and prod him with it until he came out.

"Aha!" said Johnnie Green as he looked at his prisoner, whom he held
gingerly between a finger and a thumb. "Are you the rascal that keeps me
awake at night with your everlasting noise?"

Chirpy Cricket never said a word.

"You make racket enough every night," Johnnie told him. "Can't you answer
now when you're spoken to?"

Still Chirpy Cricket made no reply. He waved his feelers frantically and
tried to jump out of Johnnie Green's grasp. But no matter how fast he
moved his six legs, he couldn't get away.

"You don't seem to like me," said his captor finally. "You don't act as
if you wanted to play with me.... What