XIV
CHIRPY IS CAREFUL
“Do you live near-by?” Chirpy Cricket inquired of Mr. Mole Cricket, who had just invited him to his home to meet his wife.
“My home is not very far from here,” his new cousin said. “We’ll go back through this tunnel I’ve been making. The other end of it opens into my dwelling, some distance below the surface of the garden. Follow me and you’ll have no trouble finding it.”
But somehow Chirpy Cricket did not quite like the idea of travelling with the stranger, cousin though he might be, under Farmer Green’s garden. “Not to-day!” he said politely. “I haven’t had anything to eat since last night. And I don’t feel like taking a journey.”
“We’ll snatch a bite on the way to my house,” Mr. Mole Cricket suggested cheerfully. “I’ll dig out a few juicy roots for you. Which kind do you like best—beet, turnip or carrot?”
“I don’t like any of them,” Chirpy Cricket confessed.
“You don’t!” his cousin cried, as if he were astonished to hear that. “What do you live on, then?”