Hearing that tiny voice, which seemed to come from inside the fallen tree, Sandy[p. 60] Chipmunk was so startled that he leaped high into the air; and when he came down again upon all fours he found himself staring straight into Daddy Longlegs' beady eyes.
"Oh! It's you, eh?" cried Sandy Chipmunk. And he looked decidedly foolish, because he knew that he had no reason to fear anybody as mild as Daddy Longlegs.
"It's a bad day, isn't it!" said Daddy Longlegs once more.
"I'm sorry I can't agree with you," Sandy replied. "I think it's the finest weather that ever was."
"You don't mean to say you like this wind?" Daddy Longlegs cried. "Why, I don't see how you dare to be out in it!"
"Oh, it's nothing when you're used to it," Sandy Chipmunk answered lightly.
"I shall never get used to the wind, I'm afraid," Daddy told him sadly. "It[p. 61] blows me about so terribly." And he went on to explain how he had started on a long journey the day before, and how he didn't dare go on—nor turn around and go home, either.
"Well, well!" Sandy Chipmunk exclaimed. "You seem to be in a fix. But why don't you ride home?"
"Ride?" Daddy Longlegs shrilled. "On what, I should like to know?"
"On Farmer Green's wagon!" Sandy told him promptly. "I happen to know that Johnnie Green and his grandmother drove to the miller's this morning to have a sack of wheat ground into flour. And they'll be coming back home this afternoon."