"What was that?"
"Farmer Green's cat was washing her face on the doorsteps," Sandy explained triumphantly. "It's a sure sign of rain. My mother has never known it to fail."
[p. 94]"Farmer Green's cat!" Grandfather Mole repeated after him. And he shuddered as he spoke. "Don't you know that she's not a trustworthy person? You surely don't depend on her, I hope! She's not dependable."
"Well, you can always depend on her to jump at you," Sandy observed.
"She's a coward—that's what she is," Grandfather Mole scolded. "You never heard of her chasing anybody that was bigger than herself, did you? You never heard of her attacking Fatty Coon!"
Sandy Chipmunk said that if the cat hunted coons, she kept it to herself.
"She's too wise to run any risk," said Grandfather Mole. "But if she's washing her face just because she expects rain, then she's stupid.
"If the cat wants to wash her face, why doesn't she stick her head out in the[p. 95] rain?" Grandfather Mole demanded. And without waiting for his young companion to answer, he went on to say that in his opinion anybody that washed his face in anything but dirt was stupid beyond all hope. "I claim," said Grandfather Mole, "that there's nothing quite like a dirt bath."
"There aren't many that would agree with you," Sandy Chipmunk told him.
"There's a lot of stupid people in this valley," Grandfather Mole retorted.