XXIII
THE BEST OF FRIENDS
In spite of his lengthened horns, Leaper the Locust hardly dared show himself while his cousins remained in the neighborhood.
But when he did venture out, not one of the hungry horde paid the slightest heed to him. They just ate and ate and ate. And Pleasant Valley soon began to take on a brown, withered look, as if fall had already come.
Kiddie Katydid soon saw that he would have to move, if Leaper's cousins lingered there much longer. And he didn't like the thought of quitting his home.
"I wouldn't mind going, if I could take Farmer Green's dooryard with me," he remarked to a long-horned gentleman who stopped to talk with him one evening. "But of course," Kiddie added with a smile, "that's out of the question."
"I quite agree with you," said the other. "In fact, I'm ready to agree to almost anything you say."
"These Short-horns are a terrible lot!" Kiddie Katydid observed.
"They are, indeed!" exclaimed the polite stranger. "I wish they'd finish their visit here and leave us in peace."
"I never want to see another Short-horn as long as I live," Kiddie Katydid declared.