“Oh, we have been racing down the hill to see which could reach here first,” easily replied Punch.
“Well, you better lie down in the shade and cool off. Don’t you dare come into this cold pond until you are perfectly dry. If you do, both of you may have chills.”
So off the Twins walked and lay down under a tree to watch the other animals. “My, Punch, but that was an awful scare! He frightened me so I am still trembling,” confessed Judy.
CHAPTER V
THE “WELCOME HOME” PARTY
AT last it was nearly time to start for the party. The only thing there was to wait for now was for Mr. and Mrs. Watson to go to bed, as it would never do for the animals to start and then have Mr. Watson come out to the barn and discover them all gone.
To-night of all nights it seemed as if he would never turn out the lights. All eyes in the barnyard were watching the living-room, waiting for the lights there to be turned out and for those in the bedroom to be switched on. The window shades were up and the animals could see Mr. Watson comfortably seated in his big armchair reading the evening paper, his wife near him busy with her knitting.
“Oh!” exclaimed one of the young heifers, “I am growing so nervous waiting I could kick down the barn doors! It is such a glorious evening I want to start early and stay late.”
“There,” said another cow, “he has gone out to the pump to get his last glass of cold water before retiring, for I can hear the old pump handle squeak. But oh, dear me, he is sitting down again! He never does that! He always goes to bed directly after he drinks his glass of water.”
“See, Mrs. Watson is holding up the sock she is knitting and she is pointing to the toe. I believe she is asking him to wait until she finishes it. Yes, that is surely what she has done, for he is taking up his paper again,” remarked a third.