"That's what I said when I galloped away," sighed the old stove. "But, after all, I was glad to come back. Perhaps you will be the same."
"No! Never!" said the brown rocker proudly. "When I run away, I go for good!"
"Well, watch your chance," went on the stove, "and when no one is looking, slip out the back door and run away. Or, since you have rockers on your legs, I suppose you will have to rock away."
"Yes," agreed the chair, "I am a traveling rocker and I am going off to have adventures."
He looked out in the yard. Lizzie, the maid, was no longer there hanging out the clothes. Racky could hear her moving about down in the laundry.
At the same time, the chair could hear Grandma talking in the front hall to Mrs. Trent. The mother of Nat and Weezie had also come down stairs to get the letter which her neighbor brought over.
"I believe I'll never get a better chance than this!" suddenly thought Racky. "There is no one in the kitchen to stop me, and I can rock right out the back door, across the yard, now that Lizzie isn't there, and through the hole in the fence. Then I'll start traveling over the vacant lots to have adventures. I'm going now!"
Racky wished he might call good-bye to Gassy down in the laundry, but, with Lizzie now there, this was out of the question. The stove and chair did not want to let the people of the house know that they could talk among themselves.
So Racky could only softly whisper:
"Good-bye, Gassy! I'm going to run away! I'll never see you again, nor hear your voice, for I am never coming back! I am not going to stay here to be sat on by a fat old lady whose weight makes me creak and groan. I am going off by myself to have jolly adventures and lots of fun. Good-bye, Gassy!"