“I don’t know.”
Hal came a little nearer. He was at the outer rim of the flock of sheep now, and the Curlytops saw him take something from his cap and throw it on the ground. Instantly the sheep nearest him scattered and began licking up what had come from the lame boy’s cap.
He came forward a little farther and scattered some more of the stuff which, Jan and Ted could see, was white. More sheep spread out and away from the Curlytops and began licking up with their tongues what Hal had spread on the ground for them.
“Here, old ram, this is for you!” and Hal laid some of the white stuff in a little pile right in front of the big-horned animal. The ram gave a loud “Baa-a-a-a!” and began eagerly licking up what Hal had given him.
“Oh, it’s sugar!” exclaimed Jan.
“No, it’s salt,” explained the lame boy with a laugh. “Sheep love salt better than sugar, though they may eat that, too, for all I know. But they’ll do almost anything for salt, and so will cows and horses, at times. So when I scattered this salt about the sheep just broke away from you to eat it. Now you can get away and they’ll never notice you.”
“Where did you get the salt?” asked Ted.
“Oh, I found some over in that other field,” and he pointed behind him. “You see the farmers around here have wooden troughs in some of the pastures where they salt their cattle. When I came from the Home, and saw the sheep in my field, I thought they might make trouble, as I hadn’t seen any around here before. I call this my field,” he went on, motioning to the one where the Curlytops had first seen him. “Though, of course, I don’t own it. But it’s just as nice as if I did. For I can hop along in it, and see the daisies and buttercups and dandelions in the green grass.
“They’re just like the jewels the Princess Blue Eyes wears around her neck,” he went on. “The flowers are, I mean. And they’re much nicer than real diamonds, for nobody wants to take them. I can leave ’em out in the fields all night, and they’re safe here in the morning, or whenever the Princess Blue Eyes wants to come and get them.”
“Who is the Princess Blue Eyes?” asked Jan.