The yellow hen went running, but just as she reached the gray rooster he turned and walked away with great dignity, saying: “Come on, let’s go; come on.”
“I might have known it,” complained the yellow hen; “you are like all the rest of the roosters. A respectable hen can’t depend on anything you say.”
“Come on, come on,” said the big gray rooster, strutting along, “I was just trying to get you away from that one-eyed dominicker. He’s not fit company for you to associate with.”
“Hoity-toity!” cried the yellow hen. “And didn’t I see you this morning scratching your toes off for the Friesland pullet?”
Buster John and Sweetest Susan laughed heartily at this, but Drusilla was very serious.
“I dunno which de wuss,” she cried, “chickens er folks.”
After that, time no longer hung heavy on the children’s hands. When the dinner bell rang, Buster John and Sweetest Susan were on hand promptly, with their faces washed and their hair combed. They were so anxious to get through their dinner that they ate rapidly, and this attracted the attention of their mother, who wanted to know what they had been doing to make them so hungry. The only satisfaction she got was a request to “Please, ma’m, make haste and have some dinner fixed for Drusilla.”
This was very soon done, and in a little while the children were ready to go with Aaron to see Timoleon.