"Pooh! I'm not afraid of a ram!" declared Freddie. "If I had my fire engine unpacked, I'd squirt water on him!"
"Better not try that, little fat fireman," said his father with a laugh. "Into the house with you, son. Your mother will look after you."
Nan had already started from the porch, leading Flossie, who kept looking back over her shoulder. From behind the hedge came a cry that sounded like:
"Baa! Baa! Baa!"
"There he comes!" exclaimed Nan. "Come on in, Bert and Harry," she begged the two boy cousins, who were peering eagerly down the road.
"I'm going to watch 'em catch him," said Bert.
"Better not let him see you," advised Harry, the country cousin. "That old ram is a hard hitter."
"Is there really any danger?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his farmer-brother.
"Well, the old ram is pretty rough, I must say," answered Uncle
Daniel, "and most of the men on the farm are afraid of him."
"He's coming right this way, I tell you!" exclaimed the hired man who had brought the news.