Then the old man turned to Marmaduke.
"Howdy," he said, "I hope you'll get better very soon."
"Thank you," replied Marmaduke politely. He was so well brought up that he didn't forget his manners, even up high in the sky.
"Well, here's something to play with when you get back to earth," said the Old Man-in-the-Moon. And he reached his hand inside the sack on his back, and pulled out a fistful of bright gold pennies—oh, such a lot of them!
Marmaduke reached for them. But alas! he was in too much of a hurry, and they spilled out of his hand and rolled right over the edge of the moon. Down, down, down, through the sky they dropped, past the stars and the clouds, down, down, down to the earth.
There were all the animals still, on the top of the hill, looking up at the moon. And one of the bright pennies landed on Black-eyed Susan's nose. She was a timid old cow and she was startled. And she was still more frightened at the howling, the barking, the squawking, which the animals set up, one and all.
So frightened was she that she jumped. So hard did she jump that she leaped way over the hill and over the clouds and the stars.
"There's that critter again," complained the Man-in-the-Moon.
On, with her tail spread out behind her, and her legs sprawling in the sky, came old Black-eyed Susan, straight towards them. Jack Frost and Marmaduke jumped back; the Old Man-in-the-Moon moved a little too. They were afraid she would land on their toes.
But she didn't.