Arthur Scott Bailey

“ Nimble inquired pleasantly.
"Johnnie Green is salting the sheep over in our pasture," Snowball explained.
"He is, eh?" cried Nimble Deer. "Then why aren't you there with the rest?"
Snowball shook his head.
"It's too dangerous," he said. "I don't want salt put on my tail."
Nimble Deer gave him a queer look.
"It is dangerous, while Johnnie Green is there—or it would be dangerous if he had a gun," Nimble admitted. "But what's this you say about salt on your tail?"
"Johnnie Green is putting salt on the tail of every sheep in the flock," Snowball declared. ”

“ Mr. Crow's bright eyes snapped. And his bill snapped, too. For the mere thought of such scheming always made him terribly angry.
And then Snowball said something that made Mr. Crow more impatient than ever.
"I don't care if Johnnie Green does catch me," Snowball declared. "Johnnie wouldn't hurt me. We've always been great friends."
"He wouldn't, eh?" Mr. Crow retorted. "How do you know he wouldn't hurt you?"
"He never has hurt me," Snowball replied.
"Perhaps not! Perhaps not!" Mr. Crow croaked. "But you never can tell. You never can tell what a boy will do. ”

“ All the sheep in the pasture hurried down the hillside toward the bars to look at Snowball. And soon dozens of disputes might have been heard: "He is!" "He isn't!" "He's sheared!" "He's not!" About half the flock were sure Johnnie Green had sheared Snowball; while the other half were just as sure that Snowball still wore his fleece. ”

“ Then Snowball turned and ran the other way, straight for the stone wall. He didn't even look back once, but scrambled over the wall and lost himself in the tangle of berry bushes that grew in a rocky old pasture that hadn't been used for years.
"He's salting them by this time," Snowball muttered to himself. "Johnnie Green is salting the sheep. And I'm glad Mr. Crow warned me, for I shouldn't want salt put on my tail. It must be terrible to be caught that way." ”

“ Farmer Green couldn't help laughing. [9] And then, noticing a very disappointed look on Johnnie's face, he said, "Cheer up, Johnnie! That lamb is the youngest one on the farm, but he's too big for a pet. He's a wild one. Let him run with the flock and we'll see if we can't do something to make you feel happy."
Well, Johnnie Green knew that when his father talked like that it was silly to be glum. So he cried, "All right!" And turning his back upon the black lamb, which was by this time almost up to the head of the lane, Johnnie walked back to the woodshed. ”

“ VII WARNING THE FLOCK
Snowball Lamb was puzzled. He didn't understand old Mr. Crow's answer at all.
"What if Johnnie Green should put salt on my tail?" he asked Mr. Crow. "What harm would that do?"
The old gentleman stared at Snowball as if he couldn't quite believe that anybody could be so stupid.
"Haven't you ever heard that that's the way to catch people?" cried Mr. Crow at last. "Why, there isn't a boy in Pleasant Valley who doesn't know that; and many of 'em carry salt about in their pockets all the time, hoping to get a chance some day [39] to put the salt on my tail, and capture me!" ”

“ Snowball suggested.
"Young!" Mr. Crow cried with a short, mirthless laugh. "The Muley Cow's not young. She's the oldest cow on the farm. If the truth must be told, she's so old that Farmer Green wouldn't keep her if it weren't that Johnnie Green thinks she belongs to him. And he'd raise a terrible row if his father sold her."
"Are you too young to explain about this trick that you just warned me against?" Snowball asked. "I'd like to know how there can be any danger in salt. [37] How can anybody be caught with salt?" ”

“ Old dog Spot came home from the pasture feeling quite pleased with himself. He had caught a fat woodchuck. And that was enough to make him happy.
Spot hadn't crossed the barnyard when Henrietta Hen came fluttering up to him. She was a busybody, always trying to get somebody into trouble. "Snowball went to the village with Johnnie Green and his father!" Henrietta shrieked.
"That's good news," said old dog Spot. "I've been hoping to hear something like that. We're well rid of that Snowball Lamb." ”

“ Farmer Green and the hired man sheared the sheep. Close clipped as they were, the flock looked very odd. When Snowball caught his first glimpse of the young black ram, after Farmer Green had sheared him and [113] turned him back into the pasture, minus his fleece, Snowball did not know him. Just for a moment Snowball thought the young black ram was a new kind of dog.
"Old dog Spot won't care for this stranger," Snowball thought. He was about to warn the stranger to leave the farm at once, when he saw that he wasn't a dog after all. For Snowball noticed that he ate grass. ”

“ More than once he had stolen up behind Red and butted him as hard as he could butt.
At first Red only laughed. But as Snowball grew bigger—and heavier—Red no longer found anything to laugh at in Snowball's favorite sport. Instead of laughing, Red was more likely to go to rubbing himself where Snowball had struck him.
"You'll have to get rid of this pet of yours!" Red said to Johnnie Green. "That is, you'll have to if you expect me to come to your place any longer." [94]
"I won't get rid of Snowball," Johnnie Green declared. "It serves you right if he butts you. You've teased him too often. ”

“ Spot told her. "My family isn't a sheep-killing one. I have to live up to the family name."
"Well," Henrietta Hen declared, "if I were you I'd join another family—at least for a short time."
But old dog Spot declared that that [20] wouldn't do at all. "We'll have to be patient," he said. "The Muley Cow claims that Johnnie Green will get tired of Snowball sooner or later. It may be that she is right. Let us hope so!"
"Farmer Green ought to turn that great lamb into the pasture," Henrietta Hen spluttered. ”

“ The flock was feeding again. And if you hadn't noticed how Aunt Nancy Ewe puffed from her fast running you wouldn't have supposed there had just been a wild scramble over the stone wall and back.
Aunt Nancy was still feeling sorry for Uncle Jerry Chuck, whose rest had been disturbed by the thud of hoofs above his head. "Remember!" she said to Snowball sternly. "Don't go near Uncle Jerry's home again!" [85]
"I won't!" he promised. "That is," he added, "I won't if I can help it. If I find myself running that way I may not be able to stop myself." ”

“ The barrel fast gathered headway. It crossed the road like some live thing, to bring up against the farmhouse with a terrific smash.
Instantly the barrel fell into a dozen pieces as its staves caved in. ”

“ When it was gone Snowball turned to old Aunt Nancy Ewe.
"May I lick the salt off your tail?" he asked her politely.
She gave him a haughty stare.
"Have you no respect for your elders?" Aunt Nancy asked him severely.
"Pardon me!" said Snowball. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but Mr. Crow told me——"
"Mr. Crow!" Aunt Nancy cried, before Snowball could finish. "So it's Mr. Crow that's been putting queer ideas into your head! I might have known it. After this don't ever listen to him! He's been the [49] means of your almost missing a fine treat—and one that doesn't come every day in the year." ”

“ After that the black lamb had always stayed with the flock. He was a wild, unruly fellow, bigger and older than Snowball. And he was quite outspoken—and not always careful of his language.
This black lamb chanced to be near Snowball when Johnnie Green came into the pasture on a certain fine morning. [56] And when Johnnie began calling to Snowball the black lamb said, "Why don't you run the other way? That's what I always do when boys call me." ”

“ Johnnie Green had to work a long, long time before he succeeded at last in teaching Snowball to obey him. And then, after Snowball jumped through the hoop in as graceful a manner as anybody could have asked for, Johnnie was not quite satisfied.
"You'll have to learn to jump through a paper hoop if we're ever going to be taken along with the circus," he told Snowball. ”

“ At least Spot so thought it.
"This lamb won't get much notice from Johnnie Green after to-day," Spot told Henrietta Hen. "He'll be left here in the yard. And it won't be long now before Mrs. Green tells Farmer Green to put him in the pasture with the flock. She won't [24] have him in everybody's way. She'll get rid of him quickly. You know that when Mrs. Green makes up her mind, things generally happen to suit her." ”

“ There wasn't a sheep in the flock that had been more frightened than he. [92]
XVIII THE SWING
As Snowball grew older he began to enjoy a fine, new sport. At least this sport was new to him. All the old rams had enjoyed it for years. But it was not until Snowball's horns began to grow that he became interested in having fun in this way.
The new sport was butting. Snowball was careful not to butt any sheep that were much bigger than he was. For instance, he never even threatened to butt the black lamb, who was some months the older of the two. And Snowball didn't butt Johnnie Green ”

“ As he came in sight of the little box-like building he saw other youngsters hurrying through the doorway. And then Johnnie ran as fast as he could.
He burst inside the schoolroom just as the school mistress tapped the little bell on her desk, which meant that everybody must stop talking, because school had begun. ”

“ Crow knows what he's talking about. I'll ask the flock!"
So Snowball ran down the hillside pasture to the place where the flock had gathered to graze. And to his astonishment some of the flock didn't even lift their heads from the grass when he related all that Mr. Crow had said. Those that did [41] pause and listen to Snowball only giggled and went to feeding again. No! there was one that spoke to him. Aunt Nancy Ewe spoke up a bit tartly.
"If you're worried you'd better stay away when Johnnie Green comes to salt us," she told him. "We all expect to have a very pleasant time," she added. ”

“ Of course the rest of the flock thought he was only playing Follow My Leader. So they followed him, every one of them.
Snowball went bounding across the pasture towards the stone wall, headed straight for the spot where Uncle Jerry Chuck had his home. When he was only a few jumps away from the wall he glanced back. He saw then that there was no bear behind him. But he did notice Aunt Nancy Ewe, doing her best to keep up with the rest. And then Snowball re [87] membered what she had said to him. If a bear—instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck—lived in the hole at the foot of the ledge! ”

“ Red was always ready to be swung. Never had he been willing, before, to swing anybody else. So Johnnie decided to enjoy the fun while he could. Back and forth he rode in long sweeps.
Meanwhile Snowball kept edging nearer. He was behind Red. And all the time Red kept a careful eye on him. But of this Johnnie Green saw nothing. For of course his back was turned to Red and to Snowball, too. ”

“ Now, the black ram was a peppery chap. He promptly lost his temper and stamped his feet and shook his head at Snowball.
"I'll butt you for that!" he bawled. [115]
Once Snowball would have retreated. The black ram had always been both older and bigger than he. But now, though the black ram was still older, he looked smaller. ”

“ Johnnie Green and his father hitched up the old horse Ebenezer and started for the village. Of course Spot would have followed them, under the wagon, if he had been at the barn when they left. But he wasn't. He was up in the pasture, chasing woodchucks. ”

“ Then Farmer Green and Johnnie went [120] away. And they hadn't passed the bars when a great uproar broke out. The whole flock crowded around Snowball. And everybody except him said, "Baa!"
"He laughs best who laughs last," Aunt Nancy remarked to him. "To-morrow we'll laugh best—at you!"
But Snowball stood his ground and shook his head.
"I'm not going to be sheared," he declared. "I guess you don't know what Johnnie Green's 'to-morrow' means. . . . It means 'never!'"
Snowball really thought he was right about that. ”