Howard Roger Garis

“ Of course the Singing Girl could not understand what Racky said. To her it sounded only like squeaks, creaks and snaps, such as you may often hear in a chair when you sit on it. That is the time when chairs, couches, tables, stools and other things speak to you; only it isn't everyone who knows what they say.
But the Singing Girl, after standing and looking up the hill a little while longer, could see no more furniture coming down, so she took the lasso-towel off the back of Racky and, humming another jolly little song, she carried the chair into the cottage. ”

“ I am going to run away myself!"
"You are?" cried Racky. "When, where and with whom?"
"I am going to run away now—with you!" barked the dog.
"Oh, good!" exclaimed the rocking chair. "I thought I would have to go alone, by myself. It will be much more jolly to have company. We can have many adventures, and talk about them. First," he went on with a little laugh, "when I heard that noise, and saw the weeds moving, I thought an adventure was coming out. But it was only you, Thump."
"Yes, I have been roaming around in these weeds looking for a bone I buried last week," said Thump. ”

“ So he rocked and swayed to and fro, straining at his legs and reaching out with his arms—oh, yes! the rocking chair had arms, of course—and at last he was through the hole in the fence.
"I am free at last! Free!" exclaimed Racky in his own kind of a voice—a sort of squeak, peculiar to some rocking chairs. "I am free! No more shall I be sat on by fat, old ladies, though I really love Grandma Marden. ”

“ The snow flakes were swirling down thicker than ever. All about the children was a pale, frosty mist through which they could see nothing.
Suddenly Weezie whispered:
"I hear some one coming!"
They all listened. Above the noise of the storm they could hear the breaking and snapping of twigs and branches on the ground, as heavy feet trod on them.
"Maybe it's the circus elephant coming for us," said Addie in a low voice.
"Elephants don't come out in winter," declared Nat. "It's too cold for them." ”

“ And, so, knowing that Grandma would not come back to the kitchen for a few moments yet, Racky went on:
"I'm going to run away, Gassy, so I won't be broken to pieces!"
"Broken to pieces! What do you mean?" asked the gas stove.
"Well, it's like this," explained Backy as he rocked to and fro on the kitchen linoleum. "Old Grandma is getting fatter and heavier day by day. Every time she sits down in me I'm afraid she'll go through the seat, or at least crack one of my legs." ”

“ But never mind—it doesn't matter."
"Oh, but it does!" exclaimed Racky. "I should like to do you a favor since you were so kind as to invite me into this cave out of the rain. And I believe I know how I can scratch your back."
"How can you?" asked the wild pig.
"With the sharp ends of my rockers," answered the chair. "Oh, do not be afraid," he went on with a laugh. "They are not sharp enough to cut you. But if you will lie down behind me, with your back toward the ends of my rockers, I will sway to and fro. The rocker ends will move up and down and scratch your back nicely." ”

“ The cold, white flakes swirled around his legs, and fell on his stiff, wooden arms, chilling him all the way into his glue, by which he was held together.
"If the snow gets into my cracks, it will melt, and be just like rain," thought Racky as he swayed along. "Then I shall fall apart! Or I shall get the rheumatism, and creak worse, than when fat Grandma sits on me! ”

“ The chair rocked itself down the hill, from around the edge of the big rock."
"You mean the wind blew it," said Chimney with a smile. "A chair can't rock itself down hill."
"Oh, yes it can! This chair can!" cried Nat. "This is our chair, Racky, that ran away. That's the chair we have been looking for!" He was all excited, and so were the other children.
"Yes, that's Racky!" echoed Weezie.
The children crowded to the open door, through which the late afternoon wind blew little flakes of snow.
"It's your Grandmother's rocking chair!" added Rod. "Sure it is!" ”

“ So it must be warm there."
"I wish I could go in the little house," sighed Racky.
"Why don't you?" asked the tree. "I am glad to have you here, under me, but I cannot help sifting snow on you when the wind blows. And it is too breezy for one who is catching cold. The little old woman is kind. I am sure she will let you come in her house."
"Then I am going there, thank you," said Racky, who was now shivering so that he almost shook Grandma's glasses out from between the cushions. "How can I find the little house?" ”

“ But I cannot stand it to be cracked apart and then stuck up in the attic with the junk. I am running away at last!"
The chair was now in the open lots back of the two houses in which the four children lived. All about were dried weeds growing, for summer had passed, it was now late fall, and, as Weezie had said, it would soon be Christmas, or at least Thanksgiving, and we all know Christmas comes after the turkey holiday.
"How wonderful it is to be free—to do as one pleases!" cried Racky, with a happy little laugh. "I wonder what adventure I shall have first?" ”

“ She stirred the batter up until it was frothy and foamy, and then she poured it into shallow tins which she set into the oven of the new gas stove.
"Now I'll get the basket of stockings and rock while the cake is baking," said the fat old lady. "I'm not going to have my cake burned on the edges. If there's one thing worse than another, it's a burned cake, I think!"
The old brown rocker, which Grandma had named "Racky," creaked and groaned as the fat lady sat down in it with her basket of mending. ”

“ He could tell that the rocking chair had come this way, and now Thump knew the children were seeking Racky. What should Thump do?
"I can lead those children on the wrong trail, away from where Racky went, and tease them off into the deep woods, where they can never find that chair," thought Thump to himself. "I can do that, or I can lead them straight to where Racky is hiding. He cannot be far off, for he is a slow rocker." ”

“ It ought to be easy for you to run away. You can move about; can't you?"
"Oh, yes," answered the rocker. "Only a little while ago I moved half way across the kitchen. Grandma said I was quite a traveler!"
"Then what more do you want?" asked the stove. "Watch your chance and start out. I wish you joy and luck! You'll have many adventures!"
"Do you think so?" asked the chair eagerly.
"I am sure of it," replied the laundry stove. "And when you come back, tell me all about what happened."
"I am not coming back!" declared the rocker. "I have been sat on long enough! ”

“ It almost slid into the brook, but I lassoed it."
"And very glad I am that you did!" thought Racky, who was listening.
"Clever one!" laughed the wood-chopper as he kissed the Singing Girl. "I think I know how the chair came to be sliding down."
"How was it, Daddy?"
"A load of moving was going along the road at the top of the hill. This rocking chair fell off and came sliding down. After a while, when the moving men miss the chair, they will come back for it."
"Oh, dear! That will be too bad!" sighed the Singing Girl. "But of course I will give the chair to whoever comes for it. ”

“ But Grandma waddled farther out on the porch—she just had to waddle like a duck because she was so jolly and fat—and Grandma said again:
"Come, my dears, it's time to go to school!"
"Oh, I wish there wasn't any school!" exclaimed Nat.
"So do I!" echoed his chum. "Then we could go fishing now, instead of waiting until after school!"
"You'll have a lot more fun fishing, if you go to school first," said Grandma. "Then you won't be worrying over the lessons you missed."
"I wouldn't worry over any lessons!" boasted Rodney.
"Nor I," said Nat. "School's no fun! ”

“ So it happened that no one really saw the rocking chair get through the hole in the fence, which trick Racky did a few minutes later. It was hard work for the chair to escape from the yard. If it had been a kitchen chair, with legs that had no curved rockers fast to them, it would have been easier.
"But one can never succeed unless he tries," said Racky to himself. ”

“ A fairy story!" laughed Grandma. "I suppose a junk man came and carried off the old gas stove, and the children pretended that it had gone off by itself to have adventures; wasn't that it, Helen?" she asked the mother of Weezie.
"Well," was the slow answer, "the gas stove certainly disappeared. The children declared they found it in the woods, several miles from here. But their father insisted the junk man must have taken it away by mistake, and that it fell out of his wagon in the woods."
"No, it didn't!" declared Lizzie, firmly but with the respect due to her mistress. ”

“ His voice was eager and his eyes were shining bright.
"We can't go out in the rain," objected Weezie.
"It's stopped raining now," said Rod, looking out of the attic window.
And so it had. The early winter storm was over. But the sky was still cloudy.
"Maybe it will snow!" exclaimed Addie.
"That'll be fun!" came from Weezie. "I don't mind being out in the snow, but I don't like to get wet in the rain."
"Then let's go out and see if we can find that runaway rocker!" proposed Nat. "Mother won't mind. She wants it to be found, and so does Grandma. She needs her glasses very much." ”

“ Truth to tell, she was thinking very much about the disappearance of the rocker and grandma's glasses, though she did not really believe the chair had traveled off by itself.
"We'll have lots of fun!" exclaimed Nat and he ran to tell his chum that he could go fishing. Rod was also permitted to go, and the two boys made great plans for next day.
"Are you going to take Thump?" asked Weezie of her brother after supper that evening.
"Oh, yes, sure! Thump's going fishing with us!"
"Then couldn't you take Addie and me?" begged Weezie. "We get tired playing with dolls. ”

“ The two boys pulled it out, across the attic, and, as they did so, Nat pointed to two long, straight marks the rockers had made in the dust on the floor.
"Look!" he whispered.
"Well, what about it?" asked Rodney.
"Do you mean the rocker tracks look like twin snake marks?" inquired Weezie. "They do; don't they?"
"No, I didn't mean that," went on Nat, who had a queer look on his face as he stared at the dusty trail. "But don't you remember—the clump of weeds where Thump was barking yesterday? ”

“ There were the marks of his rockers going in, and the marks of his rockers coming out.
"Racky isn't in there," reported Nat and Rod, who ventured into the dim cavern, which Weezie and Addie would not do.
The wild pig, whose back had been so kindly scratched by the chair, the squirrel for whom Racky had cracked a nut, and the mother rabbit whose little bunny had been rocked to sleep, were no longer in the cave, so they could not tell the children where Racky had gone.
"But Thump will find him!" declared Rodney. "Go on!" ”

“ I'm going in!" cried Weezie, making a dash for the fence.
"So am I!" echoed Addie, so the two boys were left there with Thump.
"Ho! Ho!" laughed Nat. "Rats won't hurt you!"
"Not with Thump around," declared Rod. "Look!" he called to his chum, "see how the weeds are all trampled down, as if there had been a fight here."
"Maybe Thump was fighting another dog," suggested Nat.
"Maybe," agreed Rod. "And look at these two funny marks in the soft ground, as if somebody had dragged a sled along."
"Nobody would drag a sled now," objected Nat. ”

“ Chimney's cottage. First, into the wagon was lifted Racky, for he would have found it hard, stiff and cold as he was, to climb up by himself. Then in leaped Thump, cuddling down on the chair's warm seat cushion. Then in climbed the children.
"Gid-dap!" cried Santa Claus to his bony horse and away he started through the storm.
"Come and see me again, sometime, my dears!" invited Mrs. Chimney.
"We will!" promised Nat, Rodney, Weezie and Addie. "We will!"
And so, riding in the rattle-bang, through the storm, they reached their homes just about supper time. Mr. and Mrs. Marden and Mr. ”

“ I don't carry rakes! But why do you want one?"
"To scratch my back," grunted the pig. "You know we porkers always like to have our backs scratched, and I thought, if you had a rake, you could do it for me. ”

“ And Mother and Grandma have gone out to see about it!"
This gave Weezie courage, so she followed the officer out into the yard, close after Nat. The children saw the policeman crawling through the hole in the back fence—the same hole through which Racky the rocker had gone but a little while before. Only they did not know this.
"What's the matter, Nat?" asked Rodney, looking over the side fence.
"Is somebody going to be arrested?" asked Addie. ”

“ And there really had, as was soon found out. "I suppose," went on Nat's mother, "that Lizzie thought you were through with your rocker and has carried it into the living room, where you nearly always sit in it. Lizzie must have taken it."
"What did I take?" asked Lizzie, coming up, just then, from the laundry, in time to hear this last talk. "What did I take, Mrs. ”