“This led him into the farmyard.  Here he promptly forgot both the dog and the gander.  It was such a strange place, and full of such strange smells.  He was about to turn back into the more familiar clover when, as luck would have it, he stumbled upon a half-eaten carrot which had been dropped by one of the horses.  How good it smelled!  And then, how good it tasted!  Oh, no! the place where such things were to be found was not a place for him to leave in a hurry!

“As he was feasting greedily on the carrot the Boy appeared, with the white dog at his heels.  He did not look nearly so terrible as the gander.  So, angry at being disturbed, and thinking he had come for the carrot, Young Grumpy ran at him at once.

“But the Boy did not run away.  Surprised at his courage, Young Grumpy stopped short, at a distance of two or three feet from the Boy’s stout shoes, sat upon his haunches with his little skinny black hands over his chest, and began to gurgle and squeak harsh threats.  The Boy laughed, and stretched out a hand to touch him.  Young Grumpy snapped so savagely, however, that the Boy snatched back his hand and stood observing him with amused interest, waving off the white dog lest the latter should interrupt.  Young Grumpy went on blustering with his muffled squeaks for perhaps a minute.  Then, seeing that the Boy was neither going to run away nor fight, he dropped on all fours indifferently and returned to his carrot.

“There was nothing pleased the Boy better than seeing the harmless wild creatures get familiar about the place.  He went now and fetched a saucer of milk from the dairy, and set it down beside Young Grumpy, who scolded at him, but refused to budge an inch.  The yellow cat—­an amiable soul, too well fed to hunt even mice with any enthusiasm—­followed the Boy, with an interested eye on the saucer.  At sight of Young Grumpy her back went up, her tail grew big as a bottle, and she spat disapprovingly.  As the stranger paid her no attention, however, she sidled cautiously up to the milk and began to lap it.

“The sound of her lapping caught Young Grumpy’s attention.  It was a seductive sound.  Leaving the remains of his carrot, he came boldly up to the saucer.  The yellow cat flattened back her ears, growled, and stood her ground till he was within a foot of her.  Then, with an angry ‘pf-f-f’ she turned tail and fled.  The stranger was so calmly sure of himself that she concluded he must be some new kind of skunk—­and her respect for all skunks was something tremendous.

“Having finished the milk and the carrot, Young Grumpy felt a pressing need of sleep.  Turning his back on the Boy and the dog as if they were not worth noticing, he ambled off along the garden fence, looking for a convenient hole.  The one-eyed gander, who had been watching him with disfavor from the distance, saw that he was now no longer under the protection of the white dog, and came stalking up from the other end of the yard to have it out with him—­thief of eggs and murderer of goslings as the bird mistook him to be!  But Young Grumpy, having found a cool-looking hole under the fence, had whisked into it and vanished.