rush of the air--all those things made him wonder whether he could ever
reach home again, alive and unharmed. He was even more scared than he
had been when he found himself in the power of that dreadful creature,
Jennie Junebug.




XXIII

WHY FREDDIE WAS GLAD


Even after the train had rushed shrieking into the village two miles
away, and the echoes had grown still, Freddie Firefly cowered in his
hiding-place on the railroad track, crouched in the chink beneath one of
the ties.

At last he crept out, trembling in every limb. But in spite of his
terror he skipped off the track very spryly.

Safe at one side of the rails, which gleamed in the moonlight, Freddie
felt himself all over, to make sure that he had broken no bones.

"I seem to be unhurt," he mused. "But never, never again will I listen
to anything that Mrs. Ladybug says."

And having made himself that solemn promise, he hurried away toward
Farmer Green's meadow, which he reached just before dawn.