Then Mary did a strange thing. She opened the red umbrella and whirled
it around and around. Then she threw it toward Big Ben as far as it
would go. It went rolling over the grass, with Big Ben bounding wildly
after it.

The red umbrella made him so angry that he forgot all about the little
girls.

Mary and Dot crept under the fence to safety.

"O Mother," sobbed Mary, when the children reached home and told the
story, "O Mother, your lovely red umbrella is all ruined!"

"But my little girl is safe," said Mrs. White, "and she has saved the
life of her little friend." Mrs. White put her arm around Mary and held
her tightly, and drew little Dot to her, too, just as Dot's own mother
would have done.

I wish you could hear all the things Betty, Peggy, and little Dot did on
the farm. It would take a great, big book to hold the story; and this is
a little book for little folks.

At last the summer vacation was over. The three little girls and the two
mothers had to leave their friends on the farm and go back to the city.

The little girls said good-bye to every living thing on the place--to
the little pet rooster, to Red Chief, to the Speckle family, and to
Mrs. Black Hen and her children who were now almost grown and had whole
suits of clothes on. They said good-bye to Brown Betty and her children.