Read Online Freddy Goes to the North Pole by Walter R. Brooks - Free Book Online Page A

Like this, see? Why, you could almost climb down! See that window-ledge under us?” And as Mrs. Wiggins leaned out farther, he said: “All right, Cecil,” and the porcupine jumped on the cow’s back. With a roar of pain and surprise, Mrs. Wiggins leaped through the window and landed on her back on the pile of mattresses, with all four legs in the air.
    You never can tell how anything is going to strike a cow. All the animals thought she’d be very mad. But when she had scrambled to her feet and shaken herself and found that she was safe and sound and not really hurt at all, she laughed and laughed and laughed. And when Cecil and Uncle William and Jack jumped out after her, she laughed so loud that you could hear her for six miles. She made so much noise that she frightened even Kate, who stopped banging on the door, although all she had to do now was turn the knob and walk in.
    But Kate didn’t stay frightened very long. She hurried downstairs and got outside just as the animals were making off towards the woods, with the feather beds piled on Mrs. Wiggins’s back. Ferdinand had insisted on taking them. They’d need them, he said, in the Far North.
    â€œHa!” snorted Mrs. Wiggins as, at a warning caw from the crow, she looked round to see Kate running towards her, broomstick swinging threateningly. “I’ve had about enough of this!” And she turned round to face the enemy, lowered her horns, and pawed the ground angrily. The feather beds fell off her back, and the other animals scuttled out of the way. And then as Kate came closer, she charged.
    The next thing Kate knew she was hanging in the fork of a tree about twelve feet above the ground, and the animals were disappearing into the thick woods. She shouted and called for Pete to come and help her down, but Pete was still hunting for the children on the other side of the lake. There was nothing for her to do but wait until he came back. So she made herself as comfortable as she could and tried to pass the time by inventing new punishments for the children. She had just thought up a new and more painful method of spanking and was just beginning to enjoy herself when a big black dog galloped up, stopped under her tree, and began to bark.
    The dog was Jack, whom the animals had sent back as rear-guard to cover their retreat with the children. But Kate didn’t know this, and as she hadn’t noticed Jack particularly when the animals had run away from the house, she thought he was just a stray dog. At first his barking and jumping and tail-wagging annoyed her. Kate was one of those unfortunate persons who almost never feel anything but annoyance. When things happened, things that would please or excite or interest you or me, Kate was just annoyed. So she was annoyed now at Jack and shook her fist at him and called him names. But it’s not much fun to call names or shake fists at people who don’t pay any attention to it, and Jack didn’t pay any attention, but sat down under the tree and looked up and smiled pleasantly and wagged his tail. So Kate stopped. And pretty soon she said: “Oh dear, I wish Pete would hurry up.”
    At that Jack jumped up and ran down to the beach and barked and barked, and pretty soon Pete heard him, and as he hadn’t been able to find any trace of the children, he got into the boat and rowed back to see what was going on. Jack led him to the tree, and Pete got a ladder and helped Kate down.
    As soon as her feet touched the ground, she got down on her knees beside Jack and hugged him and petted him. “Nice doggy,” she said. “Good doggy. Ain’t he a nice doggy, Pete? Why, he understands everything I say! And ain’t he handsome? I never seen a handsomer dog.”
    Kate had never in her life said anything nice to anybody before, much less petted anybody, and Pete was so amazed that his jaw fell open and he put his hands to his head and grabbed two large