Freddy the Cowboy by Walter R. Brooks Page A

worm out of the dirt, and I’ll shoot him so full of holes you can set glass in him and use him for a window.” And Freddy swung up into the saddle, struck a chord on his guitar, and as he rode off out of the circle of firelight into the darkness, he sang:
    â€œUp to the ranch rides Cowboy Freddy;
    His heart is stout and his hand is steady;
    He yells: ‘Come out’ but Flint is yeller
    And he shakes and he shivers and he hides in the cellar.
    Oh, yip, yip, yippy-doodle-dee!
    When Freddy finds him he falls on his knees,
    And he says, ‘Oh, mercy!’ and he says, ‘Oh, please!’
    But Freddy just laughs and pulls his moustache,
    And he plugs old Flint in the middle of his sash.
    Sing yip, yip, yippy-doodle-do.”
    There was much more in the song, but there was a lot of bragging in it, and Freddy was a little ashamed of it afterwards, so it is not put down here.

Chapter 11
    But Freddy didn’t go home that night. He had no wish to be pulled out of his comfortable bed in the pigpen in the middle of the night by an enraged Mr. Flint, and maybe shot full of large round holes. So he rode around the end of the lake to Mr. Camphor’s house. He rode up to the front door and rang the bell.
    Bannister answered. Bannister was Mr. Camphor’s butler, a very tall man in a tail coat with a very high bridge to his nose which he held so high in the air that unless you were an important personage, he could almost never see you over it. Freddy, however, was pretty high up in the air, too, being on horseback, so after Bannister had said: “Sorry, sir, Mr. C. Jimson Camphor is not at home,” he caught sight of the pig. “My word,” he said, “it is Mr. Frederick! Happy to see you, sir.”
    â€œThank you, Bannister,” said Freddy. He pointed to two mice who were peeking out of his pockets. “You remember Cousin Augustus. And this is my friend, Howard. And this pony is another new friend, Cy.”
    â€œHappy to see you, gentlemen,” said Bannister. “Mr. Camphor is in Washington. He will be sorry to have missed you. But come in, come in. Your room is always kept ready for you, you know, Mr. Frederick. And we can put these two gentlemen in the blue room, I think. As for Mr. Cy—” he looked doubtfully at the horse.
    â€œCy’s a Western pony—never sleeps indoors,” said Freddy.
    â€œWe’d rather sleep in the kitchen if it’s all right,” said Cousin Augustus, and Howard said: “We don’t feel at home in bedrooms. No crumbs usually.”
    â€œDear me,” said Bannister, “two mice with but a single thought.” Then he looked startled. “Ha!” he said. “Ha, ha! I seem to have made a joke!”
    Cousin Augustus was offended. “Yeah?” he said. “Well, it doesn’t seem very funny to me.”
    â€œHe’s not making fun of you, mouse,” said Freddy. “It’s just a quotation he’s twisted around. It’s two minds with but a single thought, you know.”
    â€œNo offense meant,” said Bannister.
    â€œO.K.,” said Cousin Augustus grumpily, for he was still a little seasick from the ride. “O.K., O.K., O.K.. Well, let him mind his manners and not go throwing his quotations at me.”
    So they spent a quiet night at Mr. Camphor’s, and in the morning they held a council of war, with Bannister’s help. There was a good deal of arguing, particularly between Bannister and Cousin Augustus, who still seemed to hold a slight grudge against the butler. But at last a plan was decided on.
    That afternoon they paddled across the lake—all but Cy who refused (and I think, on the whole, sensibly) to get into the canoe—and had a picnic at their old camp site on the north shore. And the following morning Bannister drove them into Centerboro, where Freddy bought a number of things. He bought a false moustache and a wig with long hair, that made