"Where are you going to spend the night?" Mr. Crow asked him as soon
as they were out of Aunt Polly's hearing.

"That haystack is a good place," said the Major. "I believe I'll live
there as long as I stay in Pleasant Valley."

"It's not far from the farmhouse," Mr. Crow observed. "Perhaps you
could steal--er--I mean _find_ a little cooked food there now and then."

"That's an idea," Major Monkey told him. But he did not explain
whether he thought it a good one or not.




VIII

A Secret


When Major Monkey awoke the following morning his pain had left him.
Creeping from the haystack where he had slept, he cast longing eyes at
the red apples in the tree near-by. But he remembered his trouble of
the evening before. And he remembered likewise what Mr. Crow had said
about "finding" something to eat at the farmhouse.

But for some reason the Major wanted to avoid Farmer Green's house. To
be sure, he would have enjoyed sitting down with the family at the
breakfast table. But he was afraid something might prevent his leaving