Prince and Rover of Cloverfield Farm Part 2

"We are going after Prince," said father.

"But Prince cannot be here," said Bobby. "He was galloping down the road."

"I think we shall find him here," said father. "This is his old home."

Father and Bobby looked around the yard, but no Prince was there.

The open stable door was not in sight.

Just then Farmer Ross came up from the field. "We are looking for Prince," said Farmer Hill. "He must have gotten out of my stable, for we met him coming this way and followed after."

"I have not seen him. Let us look around," said Farmer Ross.

But Prince was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you sure he came in here?" asked Farmer Ross.

"Not sure," said Farmer Hill, "but I think he did. Could he have gone into the barn?"

They went to the stable door and looked.

There was Prince standing quietly in his stall, eating hay from the rack.

"I told you he always remembered the way home," said Farmer Ross.

"I'll take him back and this time we'll be more careful with him," said Farmer Hill.

So again he led Prince home and put him in the stall beside Daisy.

Every day he fed him plenty of hay and oats, gave him a good bed of straw to lie on at night, and always treated him kindly.

John sometimes gave him a lump of sugar, but father always led him out to water and held the halter very tightly.

After a few weeks Prince liked the new home so well that he never wanted to go back to the old one again.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOW ROVER GOT THE COWS OUT OF THE CORN]

III

Cloverfield Farm had a big Shepherd dog named Rover.

One day Rover lay under the apple tree in the back yard, taking his afternoon nap. Just over the fence in the pasture Farmer Hill's cows were grazing.

Suddenly Molly, the Big Red Cow, came near the stone wall on the farther side of the pasture. She smelled the corn in Neighbor Newman's cornfield beyond the stone wall.

Now if there is one thing that cows like better than anything else, it is growing sweet corn. Molly looked at it longingly over the stone wall. She smelled it in the breeze.

Not far away Molly saw a low place in the wall. Over this she jumped into the cornfield. All the other cows saw her and followed--the White Cow, the Black Cow, the two Speckled Cows, and the Little Red Cow.

They all began eating Neighbor Newman's corn.

Just then Mrs. Hill looked over that way and saw the cows in the cornfield.

Farmer Hill had gone to town that day, so he could not get the cows out of the corn. The hired man was down in the field by the woods, so he could not get the cows out of the corn.

"Who will get the cows out of the corn?" thought Mrs. Hill.

Going to the back door, she spied Rover taking his afternoon nap.

"Rover, Rover," she called, "the cows are in the corn." But Rover only opened one eye a very little bit and wagged his tail, a very weeny mite, and went on with his nap.

Again she called, very loudly, "Rover, Rover, get the cows out of the corn, quick! quick!"

Rover understood this time and jumped to his feet. "Look, there they are," said Mrs. Hill, pointing to the cornfield.

When Rover saw what had happened, he ran just like a flash across the pasture lot, jumped over the stone wall and began to bark at the Big Red Cow.

"Bow-wow, bow-wow," barked Rover, which meant, "Go back into your pasture."

But the Big Red Cow only switched her tail and went on eating corn.

"Bow-wow, bow-wow," barked Rover again; but still she went on eating corn, and all the other cows went on eating corn.

Then Rover bit the leg of the Big Red Cow. It was only just a little bite, but she knew it meant, "Get out of the cornfield or I will bite you very hard."

The Big Red Cow went to the stone wall with Rover barking at her heels, until she jumped back into the pasture lot.

Then he went to the other cows and made them all jump back over the stone wall into the pasture lot--the White Cow, the Black Cow, the two Speckled Cows, and the Little Red Cow.

Just as the last cow was jumping over the wall, Farmer Hill came home along the road from the city. He saw what Rover had done.

Rover got back to his place under the apple tree just as Farmer Hill drove into the yard. "Good dog, good dog," said Farmer Hill in a kind voice.

Rover looked up and wagged his tail.

"Is there a bone for Rover?" said Farmer Hill. Mrs. Hill went to the cupboard and found a big bone and gave it to Rover.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Rover made them all jump over the stone wall"]

"I must have the men fix that hole in the wall," said Farmer Hill.

When Rover was through with the bone, he went back to finish his afternoon nap under the apple tree.