<h2>XX</h2>
<h3>THE FOUR-ARMED MAN</h3></div>
<p>Old dog Spot was driving the last cow
down the lane when Jolly Robin and Mr.
Crow met on the bridge near the farmhouse,
as they had agreed.</p>
<p>“Now, then—” said Mr. Crow, even
before his broad wings had settled smoothly
along his back—“now, then, where’s
the four-armed man?”</p>
<p>Jolly looked towards the barnyard.</p>
<p>“I don’t see him yet,” he said. “But
he ought to appear any moment now.
Let’s move over to the big oak, for we can
get a better view of the barnyard from the
top of it.”
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_101' name='page_101'></SPAN>101</span></p>
<p>Mr. Crow was more than willing. So
they flew to the oak and waited for a time.
They saw the cows file into the barn, each
finding her own place in one of the two
long rows of stanchions that faced each
other across the wide aisle running the
length of the barn. It was through that
aisle that the men walked with great forkfuls
of hay in the winter time, which they
flung down before the cows, who munched
it contentedly.</p>
<p>But it was summer now. And the cows
found their own food in the pasture on the
hillside. They came to the barn only to
be milked.</p>
<p>“It’s milking-time right now,” Jolly
Robin remarked. “And pretty soon
you’ll see the four-armed man come out
of the barn with some pails full of milk.
He’ll carry them into the house, to set
them in the buttery. We’ll have a good
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_102' name='page_102'></SPAN>102</span>
look at him without his knowing anything
about it.”</p>
<p>And that was exactly what happened.</p>
<p>“Here he comes!” Jolly Robin exclaimed,
as a figure stepped out of the
barn and began walking toward the house.
“Now, you’ll have to admit that I wasn’t
joking when I told you the news of this
strange being. You ought to be pretty
glad I let you know about the four-armed
man, Mr. Crow. I guess you never saw
anything quite so queer as he is, even if
you <i>have</i> seen a two-headed calf.” Jolly
Robin said a great deal more to Mr. Crow.
And he was so pleased that he started to
sing a song.</p>
<p>But Mr. Crow quickly silenced him.</p>
<p>“Do keep still!” he whispered. “Do
you want to get me into trouble? It’s bad
enough to have a trick like this played on
me, without your making such a noise.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_103' name='page_103'></SPAN>103</span>
Farmer Green might shoot me if he saw
me so near his house. I thought—” Mr.
Crow added—“I thought you laughed a
little too much when you told me about
your four-armed man. It’s a hoax—a
joke—a trick—and a very poor one,
too.”</p>
<p>Jolly Robin was puzzled enough by Mr.
Crow’s disagreeable remarks.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand how you can say
those things,” he said.</p>
<p>Mr. Crow looked narrowly at his small
companion before answering. And then
he asked:</p>
<p>“Do you mean to say you never heard
of a neck-yoke?”</p>
<p>“Never!” cried Jolly Robin.</p>
<p>“Well, well!” said Mr. Crow. “The ignorance
of some people is more than I can
understand.... That was no four-armed
man. You said he looked like Farmer
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_104' name='page_104'></SPAN>104</span>
Green’s hired-man; and it is not surprising
that he does, for he is the hired-man.
He has found an old neck-yoke somewhere.
It is just a piece of wood that fits about
his shoulders and around his neck and
sticks out on each side of him like an arm.
And he hooks a pail of milk to each end
of the yoke, carrying his load in that way.
I supposed,” said Mr. Crow, “that people
had stopped using neck-yokes fifty years
ago. It’s certainly that long since I’ve
seen one.”</p>
<p>“Then it’s no wonder that I made a mistake!”
Jolly Robin cried. “For I’m too
young ever to have heard of a neck-yoke,
even.” And he laughed and chuckled merrily.
“It’s a good joke on me!” he said.</p>
<p>But old Mr. Crow did not laugh.</p>
<p>“There you go, making a noise again!”
he said crossly. “A person’s not safe in
your company.” And he hurried off
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_105' name='page_105'></SPAN>105</span>
across the meadow. Mr. Crow was always
very nervous when he was near the farmhouse.</p>
<p>But Jolly Robin stayed right there until
the hired-man walked back to the barn.
He saw then that what Mr. Crow had told
him was really so. And he never stopped
laughing until long after sunset.</p>
<hr class='major' />
<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_106' name='page_106'></SPAN>106</span>
<SPAN name='XXI_A_DOLEFUL_DITTY' id='XXI_A_DOLEFUL_DITTY'></SPAN>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />