However, there were mean creatures around the foal. They looked a bit like people and were her own size, but their heads, hands and feet were larger and knobby. They were dark, and their scowls were darker. There were three of them, evidently guarding the foal. They weren't doing anything to him, but it was obvious that they would if he made any real effort to escape.

Jenny put her hand on Sammy's back. He had paused, satisfied not to go farther now that he had spotted what he had come for. "We have to rescue Chay from those mean folk," she whispered. "I could untie him, so he could run, but they'd only tie me up too. I wish I had something to make them go away, just long enough!"

Sammy took off. "No!" she whisper-cried. "I didn't mean for you to—" But of course it was too late, as it always was with Sammy. When would she learn not to speak carelessly when he was listening?

Well, there was no help for it. She had to follow him, though it delayed whatever action she might take to free the foal. Maybe that wasn't too much of a loss, because she had no idea how to free him. Still, she hardly needed distractions right now!

Sammy led her to a tree. It had bright green leaves and bright red berries. Berries? No, those were cherries! It was a cherry tree. But she was in no mood to eat right now.

"What possessed you to come here, when I said I needed something to make the mean little men go away?" she asked the cat, knowing he couldn't answer.

He merely stood by the tree, ignoring it now that he had found it. His joy was in the search; once he found whatever he sought, he usually did ignore it.

Perplexed, she reached up to pluck a cherry. It was round and red, but evidently not ripe, because its skin was hard, not soft. She touched her teeth to it, but could not dent it. The thing was like a wooden ball!

She plucked another. It was just as bad. These couldn't be real cherries. Maybe they were there just to fool hungry people—and she was a hungry person, even though she didn't want to eat at the moment.

Suddenly she was angry. Not only did she not want to eat, these cherries would be no good if she did want to! She hurled the two as far away from her as she could. They arced past the trees and came to the ground.

Boom! Boom!

Jenny stared. The two cherries hadn't bounced or rolled, they had exploded! There were two small craters in the ground where they had hit, and dirt and leaves were scattered around.

Amazed, she looked at the tree. Cherries that exploded?

And she had tried to bite into one! Suppose it had exploded when—

Then something clicked in her head. Sammy had led her here, and maybe this was why. What would happen if she threw a cherry at the mean men?