abby, bounding out through one of the broken panes.

The cow told him.

"Well," said Tab, stroking his whiskers reflectively, "I guess I'll go
with you and help you look for the good-natured old creature."

So they journeyed on, asking everybody they met about the old man. But
nobody knew, until finally they came across an old crow who knew
everybody's business.

"An old man?" said he. "The eagle took an old man the other day. Did he
have very slender legs?"

"Yes, yes!" said the cat and the cow together.

"And a sweet smile on his face?"

"Yes, yes!" cried the cow. "He went up with that smile, and it has been
haunting me ever since," and she burst into a flood of tears.

"Well," said the crow, "he's in the eagle's nest telling stories to the
eaglets, and if he isn't tired of the business by this time, I'm
mistaken."

"Where is the nest?--and how can we get there?"

"Up at the very top of the mountain yonder. Go straight ahead, and you
can't miss it."

[Illustration: THE OLD MAN TELLING STORIES TO THE EAGLETS.]

So straight ahead they went till they came to the rock where the
eagle's nest was. Then what should they do? They could hear the old
man's little, thin voice telling stories to the birds, but they knew he
wouldn't dare come where the cow was, even if he could clamber down
that steep rock. At last, Tab suggested that the cow should hide
herself, while he climbed up into the nest and persuaded the old man.
So the cow hid, and puss scrambled up to the nest and carefully poked
his head in.

"Ah, master!" he whispered; "climb down the rock to-night, and I'll
show you the way home." And he disappeared.

This visit braced up the old man's courage, and when the mother-bird
came home he calmly told her he thought he'd sleep at the foot of the
rock that night; and she unsuspectingly took him in her talons and
dropped him gently on the ground.

As soon as she had gone, the old man looked all about him, and called
"Tabby, Tabby," very softly. Tabby came out from under the roots of a
tree and bounded on his shoulder, and told him how sorry the cow was,
and how she was waiting in a thicket ready to carry him home, if he
wanted to go.

Of course he wanted to go, and in less than a jiffy the cow had come
out from her hiding-place, had cried a little, and had taken the old
man on her back, and started full speed down the mountain, with the cat
tearing after her.

It was a long way to the old man's house, a