came back again, closer and louder
than before.

"What shall I do?" thought the mother bird. "What shall I do?"

She might have flown away herself. But there were the three young birds
not yet old enough to fly.

So she sat still while the terrible noise kept coming nearer.

All this time, Bobby was playing here and there with Rover. Suddenly,
Bobby thought of something. He ran toward the mowing-machine, waving his
hands and shouting.

"Stop, Father, stop!" he said.

The mower made such a loud noise that Father could not hear what Bobby
was saying, but he could see his arms waving.

"Whoa, Prince! Whoa, Daisy!" he said, and the horses stopped.

"What is the matter, Bobby?" he asked.

[Illustration: "'Stop, Father, stop!' he said"]

"The bird's-nest! There's a nest right ahead," shouted Bobby.

"A bird's-nest, is there?" said Father. "Well, we won't harm the nest.
Go and stand near it, Bobby, and I'll turn out for it."

Bobby hunted around until he found it in the clover. Then he took his
stand beside it.

Father clucked to the horses. "Get-up, Prince! Get-up, Daisy!" he said.
When he came near Bobby, he turned out and passed a few feet away,
leaving the nest all safe.

Bobby stood there until Father went around the field and came back
again, so that the wheels of the mower would not run over the nest or
the horses step on it when passing on the other side.

"Are there any more nests in the field?" asked Father.

"There is one at that end," said Bobby, pointing toward the west; "and
one down there," pointing toward the east.

"If you will set a tall stick in the ground near each one," said Mr.
Hill, "I can see where the nests are, and you won't have to stand
there."

"All right," said Bobby, and he started toward the house for the sticks.

As he was hunting for them, he remembered his little flags that always
stood in the corner of the parlor.

"Why not use the flags to keep the bird's nests safe?" he thought.

So he ran into the parlor, took three of the flags and ran back to the
clover field.

In the nest at the western end of the field were four little birds.
Bobby pushed one of the sticks into the ground beside it, and the flag
floated in the breeze.

Away to the other end of the field he ran, to the nest where there were
two little birds. He planted one of the sticks in the ground beside it,
and that flag floated in the breeze.

Then he went to the nest where he had stood guard. "You s