.

"What's that you say?" asked Jasper Jay. And when Jolly repeated his
question, Jasper began to scream with laughter. "Well, that's a good
one!" he said at last. "So you thought the post was going to pull
itself out of the ground and fly away with you, did you?"

"Why, yes!" Jolly Robin replied. "Aren't these _wings_?" he asked,
looking down at the boards. "They're already spread," he observed.

It was some minutes before Jasper Jay could answer him, for he was
laughing again. But finally he managed to speak.

"Those aren't wings!" he cried. "They're sign-boards, to tell you
which road to take. Of course, you can't expect to read a sign when
you're sitting on it. Just go over to the fence across the road and
you can see the sign that you're on now."

So Jolly Robin fluttered over to the fence. And from there he could
see the sign-board plainly. This is what it looked like:

TO SKY POND, 15 MILES

"There!" Jasper Jay cried, when Jolly had read the sign aloud. "You
see how easy it is. All you need do is to follow this road to which
the hand points."

"Then I shall have to fly, after all," Jolly Robin said. He had
expected to have a ride. And naturally he was disappointed. Then he
read the sign once more. "Sky Pond!" he exclaimed. "I don't want to go
to Sky Pond. I want to go to the South!"

"Well, Sky Pond's south of Pleasant Valley," Jasper Jay explained.
"It's right on your way to your winter home. And all you have to do
when you reach Sky Pond will be to find another sign, which ought to
say something like this: 'To the South, one thousand miles.' You see
how simple it is," Jasper Jay remarked. "With a sign-board to guide
you, you can't go wrong."

But it seemed to Jolly that the new way of travelling was far more
difficult than the old. He said as much to Jasper Jay, too. "I
wish----" he added--"I wish I had started yesterday, with the
others."

At that Jasper Jay said, "Nonsense!" And he muttered something about
dunces, and mollycoddles, and--yes! _'fraid-cats!_

Perhaps Jasper hadn't intended that Jolly Robin should hear those
words--and perhaps he had. Anyhow, he was sorry afterward that he had
spoken so loud. For the first thing he knew, Jolly Robin flew straight
at him with shrill chirps of rage. And Jasper was so surprised--and
frightened, too--that he flew off as fast as he could go, following
the road that led to Sky Pond, fifteen miles away, with Jolly Robin
after him