to her, after Jolly had gone. "Jasper
Jay can't harm the children, for they'll be safe in the nest. And
luckily our doorway is too small for him."

But Mrs. Rusty wouldn't be calmed.

"He's a great, cruel bully," she replied. "And if he spends much
time here I'm afraid the children will starve, for neither you nor
I will be able to go out and find food for them, because Jasper
would be sure to pounce on us; and what chance would we have
against him?"

"We'll go together," said Rusty Wren, looking very brave.

But Mrs. Wren said she wouldn't think of leaving her six small
children all alone in the house.

"Everything will be all right," Rusty assured her. "You know Jasper
isn't coming unless he can _find the time_. Jolly Robin said so.
And maybe he won't be able to get here at all."

They had gone inside their house to talk over the matter in
private. And Rusty had hardly finished speaking when a loud bang,
followed by a clatter, sounded on the tin roof above their heads.

It was no wonder that they both jumped.

"Goodness!" exclaimed Rusty's wife. "What's that?"

But Rusty couldn't tell her. During all the weeks they had lived
there he had heard nothing like that.

While they listened the noise was repeated. And Mrs. Rusty declared
that the sky must be falling, for she had never heard such a
dreadful sound in all her life.

"I'll go right out and see what it is," Rusty Wren said.

But his wife caught hold of his coat-tails and begged him to stay
with her.

"No! no!" she cried. "You must not stir out of the house. I'd be
terribly worried if you left me alone here with these six small
children. And you might get hurt, besides."

Meanwhile the racket on the roof continued, with only a short pause
between each outburst. The six Wren children began to cry--for they
were hungry as well as frightened. And all the time Mrs. Rusty
clung to her husband's coat-tails and besought him not to leave
her.

To tell the truth, he had no such intention. Though he was very
brave for his size, he was thoroughly alarmed. And for the time
being he was quite content to stay inside his snug house and hope
that the trouble would soon come to an end.

* * * * *

On the whole, the Wren family spent a very unpleasant quarter of an
hour. The _bang, clatter, bang_ on their roof still continued until
the din became almost unbearable. And Rusty Wren grew so desperate
that he had almost made up his