ore a bay cap on his head. And he
had excellent manners, too. He said "Good-evening!" to Rusty very
pleasantly and touched his cap. No doubt he would have taken it off
had it not grown right on his head. "I see you want a boy," he
observed.

"I certainly do!" said Rusty Wren. "What's your name?"

"They call me 'Chippy, Junior,'" the youngster told him.

"Is that so?" Rusty exclaimed. "Then your father must be Mr.
Chippy, who lives in the wild grapevine on the stone wall by the
roadside."

Chippy, Jr., nodded brightly. And when he said, "_Chip, chip, chip,
chip_," Rusty knew that there could be no doubt about it.

"Wait just a moment!" he told Chippy, Jr. "I want to speak to my
wife about you." And then he darted back into his house.

"My dear," he said to Mrs. Rusty, "I've found the very person!
Little Mr. Chippy's son is outside and I'm sure we ought to be glad
to have a modest young man like him to help us."

"He comes from a good family," Mrs. Rusty admitted. "But don't you
know that the Chippys are bigger than we are? Not much bigger, to
be sure. But Mr. Chippy certainly couldn't get through our
doorway."

"Quite true, my love!" Rusty Wren agreed. "But it's his son--not
_he_--that wants to work for us. And this young lad is not full
grown. I should say he was hardly my size."

Though his wife hesitated, she could think of no further objection.
So at last she told Rusty that he might ask Chippy, Jr., to come
back early the next morning.

"But I have a feeling that this is going to lead to trouble," she
said once more. Rusty Wren said, "Nonsense!" He was overjoyed at
the prospect of having a spry young helper. And he hurried out to
tell Mr. Chippy's son that he might start to work at daybreak.

That polite young man touched his cap again, promised that he would
return without fail, and then went _chip-chipping_ away toward
home, for it was already his bedtime.

For all he was still hungry, Rusty Wren slept better that night
than he had for a long while. He felt as if a great load had been
lifted off his shoulders.

He slept so soundly, in fact, that he never waked up all when Fatty
Coon and Tommy Fox came at midnight to view his sign, "Boy Wanted."

They made a good deal of noise, too, grumbling not a little because
there was not the least sign of a sign anywhere they looked.

As soon as he had engaged Chippy, Jr., to work for him, Rusty Wren
had taken down the sign, "Boy Wanted." And so all furthe