the strangest thing he ever heard of. As for him, he much preferred the
darkness of his cool, damp galleries under the ground. And the only
reason why he wanted his coat to dry was so that the dirt wouldn't stick
to it.

It seemed to Jimmy Rabbit that Grandfather Mole's coat would never get
dry enough to suit the old gentleman. But at last he announced that he
was ready to stroll on. And when Jimmy Rabbit cried that he was ready,
too, Grandfather Mole said, "Then let's be on our way! And I'll meet
you----"

"Where the clover grows!" Jimmy interrupted.

Grandfather Mole had already buried his nose in the sand and was fast
digging himself out of sight. And Jimmy thought that if he must wait for
him again he would wait in a pleasant place.

So Jimmy Rabbit hurried to the meadow. And as he lunched on luscious
clover-tops he reflected that Grandfather Mole had a queer notion of
taking a stroll with a friend. He made up his mind then and there that
he would never again invite Grandfather Mole to walk with him.

VI

A HEARTY EATER

A GREAT eater was Grandfather Mole. And having an enormous appetite he
was fortunate in being expert at finding angleworms.

To be sure, he had one advantage that the birds, for instance, didn't
enjoy: he was able to prowl about his galleries through the ground and
find the angleworms right where they lived. He didn't need to wait--as
the birds did--until an angleworm stuck his head above ground.

Mrs. Jolly Robin had often wished--when she was trying to feed a
rapidly-growing family--that she could hunt for angleworms as
Grandfather Mole did. And this summer it seemed to her that she never
would be able to take proper care of her nestful of children.

There was one of her family in particular that was especially greedy.
Mrs. Robin had begun to suspect that he was no child of hers, but a
young Cowbird. Almost as soon as she had finished building her nest she
had discovered a strange-looking egg there. It had been the first to
hatch. And now the youngster that came from it was just enough older
than the rest of her children to jostle them, and to grab the biggest
worms for himself.

It was no wonder that Mrs. Robin needed help. And seeing Grandfather
Mole one morning, she explained her difficulty to him, asking if he
wouldn't be so kind as to capture angleworms for her.

"Why, certainly! Certainly!" said Grandfather Mole.

And Mrs. Robin breathed a sigh of relief. She felt t