hen he added that
he hadn't seen an angleworm for two days there were a few of his bird
companions that began to think perhaps there was some reason in his
remarks, after all.

But Rusty Wren declined to change his opinion.

"There's only one way to be sure; and that's to ask Grandfather Mole!"
little Mr. Chippy cried.

"It wouldn't do any good," Rusty told him. "Grandfather Mole won't
answer any questions. But he's in some sort of trouble. There's no
doubt of that."

They looked down at Grandfather Mole, who was still scurrying
frantically about the garden. If he heard their talk he did nothing to
let them know it. And they had begun to think that they would never know
his secret when a person who looked somewhat like Grandfather Mole
thrust her head and shoulders out of a hole in the ground.

"That"--Rusty Wren whispered--"that is Grandfather Mole's daughter. I
know, for I've seen her before." And listening sharply, the bird people
heard her say, "Don't worry, Father! I've found them."

Grandfather Mole didn't wait for anything more. He didn't even wait
until he had found the opening in which his daughter had appeared. He
began to dig right where he stood. And he was out of sight in short
order.

Although the bird people didn't know it, he was anxious to reach his
grandchildren. He had them out for a stroll through his underground
galleries; and walking behind him they had taken a wrong turn when
Grandfather Mole didn't know it. After looking for them in vain down
below he had feared that they might have found their way into the open
air. And that was why he was running about in such a distracted
fashion.

X

MRS. ROBIN'S WISH

IN order to provide enough food for her children--as well as for the
young Cowbird that she was bringing up--Mrs. Jolly Robin had to work
hard every day. Though her husband gladly did what he could to help her,
he complained sometimes about the stranger in their nest.

"Our family is certainly big enough without him," he often remarked. "We
ought to turn him out to shift for himself."

But Mrs. Robin wouldn't hear of such a thing.

"It's not his fault that his mother left him here--in the egg," she
would remind Jolly Robin. "If we set him adrift the poor child would
starve--unless the cat got him."

And then Jolly Robin would feel ashamed that he had even thought of
being so cruel to an infant bird, even if he was a Cowbird. So he would
set to work harder than ever g