ad, I never should have seen my eggs again."

"All right," said the little boy, "I'll do just as you say." And after
some more talk, he went on up the trail to visit some of his other
friends among the wild folk.

Many times during the days that followed the little boy stopped and
talked with the Mother Partridge. "If you will come to-morrow," said
she, one day, "I'll show you as fine a brood of partridge chicks as
anyone could wish to see."

"I'll be sure to come," answered the little boy, "for I want to see them
very much."

As he came up the next day, Mother Mit-chee stepped off her nest.
"There," said she, "there they are. Now aren't they fine ones?"

The little boy looked. In the nest there were a dozen of the daintiest,
downiest, little creatures he had ever seen. They were scarcely bigger
than an acorn. "They surely are a fine brood," said he. "Aren't you
afraid that something will catch them?"

"Of course I am afraid. I'm always afraid." said Mother Mit-chee, "but
the creature that catches them will have to be pretty sharp. I know a
trick or two that will fool most of the wild folk, and the house people
as well. You come up to-morrow and I'll show you. They are pretty young
now, and I don't want to disturb them unless I have to."

The next day the little boy found the nest empty. He looked carefully
about for Mother Mit-chee and her brood. Suddenly something rose almost
from under his feet, and whizzed off through the wood. There was a sound
like an explosion, followed by thunder, which scared the little boy so
that he jumped. But he saw that it was only Mother Mit-chee, and he had
seen her do that before.

He knew that the chicks were near at hand, and looked around carefully
for them.

Pretty soon Mother Mit-chee sailed around through the woods and dropped
to the ground but a little way from the boy. She seemed to have been
hurt, badly hurt. One wing dragged as if it was broken, and she limped
sadly.

"Ha, ha," laughed the little boy, "you can't fool me with that trick.
You needn't keep it up any longer, I shan't follow you. I know that you
are not hurt at all. Old John told me all about it. He told me that he
saw you playing that very trick on Kee-wuks the Red Fox only the other
day."

[Illustration]

"Well, well!" said Mother Mit-chee. "Did Old John see that? I didn't
know he was anywhere about. Yes," she went on. "Kee-wuks thought he had
me that time. I let him get close up. Then he jumped f