246 



CITIZEN BIRD 



Indigo Bird. 



" It is a great fam- 

 ily," said Rap, who 

 was sitting tliiiiking. 

 '' Big birds 

 and little, plain 

 gray and brown, or 

 red, bine, and yellow 

 — some like warm 

 weather and some 

 Avant it cold." 

 '' Speaking of cold, I won- 

 der what became of the ice 

 that Dodo saw jNIammy Bun 

 cracking this morning?" asked 

 the Doctor, looking at Olive. " The very word has 

 a pleasant sound, for it seems to me to be growing 

 warmer and warmer." 



" Toot ! toot ! t-o-o-t ! " squeaked a tin horn across 

 the field from the direction of the farmhouse. 



"What's that?" said Nat, jumping up; "it's the 

 dinner horn, and it can't be dinner-time." 



" Not more than eleven o'clock," said Rap, looking 

 at the sun after the fashion of those who spend much 

 time out of doors. 



" I know what the horn means," said Olive. " It 

 means that the cake, that Nat said ]\Iammy Bun was 

 going to bake with the ice, is done ! " 



"But that was only nonsense, you know," said Nat. 

 " Ice won't bake anything ! " 



" Perhaps not, but ice can freeze something, if you 

 mix salt with it, even on this warm day, and the horn 

 means that mammy has a tin pail full of ice cream, 



