208 Trails to Woods and Waters 



" She'll be ready to make a bee-line for 

 home in a few minutes," he said. " It is 

 mighty queer how all these little creatures 

 know the way home. The homing pigeon's 

 instinct is wonderful. After they have been 

 trained these birds will fly hundreds and even 

 a thousand miles home, bringing a message to 

 some beleaguered fort, or from some starving 

 villagers in a dreary, desolate land. The 

 homing pigeons are most useful creatures in 

 time of war. They have been used ever since 

 Noah let the dove go from the ark." 



I smiled and old Ben continued: 



" Harry, think of this. Sometimes they 

 will take one of these little birds hundreds of 

 miles out to sea on a ship, and then toss it up 

 into the air to seek its home. 



" All about in every direction, as far as the 

 eye can reach, is nothing but the rolling sea, 

 endless and terrible. If the poor pigeon did 

 not fly in the right direction, it might have to 

 fly and fly, on and on, until it dropped ex- 

 hausted into the sea. 



" But the pigeon has a God-given instinct, 



