CHAPTER XXIII 



THE FIRST HATCH 



February 3 the incubator lamps were 

 lighted under the first invoice of one thousand 

 eggs. The incubating cellar was to Sam's liking, 

 and he felt confident that three weeks of strict 

 attention to temperature, moisture, and the turn- 

 ing of eggs, would bring results beyond my 

 expectations. 



After the seventh day, on which he had tested 

 or candled the eggs, he was willing to promise 

 almost anything in the way of a hatch, up to 

 seventy-five or eighty per cent. In the intervals 

 of attendance on the incubators he was hard at 

 work on the brooder-house, which must be ready 

 for its first occupants by the 25th. Everything 

 went smoothly until the 18th. That morning 

 Sam met me with a long face. 



" Something went wrong with one of my 

 lamps last night," said he. " I looked at them 

 at ten o'clock and they were all right, but at 

 six this morning one of the thermometers was 

 registering 122, and the whole batch was 

 cooked." 



Not the whole thousand, Sam ! " 

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