CHAPTER II 



THE CRAZY FLICKER 



T T was a bright spring morning, just the kind of 

 J- a morning to make a flicker go crazy, or a boy 

 or a girl go crazy, for that matter. The sun was 

 shining, the maples were blooming, the black birds 

 were gurgling, the bees were humming, the farm- 

 ers were plowing, and everything, everywhere 

 was singing or laughing or capering with the joy 

 of the fresh spring day. 



As for me, I was going down the old zig-zag 

 lane in the fields doing all three things at once 

 capering, laughing, singing; while the crooked 

 worm-fence, zig-zagging down each side of the lane, 

 seemed singing, laughing and capering with me 

 till it was in danger of shaking its riders off. 



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