20 BEYOND THE PASTURE BARS 



He did wake up everybody for a block around. 

 Nobody had seen a flicker in the neighborhood 

 since last October when suddenly the early March 

 morning was startled by a thunderous rat-ta-tat- 

 ta-tat inside of a big galvanized-iron chimney! 

 The people in their beds below jumped as if the 

 roof were falling in. The workmen hurrying 

 along the quiet streets halted to gaze around in 

 wonder. There was nothing to be seen. When 

 rat-ta-tat-ta-tat the rattling, ringing roll again, 

 and up out of the chimney popped a flicker, hav- 

 ing a very fit of fun over this new drum ! 



Then across the way, on the top of a neighbor- 

 ing house, he spied another, larger drum, and gal- 

 loped over there. It was a big ventilator. He 

 hit it, and it boomed. Catching his toes around 

 an iron hoop that circled it, he began to beat a 

 roll to wake the town. 



The mystery is that his bill did not fly into 

 splinters. But it did not. The sound, however, 

 went to his head. He got mad with the noise, 

 crazier and crazier over galvanized iron, until he 

 went to boring holes into the rain-pipe. 



At the first it was love, doubtless, that ailed 

 him; he was drumming up a bride. But that 

 soon changed. He forgot all about brides, and 



