g6 More Tales of the Birds 



put out to dry at the farmhouse ; but the Baron 

 kept her away from these treasures, as a needy 

 Peer might keep his Peeress from the jewellers' 

 shops. Such objects, he told her, were dan- 

 gerous, and might betray them. 



So she sat on her beautiful eggs, greenish 

 white with dark red blotches, and contented 

 herself with the Times and the scrap of old 

 bonnet, while the Baron sailed slowly round 

 the hill looking out for enemies, or made longer 

 excursions, if all seemed safe, in search of food 

 for his wife. And so far he had seen nothing 

 to alarm him. A fisherman would come up the 

 river now and again, and look up at him with 

 interest as he rested to eat his lunch ; but the 

 Baron knew well that fishermen are too busy 

 to be dangerous. Nor was there any other 

 human being to be seen but a farmer on his 

 rough-coated pony, or the parson striding over 

 the hills to visit a distant parishioner. 



But one morning in May a lovely morning, 

 too fresh and clear to last as the Baron was 

 gliding round and round far above the hill, his 

 keen eye caught a slight movement among the 



