ioo More Tales of the Birds 



that was needed was a nimble frame and a steady 

 head, and of both these Tom had been possessed 

 from his earliest boyhood. In three minutes the 

 eggs were within his reach, and in another they 

 were within the basket, safely covered up in the 

 cotton-wool. At this moment the call caught his 

 ear again, and ere he descended he paused to 

 listen once more, and began to fear that some 

 other human being was on that lonely hill. The 

 Baron and the Baroness, who had been flying 

 about him, though not daring to attack so for- 

 midable a foe, flew further and further away 

 with heart-piercing cries as Tom descended the 

 tree safely, gripped his rope again, and swarmed 

 up it to the cliff-top. 



No sooner was he safe and sound on terra 

 firma, than a figure emerged from the drizzling 

 mist and advanced towards him. Tom's heart 

 quaked within him ; was it the angry spirit of 

 the mountains, or a constable come to carry out 

 a new County Council order? But in another 

 moment he saw that it was his father, wet 

 through and with an excited glow in his 

 eyes. 



