A Lucky Magpie 161 



see if the Jackdaw would come poking about 

 the stable or not, she should bring Mag to me 

 there, if all went well, and see the pony too ; 

 and in the meantime she was to go twice a 

 day to our cottage and feed him. And when 

 she had made the hole in the hedge, I jumped 

 through, and never minded a prick or two I 

 got meaning in my conscience, you know 

 from the brambles. 



"All did go well ; Miss Pringle I really 

 don't like calling her the Jackdaw now she's 

 dead and gone soon found I was handy, and 

 as she disliked the smell of stables, she gave 

 up pecking round there after the first day or 

 two. So Nelly brought round Mag by the 

 back way through the fields, and I hung up 

 his cage in the hayloft, by the window looking 

 away from the house and garden. 



"And now my story really begins," he went 

 on; "and I'd be glad if you'd give me a flick 

 with the whip now and again, for I'm as bad 

 as my old mare at a jog-trot. 



" I settled down into my place with a good 

 heart, and soon got fond of the pony. Mag, 



M 



