All Night on a Mountain. 



23> 



who was ahead, called our attention to a 

 bird's nest overhead. 



"What kind is it, Charley?" I asked, for, 

 having lived in the city all my life, I did not 

 know one bird's nest from another. 



" It's a wood thrush's," he answered, ''one 

 of the finest singers we have." 



"Oh, my !" I said, "do you suppose there 

 are any eggs?" 



"Not now, it's too late, but I guess there 

 are young birds; yes, there must be, for 

 here comes the mother with something in 

 her mouth." 



We watched the pretty brown creature as 

 she fed her little ones, with a great deal of 

 interest, until Charley said: 



"Come, fellows, or we'll miss the boat; 

 it's getting late." 



"No, sir," I said, "I'm going to have a 

 look at these birds first. Come on. Will, 

 give us a boost, will you?" and I began to 

 shin up the tree. 



"Well, look at them, then, but hurry up," 

 said Charley, and I'll wait down here for 

 you." 



So Will and I climbed up into the branches 

 and gazed with awe into our first bird's nest. 



"Why, ain't they ugly!" said Will, and he 

 was right, too, for it almost frightened me 

 when I looked down their great gaping 

 mouths. 



"I say. Will," said I, "I wonder how it 

 would do for us each to take one and raise 

 it in a cage ?" 



"Let's," said Will, "for you know Char- 

 ley said they made splendid singers." 



No sooner said than done, we immedi- 

 ately transferred two miserable babies from 

 the nest into a pocket-handkerchief. Then 

 we told Charley what we were about, but 

 instead of being pleased he was very angry. 



"You wouldn't do such a thing, would 

 you? Let the poor little things alone." 



But we insisted, and debated as to whether 

 we should take a third, in case one should 

 die. 



" How can you be so cruel, Ned ?" he 



called from below. "I didn't think it was 

 in you. Put those birds into the nest this 

 minute and come down here." 



"I won't!" I shouted back. "I'm going 

 to take one home to my sister, her canary 

 died last winter." 



He got very angry, and, after scolding a 

 good deal, went off and left us, saying he 

 wasn't going to miss the boat if we were. 



We had no fear of missing the boat, but 

 by the time we slid down the tree with our 

 treasures, Charley was nowhere in sight. 



The path, if it could be called a path, 

 was longer and rougher than we supposed, 

 and we had to walk slowly, so as not to 



^4.. . As 



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'^4., , -^ 



joggle our birds, so by the time we got to 

 the river, the boat had gone. 



Here was a pretty mess, sure enough, 

 there was no other boat we could take, and 

 no one lived on the mountain, so we just 

 had to sit down and think about it. Fin- 

 ally I said that the only thing we could do, 

 would be to walk up the river about five 

 miles where there was a village, there we 

 could get a boat, cross the river and take 

 the train back to the hotel. 



This was not a very pleasant prospect, 

 you may be sure, especially after all the 

 walking we had already done that day; but 

 there was nothing else to be done, so we 

 started out, lugging our poor little prison- 

 ers with us. 



