EXCURSIONS 77 



that, however absent he might look, he was " all 

 there" was never belied, and there was no further 

 difficulty about the feeding of him. When he saw 

 us coming he always fell into the same ridiculous 

 attitude, with his face in the dust, but we just 

 picked him up and stood him on his proper end 

 and showed him the meat and his bashfulness 

 vanished at once. 



After sunset he would get livery arid begin calling 

 for his mother in a strange husky voice. At this 

 time we would let him out in the garden, watching 

 him closely, for, if he thought he was alone, he would 

 sneak away slyly, then make a run for liberty, 

 hobbling along at a good rate with the aid of his 

 wings, though he never attempted to fly as yet. 

 When detected and overtaken, he fell on his face as 

 before. One memorable day he found a hole in 

 a stone wall and, before we could stop him, he was 

 in. The hole was too small to admit a hand, 

 though not a rat or a snake, so the prospect was 

 gloomy. Suddenly a happy inspiration came to 

 me. That sad, husky cry with which he expressed 

 his need of a mother was not difficult to mimic, 

 and he might be cheated into thinking that a lost 

 brother or sister was looking for him. I retired 

 and made the attempt, and, hark! a faint echo 

 came from the wall. At each repetition it became 

 clearer, until the round face and great eyes appeared 

 at the mouth of the hole. Then the round body 

 tumbled out, and little Tommy was hobbling about, 



