Robin Hood's Barn 



it to the porch, and as she fluttered to it, almost 

 before I had set it down, I knew that I at least 

 was vindicated in her eyes. 



And well I might be, for from that day my 

 labors far exceeded hers. Each morning, to be 

 sure when I arose at dawn to put out my hun^y 

 charges, their parents were already waiting, 

 though now quite patiently with worm in beak. 

 But after all they were providers and their duties 

 were intermittent. I was nurse-maid and mine 

 never ceased. There was no reasoning with my 

 foundlings. No amount of pressure could con- 

 vince them of their present safety. They simply 

 didn't like the fireless cooker. They had only 

 tolerated their nest because it gave them an imim- 

 peded outlook on the world outside. Sometimes 

 a bee had buzzed by and they had opened their 

 little beaks, or a fish-hawk had swooped by and 

 they had cowered in a delightful terror. But this 

 was prison without a view. They protested, they 

 summoned up their growing strength and in two 

 days the strongest of the trio had fluttered to 

 the rim where he sat hunched hke an old man, 

 yet with a look of inquiry and daring in his young 



[288] 



