THE LONDON DAW 61 



eggs, which led him into many scrapes, and in 

 the end very nearly proved his undoing. He 

 was constantly hanging about and prying into 

 the fowl-house, and whenever he felt sure that 

 he was not observed he would slip in to purloin 

 an egg. His cunning reacted on the fowls and 

 made them cunning too. When he appeared 

 they looked the other way, or walked off pre- 

 tending not to see him ; but no sooner would he 

 be inside e:vploring the obscure corners for an 

 egg than the battle-cry would sound, and then 

 poor Jackie would find it hard indeed to escape 

 from their fury with nothing worse than a sound 

 drubbing. In a day or two, before his many 

 sores and bruises had had time to heal, the 

 cackling of a hen and the thought of a new-laid 

 egg would tempt him again, and at length one 

 day he could not escape ; the loud cries of rage 

 and of vengeance gratified attracted some person 

 to the fowl-house, where Jackie was found lying 

 on the ground in the midst of a crowd of fowls 

 engaged in pounding and pecking his life out, 

 scattering his hated black feathers in all direc- 

 tions He was rescued more dead than alive, 

 and subsequently tended by his mistress with 

 loving care. He lived, but failed to recover 



