140 THE ROMANCE OF EVERIFARM 



as one of your brothers has finished his breakfast 

 you will be relieved." Putting his words into ac- 

 tion, the rest of the family followed Jim down to 

 the ground, where they began pulling up the young 

 tender com plants and eating the soft kernels from 

 which the young plants started. He showed the 

 youngsters how to do the trick and as soon as one of 

 them had been properly fed, Jim ordered a change 

 of sentries, then the young fellow on the post had 

 his breakfast made ready for him. This was their 

 first lesson and they soon became quite proficient in 

 the art of detecting danger, and deteraaining the 

 difference between a man with a gun and one with- 

 out firearms. 



One day Jim Crow took the children on an egg- 

 hunting trip. He first found Mrs. Meadow Lark 

 away from home, and the crow family made short 

 work of her five speckled eggs. They next located 

 along the old rail fence Mrs. Bob White, with her 

 nest full of beautifully white eggs that meant so 

 much to her. They drove her away after a desperate 

 defense on the part of Bob White and then pro- 

 ceeded to devour the entire lot, a nest of sixteen 

 eggs, which would soon have developed into the 

 best friends of the big farm. 



Just as the crow family were finishing the last of 



