THE STRANGE MOTHERS 
101 
while the two dames went at one another flipper 
and beak in a very savage fashion. 
“Come here, I’ll take care of you,” whis¬ 
pered a third dame, pushing Mannie before her 
out of the fray. Mannie did not know that 
this arrangement would only get him into 
further trouble, as he was very young and 
could not be expected to reason that out. 
When the other Mother Penguins saw this 
they were upon the third dame in a trice. And 
so it went on until there were no less than 
fifteen trying to win the care of Mannie. A 
dame would stand up straight and swing her 
arm for a blow, when someone behind her 
would strike her over the head, and down she 
would tumble. It was indeed one of the 
strangest thing that ever happened in a peace¬ 
ful Penguin village. Mannie, as soon as he 
could, ran away from all those fighting birds 
to escape being torn almost to pieces by their 
loving embraces. 
“Where am I, and where shall I go?” cried 
