ee Oe ak ett Ce ei oie pleat ah! oe Oe Ae a ia 
safe if left where his brown eyes could see it. By putting 
all the family wits against his, they found that he had 
certain places where he would hide his stolen treasures. 
When Uncle’s’ spectacles, or Auntie’s thimble were 
missing the family learned to look in a hole in the woodpile, . 
or on top of the stable for them. To see Mag climb a ladder 
with a screwdriver, or other small tool, was a comical sight, 
for they made him top-heavy. When dried corn or berries 
were on the roof of the house, it was often found in heaps 
over his stolen goods. One such pile was covering a hen’s 
egg, which he must have carried there in his bill without 
breaking. 
His liking for eggs led him into trouble in ‘as second 
spring, when he learned, like other sinners, that the way 
of a lawbreaker is hard. He disappeared one day, and did 
not answer, although calls and whistles were made for him _ 
ay apOUE the ranch. It was the third day before a sorrowful - 
“ma-a-o”’ was heard in reply, and it took some time to locate 
him under the house. He could not be coaxed out of the 
hole in the wall, where he must have entered. When we 
found a setting hen on a nest near the entrance, we guessed 
at the cause of Mag’s fear. | 
A board from the floor had to be taken up and Mag 
lifted out of his hiding place to save his life. He was so 
weak that he could scarcely stand and had to be fed small 
morsels of food until his strength began to return. His 
feathers were rough and tangled and one eye was closed 
forever as the result of a fight with a furious hen, that had 
probably caught him in the act of robbing her nest. He had 
been “boss’ of the chicken yard up to this time, but his 
long fast made him fearful, and he used that one eye with 
ereat skill when about the hens afterward. 
The family were often made to believe that company 
had arrived by hearing sounds, that appeared to be conver- 
sation, in the yard. If they were on Mag’s blind side when 
they went out to meet people, they could see that he seemed 
165 
