The Tale of Bobby Bobolink | Page 7

it was only a short time later that Bobby Bobolink and his wife shared a wonderful secret. Five grayish-white eggs, each quite pointed at one end, lay in their nest. And nobody but themselves was a bit the wiser.
To be sure, the neighbors remarked that Bobby Bobolink was simply bursting with song. He was more musical than ever. But they never dreamed what it was that could make him even happier than he had always been.
At last there came a time when Bobby--though he was just as happy--seemed to have less leisure for singing. And then it was easy for the neighbors to guess the reason for that, because it was plain that the Bobolink family was not gathering great numbers of grasshoppers and caterpillars merely for the fun of it.
Hidden as the little Bobolinks were in the tall grass, no stranger found them. Of course, Mrs. Bobolink went to some trouble to keep the secret of her nest in the family. Whenever she left her home she moved along the ground a little way before rising into view. And when she returned she alighted some distance off and scurried through the grass until she reached home.
By taking such pains she kept others from knowing exactly where her nest was. And nothing had happened to alarm her until one day she caught sight of Johnnie Green. He had come into the meadow to hunt for strawberries. And to Mrs. Bobolink's dismay he was headed straight for her house.

X
FOOLING JOHNNIE GREEN
WHEN Mrs. Bobolink saw Johnnie Green, carrying a tin pail, come walking through the meadow straight towards her house she was terribly frightened. She was not afraid for herself. Her only thought was of her children, who were still too young to leave the nest.
Somehow Mrs. Bobolink felt sure that Johnnie was searching for her nest, for he had his head bent toward the ground, as if he were looking for something. And that bright tin pail! Mrs. Bobolink viewed it with alarm. She just knew that it was meant to carry off her children!
Of course Johnnie Green was only looking for strawberries. But Mrs. Bobolink didn't know that. All at once she remembered how she had objected to having her nest in the very center of the meadow, although her husband had told her that he thought it the safest place. And it came back to her, too, how she had said that Johnnie Green would never come into the lower end of the meadow, near Cedar Swamp, for fear of getting his feet wet.
Poor Mrs. Bobolink choked as she thought how foolish she had been. But it was too late to move now. And she didn't see what she was going to do. She wished Bobby was at home, though she had no idea how he could have headed off Johnnie Green who was fast drawing nearer.
As soon as she could speak she called "Chenk, chenk!" at the top of her voice. She could think of nothing else to say.
Luckily Bobby was not far away. And hearing his wife's alarm call, he turned to hurry home. But seeing Johnnie Green, he swerved sharply aside and dropped down upon a tuft of grass not too near the nest.
And then Bobby Bobolink made a great fuss. He cried "Chink, chink!" over and over again, now fluttering into the grass, now bobbing into sight again. Johnnie Green couldn't help noticing him.
"There must be a nest there!" he exclaimed under his breath. And he ran quickly to the spot where Bobby was acting so queerly. But when he got there Johnnie found nothing.
Bobby Bobolink had fooled him. He never knew how near he came to stumbling upon the nest, before Bobby played that trick on him.
Mrs. Bobolink was greatly relieved when Johnnie Green left her end of the meadow. And she told her husband that she had never supposed Johnnie would come where it was so damp, for fear of getting his feet wet.
Bobby Bobolink did not tell her that he had known all the time that a little water never troubled Johnnie Green--so long as he didn't have to wash his face in it.

XI
BOBBY'S NAMES
EVERYBODY--almost--liked Bobby Bobolink. His neighbors in Farmer Green's meadow enjoyed his singing. And they thought him the merriest harum-scarum they had ever known. He was even cheerful to look at, too. For with every bright day that passed, Bobby Bobolink's dress took on a gayer hue. The truth was that the yellowish tips of his feathers were wearing away, leaving him a handsome suit of black, set off by a generous patch of creamy yellow on the back of his neck, with enough white on his back and shoulders to make a most jaunty costume.
Most of the field people enjoyed Bobby Bobolink's company, for he was always in