“‘And I too,’ said the boy.

“Suddenly they were no longer children.  But there was confusion, as the fire burned nearer and nearer. “‘Fly! fly!’ cried the Bird Brothers.  ‘You have wings—­do not look at the earth, lest you grieve to leave it.’

“Gonda, being obedient, made an effort to fly above the flame, which only tinged some of her feathers red.  But Towai, loath to leave the earth, lingered so long that his feathers became all red from the flames, and the soot blackened his face.

“Though these two birds and their children still belong to the dull-brown Sparrow family, they have little peace in the forest where they live.  Towai wears a splendid red robe and is called the Cardinal, but there is a price upon his head because of his beauty.

“This is one of the legends that explains why this bird is classed with Sparrows.  The Tanager is more fiery red, and the Oriole carries flame on his back; but there is something strange about the Cardinal—­he seems out of place and lonely with us.  He should belong to a tropical country and have orchids and palms for companions—­but instead, where do we find him?”

“Please, Doctor,” said Rap, who thought he could answer that question, “the miller’s wife has a pair in a cage, but they aren’t very pretty, ’cause they’ve scraped most of the feathers off their heads and rumpled their tails, trying to get out.  The miller caught three of them down there last winter, only one died and the other two aren’t a bit happy; the male doesn’t sing and the female has a cough.  The miller’s wife doesn’t care much for them; they’re a bother to feed, she says—­have to have meal-worms, and rice with the hulls on, and all that.”  “Why doesn’t she let them out?” asked Olive.

“’Cause she thinks that maybe some of the people that come fishing will buy them.”

“How much does she ask for them?” said the Doctor.

“She said if they ever moulted out and got any decent feathers she could ask three dollars for them, but the way they were looking a dollar was all she could expect.”

“Children, shall we have a Liberty Festival this morning?  How would you like for me to buy these birds and bring them here, so that you can see them, then—­then what?”

“Open the cage and let them out and see what they will do!” screamed Dodo, jumping up and down.

“May I go down to buy them?” begged Nat.

“You will have to take me, too,” said Olive.

“Can I open the door?” asked Dodo.

“Here is the dollar—­now go, all together,” said the Doctor, putting his hands over his ears; “but if you make so much noise the birds in the river woods will mistake your kind intentions and think you are a family of wildcats.”

In less than half an hour the party returned, Nat carrying the cage, which was only a box with a bit of wire netting over the front.

“No wonder poor Mrs. Cardinal has a cough, living in this dirty box,” said Olive.  “See, father, only one perch—­and I don’t believe the poor things have ever had a bath given them.”