“Well, as I was going to say when you interrupted me, no sooner was she well out of the way than a red squirrel, who had been watching from the nearest fir tree, saw his chance.  It was a rare one.  Nobody liked eggs better than he did, or got fewer of them.  Like a flash he was over from the fir branches into the pine ones, and up and into the nest.

“His sharp teeth went into the nearest egg, and he drank its contents greedily—­and cleverly, let me tell you, for it’s not so easy to manage without getting it all over your fur.  He was just going to begin on another when there was a sharp hiss of wings just above him and a loud ca-ah of alarm.  The father bird was back and swooping down upon him.  He threw himself clear of the nest, fell to a lower branch, and raced out to its tip to spring into his fir tree.  At this moment the furious father struck him, knocking him clean off into the air.

“The air was now full of black wings and angry cries, as the crows from neighboring nests flocked to the help of their fellow citizen.  But the little red robber was brave and kept his head.  Spreading his legs wide and flat, he made a sort of parachute of himself, and, instead of falling like a stone, he glided down to another branch.  Those beating wings and terrible jabbing beaks were all about him, but they got in each other’s way.  And he was a wonder at dodging, I can tell you, now that he was among the bigger branches, and, though he got several nasty thrusts, which covered his fine coat with blood, he gained his hole, halfway down the tree, and whisked into it safely.

“Into this narrow retreat, of course, none of the crows dared to follow him, knowing that they would there be at the mercy of his teeth.  But they gathered in fierce excitement about the entrance, scolding the audacious thief at the top of their voices, and threatening him with every kind of vengeance when he should dare to come out.  And from time to time one or another of the boldest would alight on the very edge of the hole, cock his head, and peer in, to bounce away again instantly with a startled squawk as the squirrel would jump up at him, chattering with rage.

“In the midst of all this excitement the careless mother came hurrying back.  She had heard the row, of course.  One could hear it all over the parish.  Unobserved, she flew straight to the nest.  Her big, dark, cunning eyes blazed for an instant, but she knew it was all her fault, and she thought it best to make no fuss.  Hastily she dropped the empty shell over the side of the nest, and then took her place dutifully on the three remaining eggs.  In a few minutes the rest of the crows got tired of scolding the squirrel in his hole and came ca-ing back to the pine tree to talk the matter over.  When her mate, all in a fume, hopped onto the edge of the nest, the mother looked up at him with eyes of cold inquiry, as much as to say:  ’Well, I’d like to know what all this