“She was too frightened to save her strength, of course, and so kept flapping with all her might, as if she thought to fly away with scarecrow and all.  The rat, however, was impatient.  He clutched at the cord with his handlike claws and began trying to pull the imp down to him.  At first he couldn’t make much out of it, but as the imp weakened with her frantic efforts the cord began to shorten.  Just about now the He imp, who had come down from the locust top and fluttered over the scene in pained curiosity, realized what was happening.  He was game, all right, however bumptious and self-satisfied.  He set up a tremendous ca-a-a-ing, as a signal for all the crows within hearing to come to the rescue, and then made a sudden, savage side swoop at the foe.

“Taken thoroughly by surprise, the rat was toppled from his unsteady perch and fell among the strawberries.  His head ringing from the stroke of that sturdy black wing, his plump flank smarting and bleeding from a fierce jab of that pointed beak of the imp’s, he squeaked with rage and clambered up again to the battle.  Mr. Rat, you know, is no coward and no quitter.

“And now he was more dangerous, because he was ready.  He sat warily on his haunches, squeaking angrily, and turning his sharp head from side to side as he followed every swoop and rush of the He imp, snapping so dangerously that the latter did not dare come quite close enough to deliver another really effective blow.  At the same time, being very clever indeed, the rat kept tugging, tugging, tugging at the cord.  And the She imp, being quite gone out of her mind with the terror of that clutch on her leg, kept flapping crazily at the end of the cord instead of turning to, like a sensible crow, and helping her brother in the fight.

“As she grew weaker and weaker in her struggles, the cunning rat drew her lower and lower, till at last she seemed fairly within his reach.  He lifted himself on his hindquarters to snap his long teeth into her thigh and spring to the ground with her, where he would have her completely at his mercy.  But as he rose the He imp, at sight of his sister’s deadly peril, lost all sense of caution, and struck again with all his strength of beak and wing.  And once more the rat, fairly bursting with rage, was swept to the ground.

“He was back to the attack again in a moment, and now more dangerous than ever.  And at the same time the She imp, utterly worn out at last by her panic terror and her foolish violence, sank shuddering down upon her perch.  Her brother struck the rat again frantically when the latter was halfway up the scarecrow’s leg, but this time failed to dislodge him.  And it looked as if the poor She imp would never again steal a strawberry or worry a pigeon.  But at this moment the Boy appeared in the garden.  He came running up noiselessly, anxious to see all that was happening.  But the rat heard him.  The rat had no use for the Boy whatever.  He knew that the whole human race was his enemy.  He dropped from the scarecrow’s trouser leg and scurried off to his hole beneath the toolhouse.  The Boy, his face a mixture of amusement and concern, picked up the captive without noticing her feeble pecks, undid the noose from her leg, and carried her over the hedge to rest and recover herself.