“Let’s hang it there now,” said Ambrose, “and p’r’aps if he gets hungry he’ll come back to where he’s been fed.”
The doctor seemed a little cheered by this suggestion, and with Ambrose’s help the cage was soon fixed in a good position in the medlar-tree, where the jackdaw could not fail to see it if he came back. All his favourite delicacies in the shape of food were then placed in it, and by this time it was long past Ambrose’s usual hour for going home.
As they said good-bye, Dr Budge’s eyes rested on him with a new expression. Ambrose felt sure he would never mistake him for David again, and would have confidence in his opinion for the future, at any rate about jackdaws. All the way home his mind was busy with plans for getting back the lost bird.
Chapter Ten.
A Friend In Need.
Ambrose told the story of the doctor’s jackdaw at dinner-time to Miss Grey, Nancy, and David, who were all very much interested. The two latter began at once to recall memories of all the jackdaws who had lived at the Vicarage.
“Do you remember the one which flew away in the gale?” said Nancy. “David doesn’t, of course. The wind blew the roof right off his house in the night, and we never saw him again.”
“The next one was the one which swallowed a thimble,” said David—“and died. And then mother said we mustn’t have any more jackdaws. I remember that one.”