“You’d better go back now,” said Ambrose when they were quite close. “I’ll take the basket.”
But David was not going to give up his rights, and he held firmly on to his side of the handle.
“You said I might carry it to the gate,” he replied firmly; and thus, both the boys advancing, the basket was set down at the doctor’s feet.
“It’s a call-bird,” said Ambrose very quickly, without waiting to say good-morning, while David fixed his broadest stare on the doctor’s face to see the effect of the words.
Doctor Budge looked down at the basket, in which Jack now began to flutter restlessly, and then at the two boys.
“A call-bird, eh?” he said. “And what may a call-bird be?”
Ambrose felt that David was casting a glance of triumph at him. Dr Budge evidently did not know everything in the world. He wished David would go away, but in spite of the sharp nudge he had given him when they put the basket down, he showed no sign of moving. The meaning of the call-bird was soon made clear to the doctor, who listened attentively and said it seemed a very good idea, and that he was much obliged to them for telling him of it.
“It was Andrew who told us,” broke in David, speaking for the first time. “We didn’t either of us know it before.”
“You’d better go home now,” said Ambrose, who saw that David did not mean to notice any hints; “you’ll be late for Miss Grey.”
He took up the basket and gave his brother a meaning look. David’s face fell. He would have liked to see Jack put into the cage, but he had promised not to want to go in. As he turned away rather unwillingly the doctor’s voice fell on his ear.