The time had come when Jolly Robin was ready to begin his long journey to the South, for it was growing quite cold. On some days there was no sun at all. And even when the weather was fair the sun rose late and went to bed early. It was exactly the sort of weather Jolly Robin did not like.
“No doubt you’ll be leaving us soon,” Jasper Jay remarked to Jolly one day, when the two chanced to meet in Farmer Green’s woods, where the beeches grew.
“I expect to start to-morrow,” Jolly Robin answered with a short laugh. The 34 mere thought of his warm, light-flooded winter home in the Southland made him feel glad.
“Well, well!” Jasper Jay exclaimed. “I’m glad I happened to see you, for I know of a new way to travel.”
And Jolly Robin wanted to know all about it.
“If it’s a better way than the old, I’ll be pleased to try it,” he said.
“Oh! it’s much better,” Jasper told him. “If I hadn’t made up my mind to spend the winter in Pleasant Valley, I’d go the new way myself. But the beechnut crop is good this fall. So I shall stay right here to enjoy it.”
“Tell me how we’re to go, if you please!” Jolly Robin urged him.
“We?” said Jasper. “You don’t mean to say you are going with a crowd, do you?” 35
“Why, yes!” Jolly Robin replied. “All the Robins are leaving to-morrow. And I had intended to go with them.”