"I can't do that," said Mr. Flicker. "You forget my family."
"Move them too!" Reddy urged him.
But Mr. Flicker shook his head. "I don't believe my wife would be willing," he replied. "Besides, there's that piece of tin on the roof of the barn. Would you advise me to move that?"
"No!" Reddy cried hastily. "Don't move the tin! In fact, Mr. Flicker, I shouldn't move at all, if I were you."
But Mr. Flicker had liked the plan of moving to the pasture to live. He had found great quantities of ants there. And to Reddy's dismay he insisted that he should move and take the strip of tin with him. That is to say, he intended to move as soon as his wife gave him permission.
It was no wonder Reddy wished he had never put such an idea into his cousin Mr. Flicker's head. He had hoped to get rid only of Mr. Flicker and his drumming. He had never dreamed that Mr. Flicker would want to take the precious bit of tin with him when he went.
Shortly afterward Mr. Flicker reported that it was just as he had thought. Mrs. Flicker wouldn't listen to moving just then. But later, after the children learned to fly, and could feed themselves, she would have no objection to the change of residence.
Reddy Woodpecker cocked an eye toward the roof of the barn.
"That tin—" he said—"you can't take it with you when you move. It belongs to Farmer Green."
"Oh!" Mr. Flicker exclaimed. "I thought it belonged to you. And I knew you wouldn't object to your cousin's borrowing it for the rest of the season—now would you?"