“Are you there, my love?” he asked softly, as he alighted on the roof of his house. He did not care to go inside until he was quite sure that his wife was in better spirits.
“The smoker has come home again,” a peevish voice called out. And instead of bursting into the merry song which Rusty had been all ready to carol, he flew off across the yard and began hunting for something to eat.
Since he couldn’t very well go home, he thought that he might as well enjoy a good meal, at least.
IX
ALL’S WELL AGAIN
After Rusty Wren had revived his drooping spirits by eating heartily of three dozen insects of different kinds and sizes, he felt so cheerful that he couldn’t help trilling a few songs. It was almost evening; and he was glad not to let the sun go down without thanking him in that way for shining so brightly all day.
Though it was so late, Farmer Green still toiled in the fields; but Rusty could hear Johnnie and old dog Spot driving the cows down the lane towards the barn.
Now, above the wide door of the carriage house a window was open—a window through which Rusty had flown early in the morning. Unlike old Mr. Crow, Rusty Wren was not in the least afraid to enter any of the farm buildings. Perhaps if Rusty had been in the habit of taking Farmer Green’s corn he would have thought twice before he ventured inside the cow barn or the carriage house. But since he never damaged the crops, and always helped them by destroying a great number of insects that ate all sorts of growing things, Rusty had nothing whatever to fear from anybody in the farmhouse—except the cat, of course.