After the Man had tried once more and failed, he certainly acted as though he was ready to give up the task. He walked to the back end of the yard, took off his hat, and wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. The Little Girls stood beside him, and he picked up a feather to show them. It was a wing-feather, and he was showing them how the tiny hooks on each soft barb caught into those on the next and held it firmly.
The poultry watched him for a while and then began eating once more. They thought him quite discouraged.
The Shanghai Cock and the White Cock were standing far apart when somebody called “Er-ru-u-u-u-u!” which is the danger signal. As soon as he heard it, each Cock thought that the other had spoken, and opened his bill and said, “Er-ru-u-u-u-u!” in the same tone, even before he looked around for a Hawk or an Eagle.
Every Hen in the yard ducked her head and ran for the door of the pen as fast as her legs would carry her. The Cocks let the Hens go ahead and crowd through the doorway as well as they could, but they followed closely behind. They were hardly inside when the door of the pen was closed after them and they heard the Man fastening it on the outside.
“Wasn’t that a shame!” said the Brown Hen, who always thought that something was a shame. “We didn’t finish our supper after all!”
“I know it,” said the White Cock. “It happened very badly, and all that running had made me hungry.”
“What was the danger?” asked the Shanghai Cock. “I had no time to see whether it was an Eagle or a Hawk coming.”
“What do you mean?” cried the White Cock. “If I had given the alarm which took all my friends from their supper into the pen, I think I would take time to see what the danger was. Can’t you tell one kind of bird from another?”
“I can if I see them,” answered the Shanghai Cock, rather angrily. “I did not see this one. I looked up as soon as you gave the cry, but I saw nothing. I repeated the cry, as Cocks always do, but I saw nothing.”