“Where have you been, you scamps?” cried Jack. “We’ve looked for you everywhere!”
“Cluckluck, cluckluck!” said the hens.
“You knew it was your meal-time, so you’ve come for it!” said Jack. “I say, you others! I wonder if we could let the hens go loose each day - oh no - we couldn’t - they’d lay their eggs away and we’d never be able to find them!”
“I’ll feed them,” said Peggy. She threw them some corn and they pecked it up eagerly. Then they let Mike and Jack lift them into their mended yard and they settled down happily, roosting on the perch made for them at one end.
“We’d better tell Nora,” said Jack. So they went up the hillside calling Nora. “Nora! Nora! Where are you?”
But Nora didn’t answer! She crouched lower in the bracken and hoped no one would find her. But Jack came upon her suddenly and shouted cheerfully, “Oh, there you are! The hens have all come back, Nora! They knew it was their meal-time, you see! Come and have your supper. We kept some for you.”
Nora went with him to the beach. Peggy kissed her and said, “Now don’t worry any more. It’s all right. We’ve got all the hens safely again.”
“Had I better see to the hens each day, do you think, instead of Nora?” Mike asked Jack. But Jack shook his head.
“No,” he said. “That’s Nora’s job - and you’ll see, she’ll do it spendidly now, won’t you, Nora?”
“Yes, I will, Jack,” said Nora, eating her rice pudding, and feeling much happier. “I do promise I will! I’m so sorry I was careless.”