Again came that shrill, harsh call. It sounded like:
"Hay! Hay! Hay!"
"Somebody is laughing because Trouble fell downhill," said Lola. "I wonder if it's that horrid old man?"
A moment later there was a rustling in the bushes, and a large bird with bright blue feathers marked with patches of white flew up into a tree harshly crying:
"Hay! Hay! Hay!"
"Oh, it's a blue jay!" exclaimed Janet, as she ran to the top of the hill to see what had happened to William. It was nothing serious. He had merely slid down on the smooth brown pine needles which covered the ground and made it almost as slippery as a coasting hill. Perhaps the sudden cry of the blue jay had made Trouble give a nervous jump and this had thrown him off his balance, causing him to fall.
"Was that bird chase me?" he asked, as he heard the blue one cry and saw it flitting about.
"Oh, no," answered Lola. "You chased yourself, I guess. Are you hurt?"
"I—I'm all—bumped," explained Trouble.
And this, really, was all that had happened to him. The pine hill was so smooth that no one could have been hurt on it. The girls found it so slippery that they could hardly stand up on it while helping Trouble up.