“There they are,” said Jonas. “You stay here; I must run on.” And he let go of Rollo’s hand, sprang forward, and ran with all his might. Rollo tried to follow, but soon stopped and looked on.
Jim and his boys did not see Jonas coming, and they went to work looking around the bushes and stones after Mosette. In a few minutes, one smaller boy came out from the bushes, close by the place where Rollo recollected the nest was hid, with something in his hand, and Rollo could distinctly hear him calling out,
“Here he is, Jim—I have got him, Jim.”
Just that moment, Jonas came running up among the boys, calling out,
“Let that bird alone!—Let that bird alone!” The boys, terrified at this unexpected onset, started and ran in every direction. The boy who had the nest, dropped it upon the ground, and dodged back into the bushes. Jonas took it up carefully, put little Mosette, who had fallen out, back in the nest, and walked out into the road to meet Rollo, who was coming down as fast as he could come, on the other side.
They saw Jim and his comrades no more, and Rollo said he believed he should never again want to have any thing to do with bad boys.