CHAPTER XXII
DOROTHY DECIDES
Joe and Roger Dale did not feel that they were exactly neglected during these winter holidays. It is true they found their cousins, the “big fellows,” not so much fun as they were wont to be, and even Dorothy failed them at times.
But because of these very facts the lads had more freedom of action than ever before. They were learning to think for themselves, especially Joe. Nor was it always mischief they thought of, though frequently managing to get into trouble—for what live and healthy boys of their age do not?
Many of their narrow escapes even Dorothy knew nothing about. None of the family, for instance, knew about Joe and the lame pigeon until the North Birchland Fire Department was on the grounds with all their apparatus.
This moving incident (Tavia declared it should have been a movie incident) happened between Christmas and the new year. Although there had been a good fall of snow before Kris Kringle’s day, it had all gone now and the roads were firmly frozen again, so the Fire Department got to The Cedars in record time.
To begin with Joe and Roger were breeders of pigeons, as Ned and Nat had been several years before. On pleasant days in the winter they let their flock into the big flying cage, and occasionally allowed the carriers to take a flight in the open.
On one of these occasions when the flock returned there was a stray with them. Roger’s sharp eyes spied this bird which alighted on the ridgepole of the stable.
“Oh, lookut! lookut!” exclaimed the youngest Dale. “What a pretty one, Joe!”
“We’ll coax it down. It’s a stray,” his brother said eagerly, “and all strays are fair game.”
“But it’s lame, Joe,” Roger declared. “See! it can scarcely hop. And it acts as if all tired out.”