“It sounds like a declaration of war to me,” observed Donald with a fierce scowl. He was nailing something while Tommy stood with a bunch of nails in his hand, giving them to Donald one by one. There on the bench beside them was the dearest little house Muffs had ever seen. It was even nicer than the doll houses in New York stores at Christmas time.
“The people of Balo made it,” Tommy said proudly.
“With us to help, of course,” Donald added. “It’s a prize for Bunny Bright Eyes. Think he’ll like it better than the A-coop?”
“He’ll love it,” cried Muffs. “Look, Mary! Don’t you love it too?”
“We wouldn’t have come if we’d known it was such a nice surprise,” she said. “I guess we spoiled it.”
“Not by a long shot,” laughed Donald, forgetting his declaration of war. “Now you can help too. Tommy hurried things up a lot by sawing off pieces of wood and holding the hammer and nails. I made a bird house this Spring and this is made the same way only bigger. Of course,” he went on with some pride, “I had to fix the roof so that half of it goes back on hinges.”
“Oh,” said Muffs, admiring it, “that’s so we can put Bunny Bright Eyes in.”
“And this chicken wire,” Donald continued, showing her how carefully he had nailed it, “is so he can see out.”
Muffs thought of the funny little rhyme she had made up and told it to him.
“There could be a C-coop after all,” she said. “This house must be a C-coop ’cause Bunny can see out.”