The turkey shook his head from side to side, and again said, "Gobble-gobble." There was no doubt about his intentions. He meant harm. His face was scarlet and there lurked an angry fire in his eyes. He filled the entrance completely. The gobbler's face swelled bigger and became redder. His long string nose shot out stiff and straight. He cleared his throat and yelled, "Gobble! Gobble! Gobble! OOOO!" It was the turkey's challenge to fight.
Charlie rushed forward to protect Betty, but the creature caught him with his great foot and hurled him back. Don sprang to the rescue, but almost at once fell back with a great howl and began to wipe his eyes with his paw. The children were grief-stricken when they saw that Don had lost an eye. They looked at the turkey and saw him in the act of swallowing it. He seemed well pleased, for he grinned and licked the sides of his mouth with his red tongue. Charlie rushed the second time at the gobbler and succeeded in catching him by the neck. The bird gave a squawk and a desperate kick, then tumbled backward and lay as if dead. The boy fell exhausted on the hard floor.
Betty ran to the door for help and was delighted to see a kindly old monk approaching. He stepped over the monster turkey and entered the hut. For a long time he stood and looked from girl to boy as if trying to fathom the whole affair. Betty could not find courage to say a word.
"Well, well! my dear, this does look serious!" the monk said.
"Please, Mr. Monk, do not be angry, we have had a terrible time."
"Yes," spoke up Charlie, sitting up, "we did not mean to disturb your dwelling place. It was you we were seeking and the turkey attacked us."
"Oh!" exclaimed Betty, "are you the monk that met the peddler?"
The monk nodded and Betty clapped her hands in delight.
"But, dear monk," she asked, "why don't you chain that horrid gobbler?"
"My dear girl, he is quite harmless, if you are not afraid of him. If you and Charlie had paid no attention to him, this afternoon, he would have left you alone. The old fellow thinks that he has the right to guard the place when I am away. If you are indifferent to his gobbles he believes then that you must belong to the family. No doubt he was afraid that you were going to steal something from the table."