"Whatever shall I do?" she said helplessly.
"You'll have to grin and bear it," said the rook.
"It's no good blubbering," added one of the young ones.
"Coward!" said a third scornfully.
And all the rooks who were sitting round went "Yah! Yah! Yah!"
A moment later, however, one of them gave a sudden scream of terror.
"Look out!" he cried. "The hawk! The hawk!"
They all rose into the air in a great, flapping crowd, and flew away to their nests to shut down the covers before the hawk could reach them. The rook who had enticed Elsie up at once hopped across to close his own lid, but with one jump she reached the hinge before he could touch it.
"No, you don't!" she cried. "I'm not going to be shut in your horrid, stuffy nest."
"Let go!" he shrieked, pecking at her furiously.