Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin | Page 8

oiled it on the under side.
"I have a little surprise for you!" said Mrs. Robin.
Robert Robin looked, and as Mrs. Robin stood up, he saw four little baby robins. The four little baby robins looked at him and opened their mouths just as wide as they could.
"Why didn't you tell me they were here?" he said. "The poor little dears are almost starved!" and away he flew in a great rush to get them some breakfast. In a few moments he was back again and fed one of them. Then away he hurried again and in a moment he came carrying more food for the babies, but the babies looked so nearly alike that Robert Robin fed the same one twice, and that made Mrs. Robin laugh.
"Men are such blunderbusses!" she said.
"Why don't you have your children marked so one can tell them apart?" he said.
"I will place little Elizabeth at the north side of the nest, little Sheldon at the east, Montgomery at the south, and Evelina at the west!"
All day long Robert Robin did nothing except carry food for the baby robins, but the next day Mrs. Robin helped him, and both of them were busy, for the four little baby robins were very hungry. They never did seem to get enough to eat.
"The children have wonderful appetites!" said Mrs. Robin.
"They are simply ravenous!" said Robert Robin.
"What does 'ravenous' mean?" asked Mrs. Robin.
"Ravenous means as hungry as a wolf!" answered Robert Robin. "I wish that the cherries would hurry and get ripe!"
"Do wolves eat cherries?" asked Mrs. Robin.
"I do not know!" said Robert Robin, "but I do know that ripe red cherries are good for baby robins, and ever so much easier to find than bugs and worms!"
"Green cherries make them sick! We must be very careful not to feed our babies any green cherries!"
"I know where there is an early cherry tree!" said Robert Robin, "and I am going right over there now and see if any of the early cherries are ripe!"
So Mrs. Robin waited by their nest while Robert Robin went over to see about the early cherries.
The early cherry tree grew in Widow Blunt's back yard. Widow Blunt's father had planted it, and it was the very earliest cherry tree in all the neighborhood.
When Robert Robin came in sight of it he saw the bright red fruit shining among the green leaves. The early cherries were ripe, and Robert Robin was the first to find them.
In a few moments Robert Robin stood beside his own nest with a bright red cherry in his mouth.
"Be sure to pop the pits, children!" said Mrs. Robin, and after the little robin had swallowed the cherry, the cherry pit came popping from his mouth and rattled down to the ground.
Many times that day Robert Robin and Mrs. Robert Robin went back and forth between their nest and Widow Blunt's early cherry tree, but in the afternoon, Widow Blunt was out in her garden when she saw a red-breasted robin picking her cherries.
"Oh! You cute robin red-breast!" she called. "You are after my cherries, but you will have to wait until I have picked all that I want for my own use, before you get any more!"
Widow Blunt went into her house, and brought out her stepladder. Then she went into her parlor and got a big stuffed owl off the mantel. The owl was one that Mister Blunt had shot, and a friend of his had stuffed its skin and put in great glass eyes that would scare almost anything. The owl looked just as if he were going to spring right at you.
[Illustration: Both of them were scared almost out of their wits. (Page 37) (Exciting Adventures of Mr. Robert Robin)]
Widow Blunt took the owl up the stepladder with her, and tied it fast in the cherry tree, then she went back into her house and looked out through the kitchen window.
She had not waited long before Robert Robin came to get another cherry. He perched on a limb and was picking out a nice red ripe one to take home to Elizabeth when he saw something shine. It was the stuffed owl's glass eye.
Robert Robin saw the big fierce owl so close to him that he was so frightened he dropped the cherry and screamed, "Help! Help!" and almost fell out of the tree, and just then Mrs. Robin came and almost sat right beside the big owl, and she screamed, "Help! Help!" and almost fell out of the tree, and both of them were scared almost out of their wits, and they flew over to the harvest apple tree and Robert Robin said, "Tut! Tut! Tut!--Tut! Tut! Tut!" and every time he said, "Tut!" he jerked his tail.
Widow Blunt sat in her splint-bottomed chair by