Page:Mrs. Spring Fragrance - Far - 1912.djvu/296

 the little Chinese seabird. "It will be much pleasanter to die in quiet than with wailing screams in my ears."

"Hear her, oh, hear her!" exclaimed the second sister.

But the eldest sister, she with the satin-white under-wings and spreading tail, descended to the ground, and began pulling up some tough grass. "Come," she cried to the other birds, "let us make a strong nest for our broken-winged little sister—a nest in which we can bear away to safety one who tonight has saved our lives without thought of her own."

"We will, with pleasure," answered the other birds."

Whereupon they fluttered down and helped to build the most wonderful nest that ever was built, weaving in and out of it the bright red cord, which the little Chinese seabird had plucked out of the boy's queue. This made the nest strong enough to bear the weight of the little Chinese seabird, and when it was finished they dragged it beside her and tenderly pushed her in. Then they clutched its sides with their beaks, flapped their wings, and in a moment were soaring together far up in the sky, the little Chinese seabird with the broken wing happy as she could be in the midst of them.