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 out well. There had been very little scabby or stung fruit; the dealer who bought them had paid cash on the spot. Snailem drudged steadily along with his hoe, in company with old Peek and two boys from Mistwell. Derek, himself, spent long days among the raspberry and blackberry canes trimming and cultivating. Even Fawnie had come to take an interest in the poultry. She ran, laughing with joy, to Derek one day to tell him that when wandering among the dense and neglected thimbleberry canes, she had come upon one of the bronze turkey hens with ten active poults, graceful and plump as partridges, which were being reared undisturbed on the sweet dark berries. Derek had left his cultivating, and together they had crept like children among the prickly canes, to peer at the elusive little fellows, who one moment would be swinging gaily on a spray, their great eyes shining, and the next be hidden, crouching among the leaves, while the mother, her proud head poised, watched the intruders with vehement disdain.

The white turkey had not been seen for many weeks. It was feared that she had either been stolen or killed. But one mild, foggy morning Derek and Fawnie almost stepped on her as she sat on a nest she had hollowed out for herself in the shelter of a pile of brushwood behind the orchard. "By George!" said Derek, "She's at it yet! That bird has been sitting ever since last spring, and had no luck at all. She's simply wearing herself out to no purpose. What shall I do with her?"

"Be rough with her," advised Fawnie. "Grab her by the neck. Pull some of her tail feathers out. Give her a good kick an' bust up her nest."

Derek took the bird by the neck and lifted her off the nest. "Why she's nothing but skin and feathers," he said "Poor thing! and look at that nest."

The untidy nest lay before them, broken shells mingled