Bobby of Cloverfield Farm Part 6

Soon there were birds singing everywhere--robins in the apple orchard, an oriole in the elm tree, swallows flas.h.i.+ng through the farmyard, bluebirds and yellowbirds on every side. Bobolinks skimming over the clover field, joined the chorus.

Then on a low limb of the crab-apple tree, a meadow lark began to sing.

Bobby tried to find him, but could not see him among the branches. Such a wonderful song he had never heard.

The Eastern sky was getting more rosy and more golden.

"It must be the sunrise that makes him so happy," thought Bobby. "I wish I could sing like that."

So there Bobby stood, golden sunrise in the East, singing birds around him.

Meanwhile, Red Top was quietly making his way to the house. As far as the wood-pile he came, and Bobby did not drive him back. As far as the pump he came.

"I'll soon be there," he thought.

A rooster in the next barn-yard crowed. Then Bobby remembered.

He ran toward the house. There was Red Top on the little mound.

"Oh, I must stop him before he crows," thought Bobby. He shouted, "Shoo, shoo!"

Just then a loud c.o.c.k-a-doodle-doo rang out on the morning air.

"I beat you, Bobby," it seemed to say.

Father looked out of his window and said, "Red Top was smarter than you, wasn't he?"

"I am sorry I let him wake you," said Bobby.

John put his head out of his window and called, "You have lost the dime, Bobby."

"I don't care," said Bobby. "I heard the birds and saw the sunrise."

Then he chased Red Top down to the Old Red Barn, so Father could finish his morning nap.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAYING TIME]

VII

One of the many pretty sights on the farm in early June, was the clover field, all covered with red blossoms.

It was an interesting place, too.

Bobby and Rover loved to romp in it. The honey bees came to it to get honey. The bobolinks, like flashes of black and white, skimmed over it as they sang. The ground-birds had their nests in it.

Bobby knew of three nests there.

But the time had come for cutting the clover.

One morning, Bobby saw Father and Hobson in the tool-shed and went to see what they were doing. He found them busy about the mowing-machine--oiling it, tightening the screws and sharpening the knives.

"Oh, Father, you aren't going to cut the gra.s.s now, are you?" said Bobby.

"Yes," said Father, "the clover is ready."

"I wish it could be left all Summer," said Bobby.

"But we must cut it," said Farmer Hill, "to make hay for the horses and cows to eat next Winter."

When the mower was ready, they hitched Prince and Daisy to it, and Father climbed to the seat and drove to the hayfield.

As the mower went around the field, it cut a wide swath of clover and left it lying flat on the ground.

A humming sound the mower made, a pleasant sound to a person some distance away, a very loud sound to one near by.

In one of the nests in the field, there was a mother bird and three young birds. The little mother bird, there in the quiet clover field, had never heard such a loud sound before.

"What can it be that makes that big noise?" the frightened mother bird thought as the mower pa.s.sed close by.

Then the sound grew fainter as the mower went to the other side of the field. The little mother bird settled down happily in her nest.

But it was not long before the sound came back again, closer and louder than before.

"What shall I do?" thought the mother bird. "What shall I do?"

She might have flown away herself. But there were the three young birds not yet old enough to fly.

So she sat still while the terrible noise kept coming nearer.

All this time, Bobby was playing here and there with Rover. Suddenly, Bobby thought of something. He ran toward the mowing-machine, waving his hands and shouting.

"Stop, Father, stop!" he said.

The mower made such a loud noise that Father could not hear what Bobby was saying, but he could see his arms waving.

"Whoa, Prince! Whoa, Daisy!" he said, and the horses stopped.

"What is the matter, Bobby?" he asked.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'Stop, Father, stop!' he said"]

"The bird's-nest! There's a nest right ahead," shouted Bobby.

"A bird's-nest, is there?" said Father. "Well, we won't harm the nest.

Go and stand near it, Bobby, and I'll turn out for it."