el a great pride in the wonderful egg and the
Chicken to be hatched from it. A Dorking is a Dorking after all, my
friends." And he flapped his wings, stretched his neck, and crowed as
loudly as he could.

"Yes," said the Black Spanish Cock afterward, "a Dorking certainly is a
Dorking, although I never could see the sense of making such a fuss
about it. They are fat and they have an extra toe on each foot. Why
should a fowl want extra toes? I have four on each foot, and I can
scratch up all the food I want with them."

"Well," said the grumpy old Shanghai Cock, "I am sick and tired of this
fuss. Common eggs are good enough for Shanghais and Black Spanish and
Bantams, and I should think----"

Just at this minute they heard a loud fluttering and squawking in the
Hen-house and the Dorking Hen crying, "Weasel! Weasel!" The Cocks ran to
drive the Weasel away, and the Hens followed to see it done. All was
noise and hurry, and they saw nothing of the Weasel except the tip of
his bushy tail as he drew his slender body through an opening in the
fence.

The Dorking Hen was on one of the long perches where the fowls roost at
night, the newly hatched Chicken lay shivering in the nest, and on the
floor were the pieces of the wonderful shiny egg. The Dorking Hen had
knocked it from the nest in her flight.

The Dorking Cock looked very cross. He was not afraid of a Weasel, and
he did not see why she should be. "Just like a Hen!" he said.

The Black Spanish Hen turned to him before he could say another word.
"Just like a Cock!" she exclaimed. "I never raise Chickens myself. It is
not the custom among the Black Spanish Hens. We lay the eggs and
somebody else hatches them. But if I had been on the nest as long as
Mrs. Dorking has, do you suppose I'd let any fowl speak to me as you
spoke to her? I'd--I'd--" and she was so angry that she couldn't say
another word, but just strutted up and down and cackled.

A motherly old Shanghai Hen flew up beside Mrs. Dorking. "We are very
sorry for you," she said. "I know how I should have felt if I had broken
my two-yolked egg just as it was ready to hatch."

The Bantam Hen picked her way to the nest. "What a dear little Chicken!"
she cried, in her most comforting tone. "He is so plump and so bright
for his age. But, my dear, he is chilly, and I think you should cuddle
him under your wings until his down is dry."

The Dorking Hen flew down. "He is a dear," she said, "and yet when he
was hatc