d of the kindness of human beings. Just then, two shots
sounded behind him. Three ducks sank down in the reeds--lifeless--and
Caesar bounced out and captured them.

Then Jarro understood. The human beings had only saved him that they
might use him as a decoy-duck. And they had also succeeded. Three ducks
had died on his account. He thought he should die of shame. He thought
that even his friend Caesar looked contemptuously at him; and when they
came home to the cottage, he didn't dare lie down and sleep beside the
dog.

The next morning Jarro was again taken out on the shallows. This time,
too, he saw some ducks. But when he observed that they flew toward him,
he called to them: "Away! Away! Be careful! Fly in another direction!
There's a hunter hidden behind the reed-pile. I'm only a decoy-bird!"
And he actually succeeded in preventing them from coming within shooting
distance.

Jarro had scarcely had time to taste of a grass-blade, so busy was he in
keeping watch. He called out his warning as soon as a bird drew nigh. He
even warned the grebes, although he detested them because they crowded
the ducks out of their best hiding-places. But he did not wish that any
bird should meet with misfortune on his account. And, thanks to Jarro's
vigilance, the farm-hand had to go home without firing off a single
shot.

Despite this fact, Caesar looked less displeased than on the previous
day; and when evening came he took Jarro in his mouth, carried him over
to the fireplace, and let him sleep between his forepaws.

Nevertheless Jarro was no longer contented in the cottage, but was
grievously unhappy. His heart suffered at the thought that humans never
had loved him. When the mistress, or the little boy, came forward to
caress him, he stuck his bill under his wing and pretended that he
slept.

For several days Jarro continued his distressful watch-service; and
already he was known all over Takern. Then it happened one morning,
while he called as usual: "Have a care, birds! Don't come near me! I'm
only a decoy-duck," that a grebe-nest came floating toward the shallows
where he was tied. This was nothing especially remarkable. It was a nest
from the year before; and since grebe-nests are built in such a way that
they can move on water like boats, it often happens that they drift out
toward the lake. Still Jarro stood there and stared at the nest, because
it came so straight toward the islet that it looked as though someone
ha