apper or one or the other of Skimmer's friends, braver than the rest,
would dart in and peck at him viciously, and all the time all the birds
were screaming as only excited feathered folk can. Johnny Chuck was
quite as excited as his feathered friends, and so intent watching the
hated black robber that he had eyes for nothing else. Suddenly he heard
a step just behind him. He turned his head and then frantically dived
head first down into his hole. He had looked right up into the eyes of
Farmer Brown's boy!

"Ha, ha!" cried Farmer Brown's boy, "I thought as much!" And with a long
switch he struck Mr. Blacksnake just as the latter had put his head in
that doorway, resolved to get those eggs this time. But when he felt
that switch and heard the voice of Farmer Brown's boy he changed his
mind in a flash. He simply let go his hold on that tree and dropped. The
instant he touched the ground he was off like a shot for the safety of
the old stone wall, Farmer Brown's boy after him. Farmer Brown's boy
didn't intend to kill Mr. Blacksnake, but he did want to give him such a
fright that he wouldn't visit the Old Orchard again in a hurry, and this
he quite succeeded in doing.

No sooner had Mr. Blacksnake disappeared than all the birds set up such
a rejoicing that you would have thought they, and not Farmer Brown's
boy, had saved the eggs of Mr. and Mrs. Skimmer. Listening to them,
Johnny Chuck just had to smile.

CHAPTER XVII. More Robbers.

By the sounds of rejoicing among the feathered folks of the Old Orchard
Johnny Chuck knew that it was quite safe for him to come out. He
was eager to tell Skimmer the Tree Swallow how glad he was that Mr.
Blacksnake had been driven away before he could get Skimmer's eggs. As
he poked his head out of his doorway he became aware that something was
still wrong in the Old Orchard. Into the glad chorus there broke a
note of distress and sorrow. Johnny instantly recognized the voices
of Welcome Robin and Mrs. Robin. There is not one among his feathered
neighbors who can so express worry and sorrow as can the Robins.

Johnny was just in time to see all the birds hurrying over to that part
of the Old Orchard where the Robins had built their home. The rejoicing
suddenly gave way to cries of indignation and anger, and Johnny caught
the words, "Robber! Thief! Wretch!" It appeared that there was just as
much excitement over there as there had been when Mr. Blacksnake had
been discovered trying t