t look at me! I
get plenty to eat. And I do precious little digging for it, believe me!
I tell you, there's a better way than yours!"

Naturally, Grandfather Mole couldn't look at Mr. Blackbird. But he
raised his head in his odd fashion.

"What's that?" he inquired. "What's a better way than mine?"

But Mr. Blackbird was in no hurry to tell all he knew.

"Suppose," he said, "I should explain my method to you. You could follow
it for some weeks and live well without much trouble. And then--when the
spring ploughing is finished--I should want you to supply me with
angleworms for the same length of time. You know, you can't expect me to
give away my secret for nothing."

"But I _like_ to dig," Grandfather Mole replied. "You may have noticed
that I am built for that sort of work."

What Grandfather Mole said was true. His drill-like nose, his powerful
fore-legs and big, strong feet all served to make him the fastest digger
in Pleasant Valley.

Mr. Blackbird regarded him with a sly smile. "You seem to be built for
_eating_, too," he observed.

Grandfather Mole soon confessed that Mr. Blackbird's mention of
angleworms had made him so hungry that he was ready to promise to do as
Mr. Blackbird had proposed.

So Mr. Blackbird cried that it was a bargain.

"And now," he said, "listen carefully while I whisper the secret, for I
don't want everybody to hear it.... I follow the plough," he explained.
"It turns up a great quantity of angleworms. The only work I have to do
is to pick 'em up with my bill."

Somehow Grandfather Mole did not appear as delighted as Mr. Blackbird
had expected.

"How can I follow the plough when I can't see where it's going?" he
asked.

"Silly!" Mr. Blackbird jeered. "You can find your way along a furrow,
can't you?"

Grandfather Mole thought he could do that. "But you're forgetting Henry
Hawk!" he reminded Mr. Blackbird. "Farmer Green ploughs in the daytime.
And Henry Hawk might see me."

"He wouldn't be likely to notice you if you crept along the bottom of a
furrow," Mr. Blackbird assured Grandfather Mole. "Anyhow, I'll be there.
And I'll warn you if Henry Hawk appears in the sky."

Grandfather Mole was relieved. And Mr. Blackbird told him to be ready
the next morning.

XXV

STUBBORN AS EVER

FARMER GREEN hadn't finished ploughing his first furrow before Mr.
Blackbird and Grandfather Mole began breakfasting on the angleworms that
the plough turned up.

Very soon Mr. Bl