the saucy turn of your head. You can't
be here to give me another message from my beloved husband, can you?"

"That is just my business--to deliver a message from him, to tell you
that he, Stubby and Button are all well and happy and, best of all,
that none of them lost so much as an eye or a leg in the War. Which is
quite remarkable, I think, as they were in the thick of the fight more
than once, and were also torpedoed by a submarine. But just wait until
you see them! They themselves will tell you about their war
experiences."

"Oh, how happy you have made me, Mr. Black Wings, by bringing me the
message that the husband I adore is safe and sound and in this country
once again! I don't believe I can ever stand it to have him go away
from me again. I have died a thousand deaths in imagining him wounded
and left to die on the battlefield, or, worse yet, blown to atoms by a
shell. Come with me while I tell Billy Junior and Daisy the good
news."

And Nannie slipped off the straw stack and went to where Billy Junior,
his wife Daisy, and their Twins were asleep at the foot of a haystack
in the barnyard.

"Why, mother! Are you ill?" asked Billy Junior when he awoke and saw
her standing over him.

"No, dear. But I have such good news for you that I could not wait for
you to awaken, but had to come and tell you. Hurry and get your eyes
open and see who is here!"

"Not father, surely?"

"No; but an old friend who has brought news of him."

Billy Junior rubbed his face against his fore leg to get the sleep out
of his eyes, so he could see who was there. At first he looked and
looked, but he saw no one. He was looking on the ground, and Black
Wings was perched on the tongue of an old farm wagon not ten feet
away. When he saw the blank expression on Billy Junior's face, he
cawed to show him where he was.

"Black Wings!" Billy exclaimed when he saw him. "How glad I am to see
you once again! You should be called White Wings instead of Black
Wings as you always bring such bright, cheerful news. Mother says you
have good news for us. I can guess that it must be from father."

"You are right; it is. He is sound and well, and is coming to see you
just as fast as his four legs can carry him. And Stubby and Button are
with him. He sent me on ahead to tell you that he would like to have
you, your mother, wife and the Twins join him in Chicago. You will
have plenty of time to get there as they are away down East yet, in
the st