"Goodness gracious, Kit, what is the matter, what have
you been doing?" cried Mrs. Nubbles.

"Never you mind, mother," answered her son, wiping
his face on the jack-towel behind the door. "I'm not hurt,
don't you be afraid for me. I've been a fightin' for a bird
and won him, that's all. Hold your noise, little Jacob. I
never see such a naughty boy in all my days!"

"You have been fighting for a bird!" exclaimed his
mother.

"Ah! Fightin' for a bird!" replied Kit, "and here he
is--Miss Nelly's bird, mother, that they was a goin' to
wring the neck of! I stopped that though--ha ha ha!
They wouldn't wring his neck and me by, no no. It
wouldn't do, mother, it wouldn't do at all. Ha ha ha!"

Kit laughed so heartily, with his swoln and bruised face
looking out of the towel, made little Jacob laugh, and then
his mother laughed, and then the baby crowed and kicked
with great glee, and then they all laughed in concert, partly
because of Kit's triumph, and partly because they were
very fond of each other. When this fit was over, Kit
exhibited the bird to both children, as a great and precious
rarity--it was only a poor linnet--and looking about the
wall for an old nail, made a scaffolding of a chair and table
and twisted it out with great exultation.

"Let me see," said the boy, "I think I'll hang him in
the winder, because it's more light and cheerful, and he
can see the sky there, if he looks up very much. He's
such a one to sing, I can tell you!"

So, the scaffolding was made again, and Kit, climbing up
with the poker for a hammer, knocked in the nail and hung
up the cage, to the immeasurable delight of the whole
family. When it had been adjusted and straightened a
good many times, and he had walked backwards into the
fireplace in his admiration of it, the arrangement was
pronounced to be perfect.

"And now, mother," said the boy, "before I rest any
more, I'll go out and see if I can find a horse to hold, and
then I can buy some birdseed, and a bit of something nice
for you, into the bargain."

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