At first they thought that it was a bird, but the Corporal
said that he had never heard such a bird in his life, though the sound
seemed to pass so swiftly from place to place that it was difficult to
think what it might be. They followed the sound along the fence for a
little way, and then suddenly the Corporal shaded his eyes with his
hand for a moment, and telling the children to wait till he came back,
ran away down the fence as fast as his lame leg would carry him, turned
into the wood by a hunting-gate and disappeared. The children wondered
for a time what could have happened, but discovering some very fine
ripe blackberries soon turned to picking and tasting them again, when
suddenly they heard the whistling close to them, and again still
closer; and presently there was a little rustle through the bushes, and
there stood the idiot before them, still whistling. They were at first
a little frightened, but too much astonished to cry out; and the ragged
creature (for he had just the same appearance as when they had first
seen him) grinned at them so kindly that they could not help smiling
back. He looked round him nervously for a moment and then holding up
his finger as if to bid them keep silence, he scrambled down from the
fence to them, and produced a rudely made cage of hazel-wands from
under his coat. This he opened, and took from it a bullfinch, which
perched on his finger without attempting to fly away.
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