had taught Mary to use all her tools, so that by
this time it was plain that though the lovely wild
place was not likely to become a "gardener's
garden" it would be a wilderness of growing
things before the springtime was over.

"There'll be apple blossoms an' cherry blossoms
overhead," Dickon said, working away with
all his might. "An' there'll be peach an' plum
trees in bloom against th' walls, an' th' grass'll be
a carpet o' flowers."

The little fox and the rook were as happy and
busy as they were, and the robin and his mate
flew backward and forward like tiny streaks of
lightning. Sometimes the rook flapped his black
wings and soared away over the tree-tops in the
park. Each time he came back and perched near
Dickon and cawed several times as if he were relating
his adventures, and Dickon talked to him
just as he had talked to the robin. Once when
Dickon was so busy that he did not answer him
at first, Soot flew on to his shoulders and gently
tweaked his ear with his large beak. When Mary
wanted to rest a little Dickon sat down with her
under a tree and once he took his pipe out of his
pocket and played the soft strange little notes and
two squirrels appeared on the wall and looked and
listened.

"Tha's a good bit stronger than tha' was,"

[[208]]

p207 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p208w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p209

v?