told him that they had set about the matter in an absurd way, for the swallow being a timorous bird could not be induced to lay eggs as long as so many menwere about. He advised him to take all the scaffolding down and have a strong basket prepared, so that at the right minute some one could be raised up to the nests. He had heard that swallows always flirted their tails and turned round and round seven times before laying their eggs, and he thought that if at that time some one slipped in his hand carefully he would find the cowry-shell.
His lordship much pleased ordered the scaffolding to be taken down and spent the evening feasting with his retainers, and when he went home he took off his handsome coat and gave it, as a special mark of favor, to |
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the old man who was to take charge of the work on the morrow.
Towards evening the next day, Lord Overstone hastened off to the kitchen to see if they had found one of the cowry-shells; but to his great disappointment, the man who had been hoisted up to the nests had found nothing. The lord petulently exclaimed, that it was because he had not searched carefully enough, and insisting upon getting into the basket himself, he told the men to haul it up; reaching the nest just in time, he saw the swallow turning round and round, and so, slipping his hand quietly into the nest, he touched something smooth and cold, which he grasped tightly and calling out, “Lower away old man, I have found it,” they began to lower the basket; but the rope, which by this |
