Evening star., 1941-06-08


puzzled him. 1t was big, with high wooden
sides
Two men climbed out, and Tom found him.
self staring at the more slender one, vaguely
aware that the mans face was unpleasantly
familiar without being able to place it. Both
men were roughly dressed, but their waist
overalls and jumper jackets somehow didn t
seem to fit They were we'll barbered. Their
hands were clean and soft and their faces un-
burned by sun or wind. Tom noticed, also,
the big diamond ring on one long white finger
of the slender man.
The lean man smiled affably. He had a
prominent nose and white teeth Hello,
kid, he said
Tom said, Hello
Grinning, the fellow turned to his COM
panion, who was quite plump, and had a
ruddy face. We'll, here it is" he said, nod
ding at the trailer loft. She's twenty five,
thirty miles from home, yet the pigeons find
it and come back to it." The trailer was a
pigeon cote in miniature, with protected nests
on the one end, and the other end open to
make mesh f1ypen. On top, at the front end,
was trap for the birds to enter, and just
below it small door where they could be
released into the loft after they had entered
the trap. Dad had taken the sixteen young
homers he was training south to Salinas,
where he was to release them one at time.
ten minutes apart; now in the cote were five
old birds Dad was mating with some of the
young homers.
Its good idea, all right" the plump
man with the ruddy face admitted skeptic-
ally. But will it work."
Five birds got back already Take a look, -
said the slender man.
Those are old birds from the home loft, "
Tom corrected. "If they were released they d
go home. A homer always goes to where he
was born. None of the young birds have come
back yet. Dad took them to Salinas -"
Toms voice died. The slender man S smile
made Tom afraid.
You're a bright boy" he said. Like to
show off how bright you are, don't you kid"
'N-no, sir" Tom gulped, his throat tight
There was subtle menace in the fellow S tone
that was worse than any snarled threat.
Leave the kid alone, Robbie, " the fat man
said. And to Tom: When are the young birds
due?"
i ON was glad just then to see the first re-
turning bird. There's one" he cried, and
picked up his can of corn, rafting the grain
so the circling bird could hear That's Harry.
Come on, Harry, boy. Come on, Harry" He
stepped onto the trailer tongue, just below
the trap, rafting the corn and calling the
birds name softly.
Knows EN- all by name" he heard the
rudy man say. The young homer was wary
about coming into the trap, what with two
strangers near the trailer loft, and the truck
with the crates of clucking chickens a short
distance away. The bird circled again, alight-
ed on the mesh of the fypen and flew up as
the slender man made movement.
Tom kept rattling the corn in the can,
and calling soothingly. 1t was important that
the birds should trap quickly and under all
conditions. These young birds weren't being
trained for racing. Dad was training them for
the Army. The bird alghted now on the trap
board, and then came in through the bob
wires, and Tom was proud He gave it some
corn in his hand, but not too much right now
Then, moving carefully so as not to startle it,
he picked it up and put it through the little
door at the front of the trailer releasing it
inside.
Say, that's all right, Robbie" the ruddy
man said