stem; and in one place the stem itself was

torn away from the twine as if too heavy a strain had been brought to bear on it.

The sparrow had seen enough to satisfy himself, and flew back to Mrs. Polly.

"Well?" she asked inquiringly.

"Well," answered the sparrow, "I guess I've as good as caught the fellow."

"Tell me what you found, and I'll draw my own conclusions," said Mrs. Polly, putting her head on one side with the knowing expression she always assumed when listening to a story.

"In the first place, the flowers were not broken, not a leaf harmed. That shows that whoever it was, was small enough to walk under 'em."

"Very good," said Mrs. Polly, with an encouraging nod; "go on."

"Then I found a lot of tracks, but they were so close together that I couldn't make out what kind of animal they belonged to;