"Oh yes, indeed!" the old hen answered, "Old Ironsides, the rooster,
thought you intended to harm some of the children chickens and he was
fighting you!"

"I am sorry that I fell inside the pen, I wouldn't harm anything,"
Raggedy Ann said.

"If we tell you a secret you must promise not to tell your mistress!"
said the old hens.

"I promise! Cross my candy heart!" said Raggedy Ann.

Then the two old hens took Raggedy Ann 'way back in the farthest corner
of the chicken coop. There, in back of a box, they had built two nests
and each old hen had ten eggs in her nest.

"If your folks hear of it they will take the eggs!" said the hens, "and
then we could not raise our families!"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Raggedy Ann felt the eggs and they were nice and warm.

"We just left the nests when you fell into the pen!" explained the old
hens.

"But how can the eggs grow if you sit upon them?" said Raggedy. "If Fido
sits on any of the garden, the plants will not grow, Mistress says!"