Merrill now pointed.

Mary Jane looked and looked and then, suddenly, she saw the nest! Set way
back among the leaves it was and on it was sitting the mother bird.

"I expect the father bird is getting breakfast for the family," said
Mr. Merrill, "and the mother is keeping the babies warm till they have
something to eat. You better get dressed now, little girl," he added,
"but you may come up here after breakfast and I guess that, if you watch
quietly, you can get a glimpse of the babies."

As quickly as breakfast was over, Mary Jane hurried back up the stairs to
the sleeping porch and, sure enough, the mother bird and the father bird
were both gone and those cunning baby robins--four of them--were stretching
way out of the nest! Mary Jane almost gasped at first she was that
surprised; but she didn't call out, no, indeed! She kept very still and
watched--and watched. And the longer she looked the more certain she became
that something was wrong.

"They do open their mouths so funny," she thought to herself. "I know, I
just _know_ they wouldn't open their mouths so wide if something wasn't
wrong."

She thought a few minutes and then an idea occurred to her. The robin
babies were thirsty--of course!

"I know how I felt that time we took too long a ride and I got thirsty,"
she thought, "and their mother don't know and their father isn't here
either. I'll just _have_ to get them a drink!"