"I guess that will frighten the crows!" said Dion, as he gazed at it
admiringly. "It just about scares me."

"Caw, caw, caw!" screamed a crow.

A crow was flying right over his head! Dion shook his fist at him. "You
old thief!" he cried.

"I know one more thing we can do," said Daphne. "Lycias told me about
it." She got a small piece of bark and made a little amulet of it. She
punched a hole through one end and put a leather string through it.
Neither she nor Dion could write, so when she had explained what must
be done Melas himself took a sharp stone and scratched a curse upon crows
in the soft bark. When it was done Daphne hung it about the neck of the
scarecrow. "There," said Melas grimly, "I don't believe he'll go to sleep
on the job. He's a Spartan scarecrow! Now let's go home to supper, and
to-morrow we'll see how it works."

The next morning the very first thing the Twins did was to rush out to
the field and there, right on top of the scarecrow were three black
crows, and more were on the ground eating up the seed!

"After all we did, just look at them!" cried Dion.

"Caw, caw," screamed the crows.

"You don't suppose Father made a mistake, and wrote a blessing instead
of a curse on that amulet?" said Daphne anxiously. They ran back to the
house as fast as they could go. Melas was just coming out of the