farm-yard with a pruning-hook in his hand.

"Oh, Father," cried Dion, "the crows are roosting all over the scarecrow.
Maybe he wasn't a Spartan scarecrow after all."

"Anyway, he seems to have gone to sleep on the job," added Daphne.

Melas stared at the crows in angry silence. "You children will have to
get your clappers then, and just drive the old thieves away," he said at
last, "You will have to spend the day in the field watching them. I've
got to work in the vineyard. The vines must be pruned."

The Twins had not yet had their breakfast and they were hungry. So they
ran to the kitchen, seized some barley-cakes and a little jar of milk,
and in a few minutes were back again in the field. They sat down with
the wooden clappers beside them, and ate their breakfast in the company
of the scarecrow. All day long they watched the grain and rattled their
clappers, or threw clods at the black marauders. It was lively work, and
although they did not like it, they remembered the black ewe and stuck
faithfully at it all through the long day.

When the sun was high overhead, Lydia brought them some figs and cheese
and a drink of goat's milk. She also brought a message. This was the
message. "Father says you are to stay here until after dark. You are to
hunt around until you find a toad, and when you find it, you must be
sure not to let it get away from you. He is going to put a magic spell on
the field to keep the crows away, but the spell will not work except in
the dark. So you must stay here until he comes."

Between keeping off the birds and hunting for the toad, the Twins spent a