“Chip-chip-chip, cherry-erry-erry, chippee-OO-EE-Ar!” shouted a chaffinch, rattling it all off as if he had learnt it by heart. “Chip-chip-chip…”

“There he goes again,” said Dick. “If he doesn’t say that, he shouts ‘pink-pink-pink’ as if he’d got that colour on the brain. Look at him over there — isn’t he a beauty?”

He certainly was. He flew down to the grass beside the children and began to peck up the crumbs, even venturing on to Anne’s knee once. She sat still, really thrilled.

Timmy growled, and the chaffinch flew off. “Silly, Timmy,” said George. “Jealous of a chaffinch! Oh, look, Dick — are those herons flying down to the marsh on the east side of the castle hill?”

“Yes,” said Dick, sitting up. “Where are your field-glasses, George? We could see the big birds beautifully through them.”

George fetched them from her caravan. She handed them to Dick. He focused them on the marsh. “Yes — four herons — gosh, what long legs they’ve got, haven’t they? They are wading happily about — now one’s struck down at something with its great beak. What’s it got? Yes, it’s a frog. I can see its back legs!”

“You can’t!” said George, taking the field-glasses from him. “You’re a fibber. The glasses aren’t powerful enough to see a frog’s legs all that way off!”

But they were powerful enough. They were really magnificent ones, far too good for George, who wasn’t very careful with valuable things.

She was just in time to see the poor frog’s legs disappearing into the big strong beak of the heron. Then something frightened the birds, and before the others could have a look at them they had all flapped away.

“How slowly they flap their wings,” said Dick. “They must surely flap them more slowly than any other bird. Give me the glasses again, George. I’ll have a squint at the jackdaws. There are thousands of them flying again over the castle — their evening jaunt, I suppose.”

He put them to his eyes, and moved the glasses to and fro, watching the endless whirl and swoop of the black jackdaws. The sound of their many voices came loudly over the evening air. “Chack-chack-chack-chack!”

Dick saw some fly down to the only complete tower of the castle. He lowered the glasses to follow them. One jackdaw flew down to the sill of the slit-window near the top of the tower, and Dick followed its flight. It rested for half a second on the sill and then flew off as if frightened.

And then Dick saw something that made his heart suddenly jump. His glasses were trained on the window-slit and he saw something most astonishing there! He gazed as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Then he spoke in a low voice to Julian.

“Ju! Take the glasses, will you? Train them on the window-slit near the top of the only complete tower — and tell me if you see what I see. Quick!”