He was determined that he would not open his mouth till the story should be well under way, till his uncle should be himself too much interested to be willing to stop.

And then, to his horror, just as he was recording this sagacious resolution in his mind, he heard himself demanding: "But why after a rainy thaw ?" It was out before he could choke it back.

There was nothing for him to do but stick to it and gaze at his uncle with disarming innocence.
Uncle Andy turned upon him a glance of slow contumely.
"If you were going to be caught out in a blizzard, would you rather be in dry clothes or in wet ones ?" he inquired.
The Babe smiled apologetically and resumed his study of the agitated pine-tops, whence, from time to time, a crow, or two or three, would burst forth for a brief, whirling flight, as if to show how it was done.

Then other flights were made, which seemed to the Babe extremely brief and hesitating, as if the flyers were nervous when they found themselves out clear of the branches and suspended on their own wings over the empty deeps of air.

Presently there was a sudden tumultuous outburst of _ca_-ing, the branches shook, and a whole flock, perhaps two score or more, swarmed into the air.