The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-04-06

ana bob
stopped short, looked ssvagely up into
the gum trees and then walked 70 the
"nI ia-ra-ra-boom. SAT- a parrot. in
loud aside. as he disappeared within.
Ana then Bob came out with his gun IN
MS hand -boom-de-ay. cried "A
parrot IN the heartest jovial voice nos.
sibie. Up went the gun. and a parrot
came slipping. humping down through
'he branches IL fell n my feet not
quite dead II gave itself sort OF
shake, tried to roll over on 10 its feet,
bui:fell back. and then IL opened one eve.
looked at me. and then said. in "A posi-
tive emphatic kind Of voice as IL il was
no use my trying TO argue with /, or
contradict it-Ta-ra-ra- boom-and died
Bang went the gun again, and down
came another parrot
with the same irritating IRREGULAR.
W, the snmc exasperating changes OF
voice aud direction the pertinacious
parrots went on. while we all set "a
again, silent, dogged and bad tenn
pered. There WAS no conversation.
oniy an oath now and again, dropping
on the mir in a sullen, shcll-fire fash
ION. and contrastcd qucerly with the
ni"uc gayety Of the parrots From
angry looks to words, and so to blows
"o of the men began Ia light. Tara
ra-boom. cried the nearest parrot in a
voice Of delight. and the men went al
II savagelv. while he birds. with the
lucky way they have. hit in so pat
sometimes. with boom. that
1t sounded like bravo after a we'll
placed blow. This made the men ali
the madden. How il ended | don't
know. for went away 10 wind up the
man down the shaft who had been .or-
gotten all .his time lie came up pro-
fame and furious. and insulted me. |
dismissed him on the spot. and then
there was another row, and somehow
the angry spirit spread. and Bob and |
at last found ourselves looking on at a
general melee, bob. with one eye only,
as a 'phid' of nisdirected clay had tenn
porarily shut up q ne other.
In the middle Of all this rumpus
who should step out of the bush but
the Inspector, and just as ne did SO a
chunk Of quartz knocked his hat of.
lie insisted on the arrest of the
offender. but the order was too big to
execute. and the end Of il was that he
and his posse went of back TO town,
and reported state Of riot at the Gil,
Edge Next day. Bob and I. the
captains Of the shift. with half dozen
other men. Were on our way TO explain
To magistrate and pay the penalty
for an assault on the authorities
When ii was all over and we had got
back. leaving three Of our number be-
hind us in custody for contempt OF
court We found the place half de-
serted and the remaining men lying
about idle. playing cards and quarrel
ing. while the parrots overhead cried
Ia-ra-ra-boom in response to every
oath. When they heard of the men in
Jail. they wen; off in body to get
their chums out, and Bob and found
ourselves alone in camp with the con
founded parrots After the excite
ment Of the previous day our nerves
Were. perhaps, bit shaky. but any
how we thought Ta-ra-ra worse than
ever. We stuffed our ears full Of wad-
ding. but the wretched refrain was
running III our heads, so that we found
ourselves hEmming it at every turn.
and when we took out the wadding &c
speak TO each other the parrots were
still AT their Ta-ra-ra-boom. Bat we
got the camp into order. and. working
like niggers all the time. waited for
three days for the men to return. and
then we went into town after them.
None OF them would come hack and
face Ta-ra-ra- boom. So we had 10 get
another shift. and by and by we started
again.
"But almost the same things hap
pened. though worse. For the men
after two days Of it were so Infatuated
by the parrots that they would not
work They loaf,ri about the bush al
day with revoiyers ard Jumps of stone
A passionate longing for the blood Of
the parrots possessed them. 30 over
whelming was the mastery of this Zero
cious thirst for gore that, not content