Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-09-06

CHAPTER XXI.
TANTALIZING, VERY.

w
as the voice of some long past age,
Could the parrot be speaking to them
in the words of seventee nth-century
English?
Even NJ. Peyron, who at first ha | re-
ceive the strange discovery with in
credulity, woke up before long to the
Importance of this sudden and unex-
pected revelation. The Tux ila-kila
who had taught Methuse lab that long
poem or sermon, which native tradition
regarded as containing the central Sc
cret Of their creed or it's mysteries,
aud which the cruel and cunning Tu-
Kia-Kila of to-day believed to be of
immense Importance to his safety
that Tu-Kila-Kila of other days was in
all probability, no other than an En-
glish sailor Cast on these shores,
perhaps, as they themselves had been.
by the mercy of the waves, he had
managed to master the language and
religion of the savages among whom
he found himself thrown; he had risen
to be the representative OF the can.
nibal god; and, during long months or
years of tedious exile, he had beguiled
his leisure by imparting TO the uncon-
SciOus ears of a bird the weird secret
OF his success, for the benefit of any
others of his own race who might be
similarly treated by fortune in future.
Strange aud romantic as it all sounded,
thev could hardly doubt now this was
the real explanation of the birds com
mand of English words One problem
alone remained to disturb their souls.
Was the bird really in possession of
any local secret and mystery at all, or
was this the whole burden of the mes
sage he had brought down across the
nh Of a
king, aud to hell with all papists:'
Felix turned to M. Peyron in "a per-
feet tumult suspense. what he re-
cites is long?' he said, interrogatively,
with profound interest. "YOu have
heard him say much more than this at
times? The words he has just uttered
are not those Of the sermon or poem
you mcntioned?'
Mr. Peyron opened his hands ex-
pan,ivelv before him. ''Oh, mon Dieu,
no, monsieur" he answered, with eff
fusion. "You should hear him re lite
it. He's never done. 1t is whole chap
ters whole chapters: perfect Hen
ria1o in parrot-talk. When once he
begins there's no possibility Of check
ing or stopping him. On, on he goes.
Farewell to the rest; he insists on
pouring it all forth to The very last
sentence Gabble, gabble, gabble;
chatter, chatter, chatter; pouF, pouf,
pouf; boum, BONN, boum: be runs
ahead eternally in one long dscordant
Sing-song monotone. The person who
taught HIM must have taken entire
months to teach him, u phrase at a
time, paragraph by paragraph. 1t is
wonderful birds memory could hold so
much. But till now, taking it for
granted he spoke only so ne wild South
Pacific dialect, | never paid much at
tention to Methuselah S vagaries."
''Hush. He's going to speak, Muriel
c.ied, holding up, in alarm, one warn
ing finger.
And the bird, his tougue-strings evil
IDENTIFY loosened by the strange recur
renee after SO many years of those IA
Pretty Poll" opened his mouth again
in loud chuckle of delight and cried,
with persistent shrillness, God save
the King. A fig for all arrant knaves
and ronndheads.
A creepier feeling than ever came
over the two English listeners at those
astounding words. "Great Heavens.'
Felix exclaimed to the unsuspecting
Frenchman, "he speaks in a style OF
tho Stuarts and the Commonwealth"
The Frenchman started. ''pOlue
Louis OuatorLe.' he murmured, trans
iatiug The date mentally into his own
chronology. 1.-Two centuries since.
Oh, incred bic. incredible. Methusu-
lah is old but not quite so much OF
patriarch as that. Even Humbo dts
pa.rot could hardly have lived 200
wears in the wilds of South America"
Eel regarded the venerable Great
ure with look of ain os. superstitlous
q Nd
shortly, shutting his mouth with lit
tie snap. "Unless this bird has been
deliberately taught historical deta Is
in an archaic diction-and a ship
wrecked sailor is hardly likely to be
antiquarian enough to conceive such
an idea he is undoubtedly a survival
from the days of the Commonwealth or
the Restoration. And you say he runs
on with his tae for an hou" at time.
Good Heavens, what thought. |
wish we could manage to start him
now, Does he begin it often:?"
''Monsieur," the Frenchman an
swered, when | came here first,
though Metnuselah was already very
old and feeble, he was not quite do
tard, and he used to recite it all every
morning regularly. That was the
hour, [ suppose, at which the master,
who first taught him this lengthy reel
tation, used originally to impress it
upon him In those days his sight and
memory were far more clear than now
But by degrees, since my arrival, he
has grown dull and stupid. The natives
tell me that fifty years ago, while he
was already Old he was still bright
and lively, and would recite the whole
poem whenever any body presented
him with mis- greatest dainty, the claw
of a tnoors crab. Nowadays, however,
when he can hardly eat, and hardly
humble, he is much less persistent
and less coherent than formerly. To
say the truth, / have discouraged him
in his efforts, because his pertinacity
annoyed me. So now he seldom gets
through all his lesson at one bout, as
he used to do at the beginning. the
best way to get him on is for me to sing
one of my French songs. That seems
TO excite him or to rouse him to rlv-
airy. Then he will put his head on
one side. listen critically FOR while.