The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1897-04-10

~ repressible young man that |
' brings the daily milk is the
tutor of my parrot in the latest up-to-
date slang of the day.
am an old sea captain-at least, not |
old, perhaps the word slipped out I'M
awares. l am on the right side OF %, !
anyhow; but being in receipt Of a pen
sion and a small private income to boot,
have cast anchor in my present abode
In the expectation of weathering many
a winters storm yet.
Being without a known relation In
the world, l willingly fell in with the
suggestion that | should pick up my
mornings alongside my old friend and
messmate, Capt. Travers, late r. N,
who having left one of his legs on the
west coast of Africa while capturing
SLAYER, was pensioned off at an even
earlier age than myself and now lived
with his sister-a most comfortable
party, fat, fair, and 40. or Whereabouts
in the adjoining house to mine in the
neighborhOod of London. We had al
ways got on we'll together. our tastes
and dispositions were similar, and we
had often met during our naval careers.
/ His sister | had not previously been
acquainted with, but, being in many
respects like her brother, we were soon
firm friends
Capt Travers and myself had each
favorlte parrot-his the common Afri-
can gray, with a red-tipped tail, and
mine the purer variety, without a trace
of color but otherwise similar.
had not long settled down in my
new quarters, and got everything ship
shape, or what seemed so to me-a very
important difference, as | know to-day
when, almost unconsciously at first,
began to feel what lonely old bach
elor was and what a set-off to all my
other belongings the figure Of Miss
Rachel Travers would be by my fire
side. But just here the course of my
life began began to make itself felt.
Inherent shyness in the presence of the
opposite sex had logged my footsteps
from my earliest recOllections. Give
me gale of wind in the bay Of Biscay
a tornado in the tropics, or twenty
hours duty on deck, wet through to the
skin, and Capt Manley, late of the 2
and 0. service, will thank you for 1t
: and consider life we'll worth living; bu
as dispenser of delicate attentions t.
the fair sex, intensely as he inward.
admires their pretty ways, Capt. Man
ley does not, no, he certainly does not
show up to advantage.
Although fond Of pets generally,
have an antipathy to cats, especially a
night | am not aware that our neigh
borhood was particularly beneficial II
its aspect or other qualifications L
feline constitution, but l know that un
til | was inhuman enough to start a.
air-gun cannOnade on my numerOu
nocturnal visitors, l was frequently III
able to get a respectable nights resi-
One Internal black and white Tom de
fed my finest efforts. If average cat
have nine lives, ! am sure this one mus
have had nineteen, and began to wor
der what sort of uncanny being thi
was that had no objection to letting m
bullets pass apparently through II
body without suffering any incOnveI
fence. But after all it must have bee
my bad craftsmanship, for one afte
noon l saw my enemy quietly walHn
:, UP the low fence that divided my bac
y garden from Capt. Travers'.
q The opportunity was too good to
lost, and quietly getting my airgun
took a steady aim and fired. There WIS
no mistake this time, and without
sound poor puss dropped on to my tlOy
er bed as dead as the proverbial doc
II nail.
ID NV exultatiOn, however, was Of ShO
S. duration, for to my horror and disma
lie on proceeding to pick up his unfort
+, nate carcass and give it decent buris
IN l saw that my shot had passed rig
through the unlucky animal and killC
my neighbours parrot, which had bet
20 put out to sun itself in a little summe
iS house that stood at the bottom of Il
of garden.
er was staggered at my position;
IS. knew the parrot was supreme fave
a lite with Miss Travers, and how cou
Oh ever explain my carelessness l cou
IS not imagine Suddenly a way out
ed my dilemma presented itself to 4
a. mind, and 1 FASTENED to put 1t in
nv execution. I knew that the Travers
It's were out, and would not be back
ID aome little time, so hurrying indoc
"a and taking my own parrot from
wv cage carefully painted the end Of
op tail with red ink in imitation of It's
&c ceased comrade. and finding no 0
,4 was ahnnt [ Stunned ightlv over [