The Washington herald., 1913-06-29
be couascal mae military cap. % he

the birds wing for gun. and cried.
Attention.
The bird made little frightened hop.
threw back its wings, perked its head
sauciiy. and faced the cannon
The spaniard took small powder cap
from his pocket. inserted It In the toy
cannon, which was really q boys Fourth
Of July pistol with the handle knocked
on. held up his hand. and, with 1aunty
little bow, addressed the bird:
Cen Phillips
Tho bird futtered wing In salute and
perked its head on the other side.
The little spaniard's eyes snapped with
pride.
Gen. Philiipsr' he cried. Are you
readyy'
The bird faced about, reached the cam
non In two hops, ciutched the trigger
firmly with the claw and turned Its head
toward the faker.
Fire! General," came the ringing or
der
The bird braced itself and jerked back
on the trigger, the hammer fell and the
audience, greatly delighted with the
sharp report that followed. broke into
delighted chuckles. as the bird hoped
down, pulled out a fortune-teiling en-
velop and placed 1t in Poe's hand.
Poe gave the promised dollar to the
faker. exclaiming. Good work! Take long
to train him? / got q friend uptown
that'd be interested in that bird. Here"
"Tll give you two buck to bring Gen
Phillips up to the house an have him
perform. Come on. get in this machine
Foe lurched a little and tugged good-na-
turedly at the fellows arm.
The Spaniard hesitated: Poe flashed a
81 bin before his eyes and the old fed
low succumbed, picked up his portable
stand, put Gen. Phillips back into his
pocket and got into the taxi
AS they rode up the street the Span
iard's heart failed him and he asked
to be let down, but Poe refused to listen
to his lame excuses. He had directed
the driver 10 take them to President Far
ley's home In ST. Charles Avenue and
when they reached the number and the
faker saw a splendid residence he looked
craftily at Poe. who was successfully
posing as a gay man-about-town, and
sullenly accompanied him to the door.
where Farley himself admitted them,
controlling his surprise with evident ef-
fort
Hello, Door, cried Poe In feigned
hearty good-fellowship. giving the re-
served bank president the cut to his
part IT brought a fellow along with q
funny bird: Gen. Phillips. he calls him.
shoots a gun and picks up most anything
with that strong beak Of his"
Farley played his part poorly and the
little Spaniard was wariiy suspicious. act
ing as though he had seen Farley before
and was .afraid Of him.
SHOW him your trick! Have the Cen |
eral fire the gum" said Poe, pushing the
81 bill into the takers hand. which closed
over IL like a trap.
The Spaniard sullenly took. General
Phillips from his pocket and repeated the |
gun-fring stunt
what do you think OF that for birdZ' |
queried Poe, looking up sharply at Presi- |
IDENTIFY Farley, whose gaze was hxed !
on the bird.
81 don't just get the connection" he
said slowly.
You will In a minute" Poe turned alb
ruptly to the performer. who had craft
lily returned the bird to his pocket and
was lingering something in his belt as he
chung to his little box of birds and for /
e-telling cards. and edged toward the
door. ''Senor. what do you feed your
birds?'
Seeds" was the sullen reply. as the
Poe had thoughtfully locked behind him.
what kind7"
'why You ask?'' cried the Spaniard,
facing about with a snarl
"Oh, I'm interested in the seed business
today. Are they funny little white
seeds?"
"No. black"
Like these," asked Poe idly, removing
/ pinch Of the sample he had taken from
the big bag in the macaroni box pantry
n the old fellows room
President Farley stepped back discreet
y as the little Spaniard dropped his bird
box. thrust his face toward Poe's and.
wicked little eyes swapping. demanded,
Where you get those?' Ii
''Oh. just brought them along in case
he General became hungry" said Poe
dropping into his usual tone Of
Ipeech to the great surprise of the Span
ard and to the relief Of anxious. uncom-
Mr.. Farley. Those are poppy
ICED for small parrots, as any bird seller
.round town will tell you. II a man had
thousand dollar bill. or twenty of them
lie couldn't buy better food for parrakeets
han this
President Farley started at mention of
,lue NAV poppy seeds, the little Span
ard, cords standing out In his neck as
le strained up toward Poe and Missed
through clenched teeth. What you mean.
-ou devil?''
Nothing. Only General Phillips hur-
led to obey your order Of Fire. Gen.
rail- at the bank this noon by pulling
he trigger Of the real revolver you've got
n your left hand now, and then popping
ut his head amid the resulting confusion
nd grabbing the bunch of bills through
he grating as he had been trained to
10. he accidently spilled two blue nav I
oppyseeds out Of the little feed box you
legged UP in that handy pocket Of yours" .
There was a fash Of fire, q loud re-
ort; President Farley reeled back against
he wall and Christopher Poe threw the
title Spaniard dextrously on his back.
rying. NO harm done, Farley. you ]
,eren't shot; he fired the gun from his |
ocket as expected: the bullet only took I
chip out of that chair. Cut that tele-
hone cord and wen tie him down SO !
e can't kick while pull OF his boots"
Farley helped as best he could and in I
Ide Of two minutes they had the old
aker tied up and his foreign boots re-
moved. 3
Poe picked up the pen knife with which 4
ariey had cut the telephone wire and !
anded 1t back to its owner indicating {
he thick sole of the Spaniard,s left !
cot, Suppose you rip open those
astily-made stitches in the red Morocco {
M about the top Of that shoe and see I
hat you find
With trembling hands Farley did as
lrected, Poe placing a short-legged I
ouch over the struggling straining form
the Spaniard. effectively holding him
own.
A cry escaped Farley; he held up . B
uiver.ng hand which contained a neat I
acket of 5000 bills.
Poe reached over and took the bills a
ON the bank presidents fingers. "You Q
,und them neatly folded I'D and sewed
betweet the two thick layers of