Williams news., 1915-09-16
PARROT & co. z
 
Copyright by the Bobbs-MerriIl Company


 the tang of the smoke on his tongue was not to be denied.
 Under his arm he carried a small iron cage, patterned something like a rat trap. It contained Rajputana parrakeet, not much larger than a robin, but possessor of soul as fierce as that of Palladin, minus. however, the smoothing influence of chivalry. He had been born under the caves of the scarlet palace in Jaipur (so his history ran); but the proximity of h. dian princes had left him untouched; he had neither chivalry. politeness, nor diplomacy. He was, in fact, thor oughly and consistently bad. Round and round he went, over and over, l top side, down side, restlessly. For at this moment he was hearing those famiGar evening sounds which no hu- man ear can discern-the mutterings of the day birds about to seek cover | for the night. In the field at the right of the road stood lonely tree. It was covered with brilliant scarlet leaves. and blossoms, and justly the natives call it the Flame of the Jungle. A flock of small birds were gyrating above it.
 "Jah, jah, jah! Jah-jah-ja-a-a-h!" cried the parrot. initiating the Bur mese bell gong that calls to prayer. Instantly he followed the call with . shriek so piercing as to sting the ear of the man who was carrying him.
 You little son of a gun!" he laughed; where do you pack away all that noise?"
 There was strange bond between the big yellow man and this little green bird. The bird did not suspect it, but the man knew. The pluck. the pugnacity and the individuality of the feathered comrade had been an object lesson to the man, at time when he had been on the point of throwing up the fight.
 "Jah, jah, jah! Jah-jah-ja-a-a-h!" The bird began it's interminable som ersaults, pausing only to reach for the tantalizing finger of the man. who laughed again as he withdrew the digit in time.
 For six years he had carried the bird with him, through India and Bur ma and Malacca, and not yet had he won a sign of surrender. There were many scars on his forefingers. It was amazing With one pressure of his hand he could have crushed out the life of the bird, but over it's brave. un- conquerable spirit he had no power. And that is why he loved 1t.
 Far away in the past they had met He remembered the day distinctly and bitterly. He had been on the brink of self-destruction. Fever and poverty and terrible loneliness had battered and beaten him fat into the l dust, from which this time he had no wish to rise. He had walked out to the railway station at Jaipur to wit ness the arrival of the tourist train from Ahmadabad. The natives surged about the train, with brassware, an tique articles of warfare, tiger hunt fairy tales). skins and silks. There were beggars. holy men. guides and | fakirs.
 Squatted in the dust before the door of a first-class carriage was a solemn, brown man, in turban eFd clout, exhib- iting performing parrots. It was Ra- jah's turn. He fired cannon, turned somersaults through a little steel hoop. opened tiny chest, took out | four-anna piece, carried it to his mas- ter. and in exchange received some 1 seed. Thereupon he waGdled resent fully back to the iron cage, opened the door. closed it behind him. and began to mutter belligerently. War rington haggled for two straight hours When he returned to his sordid, evil smelling lodgings that night he pos sessed the parrot and four rupees, and sat up the greater part of the night trying to make the bird perform his tricks. The idea of suicide no longer bothered him; trifling though it was, he had found an interest in life. And on the morrow came the ,Eurasfan, who trustfully loaned Warrington ev- cry coin that he could scrape together.
 Often, in the dreary heart-achy days that followed, when weeks passed ere he saw the face of white man, when he had to combat opium and bhang and laziness in the natives under him, ' the bird and his funny tricks had saved him from whisky. or worse. In camp he gave Rajah much freedom, it's wings being clipped; and nothing pleased the little rebel so much as to claw his way up to his masters shoulder, sit there and watch the progress of the razor. with intermit- tent "jawing" at his own reflection in the cracked hand mirror
 Up and down the Irrawaddy, at the resthouses, on the boats, to those of a jocular turn of mind the three were known as Parrot & Co.," Warning toss amiability often misled the vari- ous scoundrels with whom he was at times forced to associate. man who smiled most of the time and talked Hindustani to parrot was not to be accorded much courtesy; until