The Washington times., 1918-11-17

He was amused, and recounted to
me the history of the collar.
"a sails, as you know" said he,
sinking comfortably back upon his
divan, rs the gafly-dressed man
who runs in front of some Of our
native equipages; sort Of courier;
of no particular use In these mod
ern days, but / see that some Of
your European friends have adopt
ed the custom" \
He narrowed his eyes and looked
at me quizzically over his tiny cof-
fee-cup. ''Sais, the ostrich, got that
gold collar because Of a famous
race which he ran-and won-ten
years ago, when we were putting
in the railroad which passes near
my farm"
Mustapha Bey was himself the
active agent in the building Of this
. railroad, and is still one Of its d.
rectors.
1.-THE story of the collar really be-
gins, however, far back Of that
date: in fact. it. began with the
first lot of ostrich eggs which was
imported into this region, nearly
eighteen years ago. It was ven-
ture Of mine. and my friends seid
that 1t would not succeed. l feared
as much, myself, when only one Of
the dozen Matched; that one, soil
tary, forlorn chick was Sais; we
didn't call him 'Sais' then; he was
simply the Chick or TT; and he
staggered around In his pen for
few days, and Seemed about as
much inclined as was l to give up
the experiment. But there was one
other creature on the farm quite as
feeble and forlorn as himself. That
creature was the orphaned hunch-
backed son Of a Nile boatman. a
boy of seven years, who managed
to starve along on sugar-cane from
the river-bank and wild carrots
from the fence corners. l never
had noticed the boy until l saw
him, one day, in the pen with the
ostrich chick. At sight of him I
was on the point Of ordering him
"hAppCu Oh tue AdIiu Oul my hcCP-
er checked me. He is making the
chick live said he; they love each
other: the chick feeds from his
hand
THE weeks and months passed,
and the chick got good grip on
life, and grew rapidly. These birds
reach their full strength at six
years, and live to an age of twenty
or twenty-five.
Il was encouraged by the health
and strength Of Yusufs pet, and
imported two more lots Of eggs,
both times with fair success; the.
young broods Matched and most of
the chicks lived; we had learned
to leave the eggs exposed to the
warm sun during the day, and to
cover them slightly at night; in
the Spring time that was quite
enough. Yusufs young charge,
however, had a long start, and was
fully grown before the other chicks
had feathered out. The boy and
the ostrich were always together;
the boy had been cared for, as
had directed, and had grown in
strength evenly with the ostrich;
but his deformed spine could not be
remedied, and his arms and legs ,
have always been somewhat
shrunken, probably because of a
lack Of nutrition in his early years.
His inability to walk and run with
ease may have led to the plan, but
he presently had trained his pet to
take him astride of his strong
shoulders and, with wings slightly
raised, to carry him about, as II on
horseback. l was at first uneasy
for the welfare of the bird, but, as
both bird and boy seemed to enjoy
it, / said nothing; and l often
watched the pair with interest, as
the strong creature sped in great Z
circles, on the desert outside the
farm, running at a rate far exceed
ing the capacity of the best horses
in any Cairo stable"
Pausing to light a fresh cigar