The Washington times., 1934-07-05

LInQ3 also naQ dreaded VlO'
1atine the chests, but for a diff
ferent reason. She had come to
accept the absent proprietor as
the lord Of the island paradise,
but no loving or merciful one.
She thought of him as q beetle
browed tyrant with a shambok
in one hand and a steel hook
where the other belonged. She
reasoned that nobody but an
unholy terror would dare go off
and leave valuable possessions
unprotected. The chances were
that his name was known and
dreaded all along the coast.
The sign on the Tree Of the
Forbidden Fruit semed to indi-
cate as much. 1t promised i'm
mediate retribution with no ref
erence to name or address or
the guilt or identity Of the vio-
lator.
Thus relieved in mind and ex-
hausted in body they fell asleep
much as good children do on
Christmas Eve, when the excite
ment of a joyful situation is
Soothed by the fact of its bene-
fits being close ahead. Every
person of sense loves to SAVIOR
happiness a little before it's as
stmilation, and such a process
IS not arrested by sleep. The
subconsciouS is happily aware Of
the bright promise, and diffuses
the sense Of benefaction.
A Visitor
Jerome was awakened by the
macaw's: well, what in
blazes do you want?" several
times repeated. This impolite
question appeared to be the
extent of the birds English
diction. It was the sort Of
which one rendition might
make a hit, and the second be
still a laugh, If properly syn.
chronized.
The macaw had so far kept
within the line of demarkation
that separates the comedian
from the bore. 1t had &C.
complished this by absenting
itself from the house premises
until something appeared to be
going on. Jerome reflected on
the unconscious subtlety of put
ting on the single act in ones
repertoire at a moment when
it could make q hit, whatever
the situation. That, he re-
flected, was what had got the
parrot species popularity, just
as 1t had got the owl species
an ancient and lasting reputa-
ton for wisdom through what
might be called the reverse
English, in this case, silence.
There were more people like
that macaw, he told himself,
than there were macaWs like the
macaw. They had one line, and
II they were clever enough and
self.contained enough to hold it
until the right moment, their
reputation became established.
It occurred to him then that
the macaw for all its limitations
and one-phrase boiSterousneSs
never delivered without an aud
ience. jerome got up and. went
out to see of what this audience
might consist. There was none
apparent. Yet the macaw.
perched on its high branch and
entirely indifferent to such
dead-head as Jerome, kept on
repeating at nicely timed inter
walls: well; what in blazeS do
you want?" Between these ef-
forts it policed itself a little.
The chances were, Jerome
thought, that there was an aud
ience invisible to himself in the
bush, not far away. 1; ould not
be Captain Moriarty, because
the greatest ambition of that
Gentleman of Fortune had been
to leave the island and report
what he had found there. Even
without such a report, he had
urgently desired to leave the is.
land. It could not be any Of the
gorilla family because the ma.
cav was too used to them to
waste elocution.
The macaw, Jerome decided.
must have been formerly the
pet Of some English.Speaking
agent Of a Central American
port and a man who diSliked
any interruption to a siesta that
was prolonged. His peevish In
terrogation had impressed itself
on the birds mimicry and, with
that odd intelligence that birds
possess, it had learned how to