"If you get the garden hose," said Pee-wee, "I'll bring him down for
you."
"What are you going to do, kiddo?" Roy asked.
"You'll see," said Pee-wee.
The other boys looked at each other, puzzled. The girl looked half
incredulously at Pee-wee and something in his manner gave her a feeling
of hope. Most of the others laughed good-humoredly.
They hauled the nozzle end of a garden hose from where it lay coiled
near a faucet in the stone foundation. Pee-wee took the nozzle and began
to play the stream against the trunk of the tree, all the while looking
up at the parrot. Presently, the bird began to "sit up and take notice,"
as one might say. It was plainly interested. The bystanders began to
"sit up and take notice" too, and they watched the bird intently as it
cocked its head and listened. Pee-wee sent the stream a little higher up
the trunk and as he did so the bird became greatly excited. It began
uttering, in the modulated form consonant with its size, the discordant
squawk of the parrot. The little girl watched eagerly.
"Get the cage," ordered Pee-wee.
Roy brought it and laid it at his feet. The stream played a little
higher, and the bird chattered furiously and came lower.
"Remind you of home?" Pee-wee asked, looking up and playing the water a
little higher. The bystanders watched, in silence. The bird was now upon
the lowest branch, chattering like mad and flapping its wings
frantically. The little girl, in an ecstasy of fresh hope, called to it
and danced up and down.
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