Downs and Dungeons 1 19 



'\vn mind, after it had been bottled up so 

 long. Little did he know what was to come 

 of that outburst, as he poured forth rattle and 

 reel, reel and rattle, every feather quivering, 

 the cage vibrating, the air resounding, the 

 street echoing ! Children playing in the gutter 

 stopped to look up at the cages, at the 

 triumphant yellow bird in all the glow of 

 effort, and at the ugly brown one that seemed 

 trying to hide away from this hurricane of 

 song. Even the costermonger's placid donkey 

 in the cart two doors away shook its long 

 ears and rattled its harness. A policeman at 

 the end of the street turned his head slowly 

 round to listen, but recollected himself and 

 turned it slowly back again. The red-faced 

 cobbler, who had been more than once to the 

 drink-shop while the birds were talking, once 

 more seized the hob-nailed boot he was mend- 

 ing, and as the Canary burst afresh, and after 

 a second's pause, into a still shriller out- 

 pouring, he glanced out of the open window 

 up the street, saw the policeman's back 

 vanishing round the corner, and then took 



