he saw outspanning begin, he would nip off with all 

 the hens following him and wander about looking for 

 food, chasing locusts or grasshoppers, and making darts 

 at beetles and all sorts of dainties very much interested 

 in his job and wandering further from the waggons 

 at every step. The boys would watch him, and as soon 

 as they were fixed up again, would start off without 

 a word of warning to Pezulu. Then there was a 

 scene. At the first sound of the waggon-wheels 

 moving he would look up from where he was or walk 

 briskly into the open or get on to an ant-heap to 

 see what was up, and when to his horror he saw 

 the waggon actually going without him, he simply 

 screamed open-mouthed and tore along with wings 

 outstretched the old gentleman shouting "Stop 

 the train, stop the train," with his family straggling 

 along behind him. It never took him long to catch 

 up and scramble on, but even then he was not a bit 

 less excited : he was perfectly hysterical, and his big 

 red comb seemed to get quite purple as if he might 

 be going to have apoplexy, and he twitched and jerked 

 about so that it flapped first over one eye and then over 

 the other. This was the boys' practical joke which 

 they played on him whenever they could. 



That was old Pezulu Pezulu the First. He was 

 thick in the body, all chest and tail, short in the legs, 

 and had enormous spurs ; and his big comb made him 

 look so red in the face that one could not help think- 

 ing he was too fond of his dinner. In some old 

 U| Christmas number we came across a coloured carica- 



-Jlture of a militia colonel in full uniform, and for quite 



^ . 



9 6 



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