Arnaux 
none the better weapons because they now bore 
twenty records. His beak and feet were small, 
as became his blood, and his stout little heart 
could not make up for his lack of weight. The 
battle went against him. His wife sat uncon- 
cernedly in the nest, as though it were not her 
affair, and Arnaux might have been killed but 
for the timely arrival of Billy. He was angry 
enough to wring the Blue bird’s neck, but the 
bully escaped from the loft in time. Billy took 
tender care of Arnaux for a few days. At the 
end of a week he was well again, and in ten 
days he was once more on the road. Meanwhile 
he had evidently forgiven his faithless wife, for, 
without any apparent feeling, he took up his 
nesting as before. That month he made two 
new records. He brought a message ten miles 
in eight minutes, and he came from Boston in 
four hours. Every moment of the way he had 
been impelled by the master-passion of home- 
love. But it was a poor home-coming if his 
wife figured at all in his thoughts, for he found 
her again flirting with the Big Blue cock. 
Tired as he was, the duel was renewed, and 
again would have been to a finish but for Billy’s 
93 
