THE HERO ENTERS SUDDENLY 



orifice hung a soiled bit of tethering-string. 



At first Chupes watched him with the 

 deepest interest as he pursued his slow, 

 monotonous journey around chairs and 

 tables. But suddenly the thought of an op- 

 portunity for a game suggested itself to the 

 fun-loving bird; and, swooping down upon 

 the turtle, he grabbed the trailing string, at 

 which he tugged with might and main. 

 Sometimes he was fairly thrown back- 

 wards; sometimes, in spite of firmly planted 

 claws, he was carried along as smoothly as 

 on a toboggan-slide; but it was all pure en- 

 joyment to him, while the melancholy rep- 

 tile looked more discouraged and dis- 

 tressed than ever when the retarding influ- 

 ence at the end of the string made itself felt. 



A regularly instituted performance of the 



bird's that caused us much amusement was, 



I suppose, a natural consequence of our 



having bestowed such a large measure of 



69 



