"Would that you had succeeded, my boy," answered his father. "A white-headed hawk would indeed have been a gem in my collection, an anomaly in the known feathered race. But, indeed, every living creature in these regions is an anomaly to all naturalists. This cockatoo is obviously of an antipodean race. Its form, habits, and peculiar notes, mark it to be of a distinct and modern family, having even little relation to the psittacidæ of the ancient race. I am pleased with this remarkable bird, my dear boys, and feel no inclination to have it cooked and eaten like a common barn-door fowl."
"For my part," said Margaret, "I should feel less remorse in devouring this stranger than one of our old familiar friends, Ruth's beloved pets."
There was a common outcry against this household homicide, or gallicide, as Hugh called it; but there were young birds and eggs sufficient for the day's provision; so the cockatoo was reprieved, and Mr. Mayburn carefully preserved the bird in all the glories of its white plumage and yellow crest, so curiously movable at the will of the bird.
Once more the young men set out for the very important object of discovering fresh water; and the tide being down, they walked up the margin of the river with less difficulty than in the morning, but it was not till after they had gone two or three miles beneath the thickly covered cliffs, which were perfectly alive with multitudes of strange birds, that they came to a narrow ravine, opening at the north, from which a low cascade poured a clear but slender rill into the river.
They at once decided to ascend this branch stream. Its narrow bed was guarded by lofty rocks, which hid from their eyes every prospect but that of the clear blue sky above them, and their voices sounded hollow as if from below the ground; but, to their great satisfaction, the water was fresh, clear, and cool, and no sparkling champagne was ever enjoyed more truly than the draughts they quaffed from the shells of the fresh-water mussels which were abundantly clustered on the banks and strewed around.
"Don't you feel, Gerald," said Hugh, "as if we were passing through some gloomy glen to arrive at a grand old Moorish castle—full of enchantments of course?"
"That's a capital idea, Hugh," answered he. "Then there will be a beautiful princess shut up in the steel tower, with a hideous black enchanter keeping guard over her, and a fiery red dragon at the gate, and we have to conquer him with one rifle and half a dozen cartridges, that we may release the princess."
"Why, you Irish blunderer," replied Hugh, "whoever heard that either dragon or enchanter could be overcome by powder and shot? If you have not fairy patronage, you must have valor and prudence, and resolution; and there's Arthur, though he looks so meek and quiet, would be the conquering hero."
"We will leave the siege of the enchanted castle for a more convenient opportunity," said Arthur, "and be content to carry home such valuable trophies of conquest as a few shells of fresh water. But why has Hugh climbed that almost perpendicular cliff?"
"He fancied he saw a palm-tree on the height," answered Gerald; "but if it really be a palm, I must say it is an ugly tree; and, for my part, I would much rather have found an apple-tree, only, as I suppose September is spring in this antipodean world, the apples could not be ready."