"'Tisn't an owl at all! It's Mr. Jed Winkler's parrot!"
And when the fluttering bird had come to rest on top of the stage barn, it was seen that it was just what Bunny said—a big, green parrot. There it perched, picking at a make believe shingle with its hooked bill, and calling in its shrill voice:
"No tramps allowed! No tramps allowed! Call the dog! Here, Towser! Give him a cold potato and let him go! Bow wow!"
Then how all the children laughed!
"Why, it surely is Mr. Winkler's parrot!" exclaimed Mr. Treadwell, as he looked at the green bird. "He was safe in his cage when I came out this morning, but he must have got loose. I'd better go and tell Miss Winkler, for she likes the parrot as much as she doesn't like Jed's monkey. She told me she was teaching the parrot to say some new words, but I didn't know they were about tramps or I would have known right away it wasn't any of you children speaking during the play. Come on down, Polly!" called the actor to the green bird.
But Polly seemed to like it up on top of the stage barn, and from the top of the roof it cried again:
"No tramps! No tramps allowed! Towser, get after the tramps!"
The children laughed again, and Mr. Treadwell said:
"It wouldn't do to have the parrot in the play, or he'd spoil the first scene. Now I'd better go and tell Miss Winkler where she can find the bird."
But he was saved this trouble, for just then Miss Winkler herself came up the stairs leading from the hall at one side of the hardware store.