THE "GREAT MOGUL". Page [78].
"I can't say I admire the appearance of the 'Great Mogul,'" said Charley laughing; "he has such ugly bare cheeks."
"Oh! but look at his beautiful tail; and could anything be more beautiful than those scarlet feathers?—and see to his blue wings! I don't wonder he is considered the most magnificent of the parrot tribe."
"It is certainly a very beautiful bird," said Charley; "but I've read somewhere about it looking like a richly-liveried footman, and whoever said so was not far wrong."
Dash had slipped away when he found there were no more pieces to be got from the macaw; and when Herbert and Charley went into the room where Mrs. Polly and the cockatoo stayed, there they found him, sitting at the foot of Cockatoo's perch begging for a dainty morsel. The cockatoo was chattering away to him; but had Dash only known all the severe names he was being called, he would scarcely have sat there so calmly. Polly, however, who had a greater command of the English language, was doing her best to restrain his greedy disposition. "Oh fie, sir!" she kept saying. "Greedy Dick!—Who stole the sugar?—Leave the room this moment!—Oh fie, sir!"
Dash did lay back his ears and look round, a good deal ashamed of himself; but he could not tear himself away so long as the cockatoo held that tempting morsel. The greedy dog knew that both the cockatoo and Polly never held anything long, and that if he only had patience he would get it in the end. Polly was calling out for the twentieth time—"Leave the room, sir!—Greedy Dick!—Oh fie! fie!" when Herbert and Charley entered.
"Why, what's the matter, Polly?" said Herbert. "It's not a good thing to lose your temper in that way. Come, tell us who this greedy Dick is, that you are always sending out of the room."
Charley was always delighted to be with Herbert when he fed the parrots; for though he did not understand their language, as Herbert did, his cousin acted as interpreter, and some of the stories were really very entertaining. The other children were often there too; and over and over again they vowed to be kind to all living creatures, in the hope that they too would be allowed to understand the language of the birds.