“She’s a handsome bird,” continued the man, “and hasn’t she got a voice! She isn’t exactly the bird for a home pet, but at a show she’d draw. And I belong to a show.”
The man seated himself beside Sonny Boy and spoke in a low tone. “‘The Wonder of the World’—that’s the name of the show that I belong to,” he said.
That was the very circus that had been at Poppleton the summer before, the one that Tom had been so much interested in!
“Oh, then, perhaps you know all about the Wild Man of Borneo!” cried Sonny Boy eagerly. “Have you ever seen him near to?”
The sailor looked confused, and there was a queer twinkle in his eye.
“I am some acquainted with the Wild Man,” he said slowly.
“Did he really come from Borneo? And is he truly wild?” asked Sonny Boy with eager curiosity.
“He is just about as wild as they make them,” said the man, wagging his head solemnly. And Sonny Boy’s heart thrilled with fear and wonder.
“We tried to play Wild Man in our barn,” he said to the man. “But none of the fellows knew how to be wild. Tom wanted me to find out how.”
The sailor drew near to Sonny Boy and lowered his voice to a whisper. “It wouldn’t do to let everybody know it, but if you and I are going to make a bargain about that parrot I don’t care if I tell you that I’m the Wild Man of Borneo, and I’ll show you just how I do it! I’ll give you twenty dollars for the parrot, and I’ll throw in the Wild Man business! I’ll do more than that—I’ll get you a chance to ride on the buffalo, in the procession, when the show comes to Bolton, this summer!”