THE JOURNEY HOME
CHAPTER 30
After the Pinkies had been dismissed, their new Queen Rosalie, by
means of a clever charm, conjured up a dinner table set with very
nice things to eat. They all enjoyed a hearty meal and afterward sat
and talked over their adventures.
"Will you take the parrot home with you, Trot?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"Guess not, Cap'n," she answered. "Mother wouldn't like to have him
hangin' 'round an' screechin' bad po'try ev'ry minute. I'll give him
to Rosalie, for I'm sure she'll take good care of him."
Rosalie accepted the gift with pleasure, but the parrot looked sober
for a while and then said,
"This looks to me like a giveaway;
But here I am, and here I'll stay.
The country's pink, but we'll all be blue
When Trot goes home as she says she'll do."
They now packed the lunchbasket with the remains of the feast, for
they knew a long journey was before them and feared they might be
hungry before they landed again. Cap'n Bill straightened out the
ropes and adjusted the seats, while Button-Bright examined the
umbrella to see if it had been injured in any way when the elephant
tramped through the Fog Bank.
The boy looked into the small red eyes of the carved elephant's-head
handle with some misgivings, but as seen in the strong sunshine the
eyes were merely red stones, while the handle plainly showed the
marks of the tool that had carved it.
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