Early in the spring there had been a serious flood which had done much damage even down in Bridgeboro, and the three boys as they paddled carefully along were surprised at the havoc which had been wrought here on the upper river. Small buildings along the sh.o.r.e lay toppled over, boats were here and there marooned high and dry many yards from the sh.o.r.e, and the river was almost impa.s.sable in places from the obstructions of uprooted trees and other debris.
At about noon they reached a point where the stream petered out so that further navigation even by canoe was impossible; but they were already in the outskirts of West Nyack.
"The next number on the program," said Roy, "is to administer first aid to the canoe in the form of a burlap bandage. Pee-wee, you"re appointed chairman of the gra.s.s committee--pick some gra.s.s and let"s pad her up."
If you have never administered "first aid" to a canoe and "padded it up"
for shipment, let me tell you that the scout way of doing it is to bind burlap loosely around it and to stuff this with gra.s.s or hay so that the iron hook which is so gently wielded by the expressman may not damage the hull.
Having thus prepared it for its more prosaic return journey by train, they left the boat on the sh.o.r.e and following a beaten path came presently into the very heart of the thriving metropolis of West Nyack.
"I feel as if we were Lewis and Clarke, or somebody, arriving at an Indian village," said Pee-wee.
At the express office Roy arranged for the shipment of the canoe back to Bridgeboro, and then they started along the road toward Nyack. It was on this part of their journey that something happened which was destined materially to alter their program.
They had come into the main street of the village and were heading for the road which led to the Hudson when they came upon a little group of people looking amusedly up into an elm tree on the lawn of a stately residence. A little girl was standing beneath the tree in evident distress, occasionally wringing her hands as she looked fearfully up into the branches. Whatever was happening there was no joke to her, however funny it might be to the other onlookers.
"What"s the matter?" Tom asked.
"Bird up there," briefly answered the nearest bystander.
"She"ll never get it," said another.
"Oh, now he"s going away," cried the little girl in despair.
The contrast between her anxiety and the amus.e.m.e.nt of the others was marked. Every time she called to the bird it flitted to another limb, and every time the bird flitted she wrung her hands and cried. An empty cage upon a lawn bench told the story.
"What"s the matter?" said Pee-wee, going to the child and seeking his information first-hand.
"Oh, I"ll never get him," she sobbed. "He"ll fly away in a minute and I"ll never see him again."
Pee-wee looked up into the branches and after some difficulty succeeded in locating a little bird somewhat smaller than a robin and as green as the foliage amid which it was so heedlessly disporting.
"I see him," said Pee-wee. "Gee, don"t you cry; we"ll get him some way.
We"re scouts, we are, and we"ll get him for you."
His rea.s.suring words did not seem to comfort the girl. "Oh, there he goes!" she cried. "Now he"s going to fly away!"
He did not fly away but merely flew to another limb and began to preen himself. For so small a bird he was attracting a great deal of notice in the world. Following Pee-wee"s lead, others including Tom and Roy ventured upon the lawn, smiling and straining their eyes to follow the tantalizing movements of the little fugitive.
"Of course," said Pee-wee to the girl, "it would be easy enough to shin up that tree--that would be a cinch--anybody could do that--I mean any _feller_--of course, a girl couldn"t; but I"d only frighten him away."
"You"ll never get him," said one man.
"What kind of a bird is it?" Tom asked.
"It"s a dwarf parrot," the girl sobbed, "and I"ll never get him--never!"
"You don"t want to get discouraged," said Pee-wee. "Gee, there"s always some way."
The spectators evidently did not agree with him. Some of them remained about, smiling; others went away. The diminutive Pee-wee seemed to amuse them quite as much as the diminutive parrot, but all were agreed (as they continually remarked to each other) that the bird was a "goner."
"Is he tame?" Roy asked.
"He was _getting_ tame," the girl sobbed, "and he was learning to say my name. My father would give a hundred dollars--Oh," she broke off, "now he _is_ going away!" She began to cry pitifully.
Pee-wee stood a moment thoughtfully. "Have you got a garden hose?" he presently asked.
"Yes, but you"re not going to squirt water at him," said the girl, indignantly.
"If you get the garden hose," said Pee-wee, "I"ll bring him down for you."
"What are you going to do, kiddo?" Roy asked.
"You"ll see," said Pee-wee.
The other boys looked at each other, puzzled. The girl looked half incredulously at Pee-wee and something in his manner gave her a feeling of hope. Most of the others laughed good-humoredly.
They hauled the nozzle end of a garden hose from where it lay coiled near a faucet in the stone foundation. Pee-wee took the nozzle and began to play the stream against the trunk of the tree, all the while looking up at the parrot. Presently, the bird began to "sit up and take notice,"
as one might say. It was plainly interested. The bystanders began to "sit up and take notice" too, and they watched the bird intently as it c.o.c.ked its head and listened. Pee-wee sent the stream a little higher up the trunk and as he did so the bird became greatly excited. It began uttering, in the modulated form consonant with its size, the discordant squawk of the parrot. The little girl watched eagerly.
"Get the cage," ordered Pee-wee.
Roy brought it and laid it at his feet. The stream played a little higher, and the bird chattered furiously and came lower.
"Remind you of home?" Pee-wee asked, looking up and playing the water a little higher. The bystanders watched, in silence. The bird was now upon the lowest branch, chattering like mad and flapping its wings frantically. The little girl, in an ecstasy of fresh hope, called to it and danced up and down.
But Pee-wee, like a true artist, neither saw nor heard his audience. He was playing the bird with this line of water as an angler plays a fish.
And never was moth lured by a flame more irresistibly than this little green fugitive was lured by the splashing of that stream.
"Oh, can you catch him? Can you catch him?" pleaded the girl as she clutched Pee-wee"s arm.
"Let go a minute," said Pee-wee. "Now, all stand back, here goes!"
He shot the stream suddenly down at the base of the tree, holding the nozzle close so that the plashing was loud and the spray diffused. And as an arrow goes to its mark the bird came swooping down plunk into the middle of the spray and puddle. Still playing the stream with one hand, Pee-wee reached carefully and with his other gently encircled the little drenched body.
"Quite an adventure, wasn"t it, Greenie?" he said. "Where"d you think you were? In the tropics?---- If you ever want to take hold of a bird,"
he added, turning to the girl, "hold it this way; make a ring out of your thumb and first finger, and let his stomach rest on the palm of your hand. Be sure your hand isn"t cold, though. Here you are--that"s right."
The girl could hardly speak. She stood with her dwarf parrot in her hand, looking at the stream of water which was now shooting silently through the gra.s.s and at the puddle which it had made, and she felt that a miracle had been performed before her eyes. Roy, hardly less pleased than she, stepped forward and turned off the water.
"Good work," said a gentleman. "I"ve seen many a bird brought down, but never in that fashion before."
"_We_ don"t use the other fashion," said Tom, with a touch of pride as he put his hand on Pee-wee"s shoulder. "Do we, kid?"
"If it was a canary," said Pee-wee, "I might possibly have whistled him down, but not near enough to catch him, I guess. But as soon as I knew that bird came from the tropics, I knew he"d fall for water, "cause a tropical bird"ll go where the sound of water is every time. I guess it"s because they have so many showers down there, or something. Then once I heard that it"s best to turn on the faucet when you"re teaching a parrot to talk. It"s the sound of water. Did you get any water on you?" he asked, suddenly turning to the child.
There was no water on her clothing, but there was some in her eyes.
"I--I--think you"re wonderful," she said. "I think you are just wonderful!"