Saved by a Parrot.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 221, 24 September 1887, Page 7

Saved by a Parrot.

A parrot may unconsciously render a human being a service as well as cause him to get into trouble. A whaling barque was wrecked in the South Seas some years ago, and tho crew was forced to take to the boats. The boats were separated. One of them containing the captain and seven men and the captain's parrot drifted about for many days till both provisions and water failed. Then came dark and dreary weather, and the men began to feel the pangs of hunger and thirst, still no welcome sail appealed. The parrot sat on the gunwale of the boat and scanned the surrounding ocean day by day. It seemed fen have lost its powers of articulation. But it did not seem to suffer as the men did. It often dipped its beak in the briny water and appeared refreshed. At last the poor seamen wore helpless. Their swollen tongues lolled out of their mouths, and they could hardly talk above a whisper. Death was near. One night the captain jusu managed to raise his head over the boat's edge, as he thought he heard a noise coming over the waters. He was not wrong, not far away he saw the red light of a large ship. He essayed to shout, out the sound died in his throat with a gurgle. He aroused the others, but they were as helple&s as he. Oh, God ! must the ship go by and they die now ? A thought struck the captain. He reached out his hand for his parrot. The bird was at hantf and nipped affectionately at its master... hand. "Ship ahoy, Becky; ship ahoy, said the captain in a hoarse whisper. The parrot gave a strange whining sound. Tho captain repeated his words. The ship was near them. Tho second attempt to make the parrot fcpeak was a success. It leaped up on the gunwale, and dipping its beak several times in the water, shrieked out in weird-Jike tones : " Ship ahoy ! ship ahoy !" An answering hail came. It was heard. The men were rescued.

Mr William Black has completed a book somewhat; on the same lines of his " Slrango Adventures of a Phaeton." It will be entitled " The Strange Adventures of a CanaJßoat."