During one of the excursions to the neighboring mountains,--Pippity
alone accompanying me, Grilly having gone to assemble his tribe for a
fresh supply of cocoa-nuts,--we were leisurely contemplating the great
expanse of loveliness that lay before us, in the center of which our
noble dwelling loomed up superbly.
"What a splendid domain is ours!" I said to Pippity. "We have
everything that man need wish,--and, for that matter, parrot or monkey
either. How bountiful, here, is nature, and withal so beautiful! And
our palace! Was ever anything in the world like it?"
As the parrot made no answer, I looked toward him, for I was certain
that he would join in praise of all our precious blessings.
There was a troubled look about him. His wings moved convulsively. The
feathers stood ruffling from his body. He was in a state of the
greatest agitation.
I was alarmed. "What's the matter, Pippity?" I cried. But Pippity
replied only with a succession of loud shrieks growing ever louder and
louder.
The air had become as still as death.
My body appeared to move from side to side. No, no! The ground was
rising, falling! It seemed no longer solid.
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