CHAPTER XIII.
THE SHIPWRECK—THE PARROT.
ONE evening there was a great storm, although it was not autumn yet, which is the time for storms. The wind had been very high all the morning, and had become louder and more stormy as the day went by; and just before the children were going to bed, their grandmamma told them that she was very anxious, for such a stormy night would be, without doubt, dangerous to many ships now at sea.
The noise of the wind was very great, and the doors and windows rattled and shook, and Alice asked—
‘Is that loud noise the sea that we hear, grandmamma?’ And her grandmamma told her it was; and when they listened they heard the roar of the waves as they broke upon the shore, and they thought that they even heard the shingle rolling back with the heavy waves.
‘Do not forget to add to your prayers to-night, “God bless all those at sea,” my dear children; for there will be many who may stand in great need of God’s merciful help to-night,’ said grandmamma, as Alice and Beatrice bade her ‘good-night.’
The two little girls went to bed, thinking much of their grandmamma’s words, and did not forget to pray for ‘all those at sea.’ The noise of the storm at first kept them awake, but sleep came soon, and they forgot in sleep all their thoughts and fears.
Before breakfast the next morning the news was brought that a large ship had been thrown on the shore at Sidmouth during the night, but not a single life was lost.
The news was brought by the gardener, who had been in Sidmouth very early in the morning, and therefore grandmamma sent for him afterwards to come and tell her all he knew about the wreck.
‘It is not much of a wreck,’ the man said, ‘for the ship has not had much damage. It was a special mercy of God that the moon had risen soon after midnight, so it was light; and the master of the ship knew the coast well, and knew, too, that unless he kept the schooner straight upon the town, it would go to bits on either side of it against our rocks. And so, in spite of the fury of the storm, he managed to steer her hard on to the shore, which is deep enough, you know, ma’am, at high water. The south-west wind helped to drive her on; but the men got frightened at last, and took to the boat as soon as they could see the Sidmouth lights, for they could not help fearing that the ship would go aground and break up.
‘The crew, who rowed for their lives, had not reached the shore when they saw their ship come on past them with mighty force; and with the high tide she ran high and dry on to the parade, not far from the coastguard’s station, where she is still.
‘It is quite a wonder; and what a mercy that not a soul has perished! for the crew were soon thrown on the shore by the breakers; and though, of course, they were wet to the skin and worn out, yet they were all, thank God, safe.
‘A number of the fishermen, who had been watching the ship some hours, and had waited for them, ran down and caught the boat just when a huge breaker had lifted it up, and would have torn both men and boat away back into the raging sea.’
The children asked how the fishermen were not afraid that those dreadful waves would carry them away too.
‘The breakers would have done so, miss,’ said John; ‘but the men all held on to a stout rope fixed to the shore, and were able to keep their feet, holding by the boat at the same time, when the big breaker went clean over them, and thus it could not sweep them away.’
When grandmamma heard this, she told Alice and Beatrice that she should drive with them to Sidmouth and see the ship, and learn more about this wonderful coming on shore and merciful escape.
The two little girls were so glad, and talked of nothing but the ship and what they should see, as they drove over the hill to the town.
The carriage stopped at the hotel on the parade, and from there grandmamma and Alice and Beatrice walked till they came near the stranded ship, which looked such a huge monster out of the water.
A great crowd had collected round the ship, but they were allowed to pass and come much nearer. The sailors were running backwards and forwards, talking loud and telling everybody what a night they had had, how terrible the storm had been, and what they had done to save their lives.
A gentleman, a friend of grandmamma’s, told her a great deal about the ship, and said that it had come from the eastern coast of Africa, round by the Cape of Good Hope, and that the sailors had brought with them numberless animals and curious articles, and they wished to sell them here; for they must now go by land to London, and could take but very little with them. The gentleman pointed at the same time to several small monkeys that were climbing up the ropes and rigging of the ship, and jumping about, and shrieking and chattering to the people below. They seemed very happy at being loose, instead of shut up in cages, and to enjoy being safe and quiet instead of being tossed and thrown about upon those terrible rough waves.
Alice and Beatrice were lost in wonder, and were quite silent; they had never before seen so much that was new and strange to them, and here was so much to see.
Suddenly Alice called out, ‘Grandmamma, do you see that beautiful bird? Pray look; what bird is it?’
And at the same time a sailor came up to them with a very fine parrot in a small cage. The parrot was grey and red, but its feathers were ruffled and wet, and the cage was so small that the poor parrot could hardly turn round.
‘Will you buy a beautiful talking parrot?’ said the sailor; ‘he can say anything you like. Please, will you have it, ma’am? I will let you have it very cheap,’ addressing the lady, as he saw that the two little girls had turned to her and were asking her to buy his bird.
Grandmamma agreed, and bought the bird for a small price, for the man told her that he should be so glad to get rid of it, as well as of a pair of green paroquets which he would fetch from the ship.
Grandmamma buys a parrot saved from the wreck.—
The sailor then, putting the parrot in its cage into Alice’s hand, disappeared among the crowd; and before many minutes had passed, the children saw the same sailor on the deck of the ship, and saw him let himself down to the ground by a rope, and soon come again towards them holding a small cage or box. In this were two much smaller birds, of slender shape, with long tails, and of the most beautiful green colour. Alice and Beatrice could scarcely express their joy when grandmamma bought them as well, saying, at the same time—
‘These are love-birds, from Australia.’
The sailor looked, and said, ‘Yes, that is their name, and they came from Sydney; but the parrot I got off the west coast of Africa.’
‘Will you have a monkey too, ma’am? One of our men has several.’
‘No, thank you,’ said the lady; ‘I have enough now, and am not fond of monkeys. But now we must go, dear children, first to Brown’s shop, where I will get two proper cages for our new birds, for the poor creatures cannot move in these. Can you carry the parrot, Alice? is it not too heavy for you?’
‘No, not at all,’ said Alice, a little proudly; ‘I like to carry our parrot. May I hold the cage the whole way home?’
‘Yes, if you like, my dear;’ and they walked on to the shop, where grandmamma soon found a nice large cage for the parrot. It was of brass wire all round, and from the top hung inside a large wooden ring, in which grandmamma told the children parrots like always to sit and swing.
‘What! like the squirrels on the trees, grandmamma?’ said Alice.
‘Yes; I suppose it reminds them of the swinging branches of the trees in the country where they lived and flew about.’
‘But where is their country?’ asked Alice.
‘In some part of Africa; in that hot country there are plenty of those gay-coloured birds. You know where Africa is on the map, and that it is one of the great divisions of the world?’
‘Yes, I know that: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia.’
‘Quite right, my child. But though it is cruel and wrong to shut birds up in cages, now that parrots have been brought away from their far distant home, and because it is much too cold for them to live and fly about in the woods in England, we must try and make our parrot and those pretty little love-birds as comfortable and as happy as we can.’
Another cage, a square one, was chosen for the love-birds, and seed was bought as well, at another shop, and then they drove home with their new live toys.
Grandmamma showed Alice how to strew sand on the board at the bottom of each cage, and where to put the seed and water for the birds’ food; and when the cages were made ready, grandmamma opened the doors of the parrot’s new and old cages, and putting the two cages quite close together, the children went a little way off and watched the parrot. First he looked at his new cage a short while with outstretched neck, till he saw the seed and water, when he suddenly hopped on to the open door, and then into the large cage, and began feeding and drinking eagerly at the seed and water, as if he had been very long without food, as most likely, during the storm, no one had had time to attend to him, and the birds had been forgotten.
‘If the ship had gone down our birds would have been drowned, would they not, grandmamma?’ said Alice.
‘Yes, dear Alice, they would; and, what would have been sadder, the poor men too, if God had not taken such care of them.’
‘I am so glad,’ said Alice, turning to the bird, ‘that you were not drowned, you pretty parrot!’
The other cage was then placed next to the little box where the pair of love-birds were, and though they were more shy than the parrot, they made a rush into their house, and they seemed quite as hungry, for they began to eat immediately.
‘We will leave the poor birds now alone a little, and get ready for dinner; and I dare say that my little girls will be nearly as glad of their dinners as the poor shipwrecked birds are.’
The children laughed, and said that they were very hungry, and they hoped that their new birds would soon feel happy in their nice large cages.
After dinner Alice and Beatrice went to see their birds. The parrot was swinging in its ring; but though they spoke to it, and called it ‘pretty Poll,’ it neither spoke, nor moved, nor took notice of the children. They remained standing next the cage, and watched the bird long, and were very disappointed that this wonderful talking parrot could not, or would not, speak a word.
The little green love-birds seemed frightened when the little girls went near their cage, and flew about and fluttered, till Alice and Beatrice left them at their grandmamma’s wish.
The next morning their first visit on going downstairs was to the birds. The parrot was swinging again on his ring, and the love-birds fluttered about; but Alice observed that they had eaten nearly all the seed, and that their feathers were dry and smooth and clean, and bright green, and the children said that they had never seen such beautiful birds before.
Grandmamma said to Alice, ‘This morning you are late, and you must come to breakfast first; but another morning try and be ready a little earlier, and then you may give the birds fresh seed and water and clean sand before breakfast. To-day Mary will show you how to do so.’
Alice ate her breakfast quicker than usual this morning, for she was apt to be slow, and to talk and to waste her time whilst dressing and whilst eating.
When both the little girls had finished their breakfast grandmamma told them to call Mary to feed the birds.
‘May I take two bits of sugar, grandmamma?’ said Beatrice.
‘You may, dear; but be careful, for parrots bite sometimes; and you are a stranger to our parrot, and he may not like you.’
The parrot would not take any notice of the children, but swung backwards and forwards in his ring. Grandmamma told the children to ask Mary to place the two cages in the verandah where the sun was shining, for it was a fine sunny day, and grandmamma said that all birds except owls liked the sun.
Soon after the cages had been put in the verandah, and both the children were picking up and arranging their playthings, with their backs turned to the birds, they were suddenly startled by hearing a loud ‘Good morning!’ called out close behind them. Alice and Beatrice looked round to see who spoke so loud, when ‘Good morning!’ was repeated by the same voice. Beatrice was a little frightened, till Alice said, ‘It is the parrot!’
They were so pleased. Beatrice ran to call grandmamma to come and listen to their talking parrot, and Alice went closer to the cage, but not too close, for fear that she should frighten the parrot. She answered the parrot, and said, ‘Good morning, pretty Poll!’ and the parrot spoke again and again, and said, ‘Good morning, pretty Bob!’ When grandmamma came, Alice ran to her and told her, ‘Our parrot talks so nicely. I am so glad. But his name is not Poll, it is Bob; for when I said, “Pretty Poll,” he answered, “Pretty Bob.”’ And the parrot went on saying ‘Pretty Bob’ and ‘Good morning’ several times; and afterwards he began whistling and coughing, and seemed to wish to show the children all he could do and speak.
Beatrice jumped with joy, she was so happy that the parrot could talk, and it was a long time before they liked to leave the verandah.
After dinner they took some bits of biscuit to their parrot, which he ate willingly from their fingers; but grandmamma reminded them to be careful still, ‘for it may bite you when it snaps at its food.’ Beatrice drew back her little hand, and was content to let Alice feed the parrot alone.
Alice tried every morning to be quicker in dressing herself, for she could now do everything for herself, except fastening her little dress behind; and when she was ready early, grandmamma let her feed and attend to the birds; but when she was late, Mary did it.
Alice liked to do it best herself; for the birds began to know her, and she was seldom late in the morning now. And every morning she gave the birds fresh seed in the little boxes, and clean water in the glasses, and put some sand or fine gravel on the board; and little Beatrice tried to help her as far as she could.