As soon as the
parrot saw him, she would not utter another word. The boys told him
though what she had been saying, and he seemed much amused to think that
the cabin boy should have remembered so many sayings his boys made use
of, and taught them to the parrot. "Clever Polly," he said, kindly;
"good Polly."

The cabin boy looked at him shyly, and Jack, who was a very sharp boy,
said quickly, "Is not that what you call her, Henry?"

"No," said the boy; "I call her Bell, short for Bellzebub."

"I beg your pardon," said Jack, very politely.

"Bell short for Bellzebub," repeated the boy. "Ye see, I thought ye'd
like a name from the Bible, bein' a minister's sons. I hadn't my Bible
with me on this cruise, savin' yer presences an' I couldn't think of any
girls' names out of it: but Eve or Queen of Sheba, an' they didn't
seem very fit, so I asked one of me mates, an' he says, for his part he
guessed Bellzebub was as pretty a girl's name as any, so I guv her that.
'Twould 'a been better to let you name her, but ye see 'twouldn't 'a
been handy not to call her somethin', where I was teachin' her every
day."

Jack turned away and walked to the window, his face a deep scarlet. I
heard him mutter, "Beelzebub, prince of devils," so I suppose the cabin
boy had given his bird a bad name.

Mr. Morris looked kindly at the cabin boy "Do you ever call the parrot
by her whole name?"

"No, sir," he replied; "I always give her Bell but she calls herself
Bella."

"Bella," repeated Mr. Morris, "that is a very pretty name. If you keep
her, boys, I think you had better stick to that."

"Yes, father," they all said; and then Mr. Morris started to go back to
his study. On the doorsill he paused to ask the cabin boy when his
ship sailed. Finding that it was to be in a few days, he took out his
pocket-book and wrote something in it. The next day he asked Jack to go
to town with him, and when they came home, Jack said that his father had
bought an oil-skin coat for Henry Smith, and a handsome Bible, in which
they were all to write their names.

After Mr. Morris left the room, the door opened and Miss Laura came in.
She knew nothing about the parrot and was very much surprised to see it.
Seating herself at the table, she held out her hands to it. She was so
fond of pets of all kinds, that she never thought of being afraid of
them. At the same time, she never laid her hand suddenly on any animal.
She held out her fingers and talked gently,