I can assure you, Dick, that parrots are very excellent eating."

"How do you know?" demanded the matter-of-fact Dick. "Have you ever
eaten one?"

"Ay, often enough," answered Stukely, impulsively, then he checked
himself. "At least," he stammered, "I seem to have done so; and yet, of
course, 'tis impossible. Do you believe, as some assert, that a certain
number, if not all, of us have lived on this earth once, twice, thrice
before this present life, Dick? Because that is exactly how I feel, as
though I had spent at least one previous existence here, in this very
part of the world, amid such surroundings as those which our eyes now
gaze upon. It all seems so absolutely familiar; I feel that I know all
that there is to know about everything, except the names of them; ay,
and there are even times when strange dim memories of past scenes seem
to visit me, and for a moment I picture myself surrounded by all the
pomp and grandeur of a civilisation that has long passed away. You will
call me a dreamer, as indeed you have often called me already; and
perhaps you are right. Yet it is strange that all my dreams should
centre round scenes glorious as this, and have been so vivid that I
recognise hitherto unseen objects as perfectly familiar when my gaze
rests upon them. But this is unprofitable talk; the really important
thing is that we are hungry, and are surrounded by food in abundance.
Let us to breakfast."

When at length they had satisfied their hunger by feasting upon the
several kinds of delicious fruits which abounded in the enclosure, Phil
approached the tree which he had asserted was good for making bows from,
and, drawing his hanger, proceeded to examine very carefully its several
boughs, finally choosing two which were absolutely straight and about
twelve feet long. These he hacked off from the parent trunk, without
difficulty, using his hanger as an axe; then, handing one to Dick, whom
he directed to follow his own example, he sat down in the shadow of a
great umbrella tree and proceeded to trim away first the twigs and then
the bark. This done, he took the bare, straight branch, and trimmed off
the thin end until the wood, which was perfectly round, was about
three-quarters of an inch thick. Then he cut away enough of the thick
end of the branch to leave a pole about six feet long, which he
proceeded to whittle away at the thick end until it also was about the
same thickness as the thinner end, leavi