as he did when
listening intently.
Again he heard the doctor whistle right over his head. He looked up to see
if the doctor was in an aeroplane, but all he discovered was the clear,
blue sky. Then a laugh sounded behind him and, turning quickly, he saw
Miss Belinda Simpkin's pet Poll-parrot swinging on the limb of a tree,
laughing at him.
[Illustration]
This was too much for Zip's dignity. To have a Poll-parrot make a fool of
him! So he ran to the tree where she sat and barked furiously up at her.
But to make Zip still more angry, Polly kept on whistling and laughing at
him. She had heard the doctor whistle for Zip every day and had learned to
imitate him perfectly. She really was a very smart bird, and everyone in
the village knew of Miss Belinda's parrot and monkey, for they were always
doing exceedingly smart, mischievous things, some of which I will tell you
about, but now I must finish relating what happened to Zip.
He was still looking angrily at Polly when he heard a queer chattering and
squeaking noise up in a tree behind him and, turning to look, he saw a
gray object drop from one of the limbs. He looked down at the ground,
expecting to see whatever it was drop under the tree, but nothing landed.
Still he knew he had seen something start to fall. What could it be that
could stop in mid-air, for there was no other branch under the one from
which it had dropped on which it could catch. But when he glanced up, what
should he discover but Miss Belinda's pet monkey swinging by its tail from
the branch on which it had been sitting!
Now Zip hated monkeys as a cat does rats. How as nice a little old maiden
lady as Miss Belinda could stand it to live all alone in a house with only
a parrot and a monkey for companions was more than he could understand.
Zip ignored the monkey and began barking again at the parrot, telling her
just to wait until another day, that he would come back and get even with
her yet, and that the next time he left it would be with a mouthful of her
tail feathers.
"Help! Help!" screeched Polly. And her voice was so nearly like that of a
human that the doctor, hearing it, hurried across the street to see who
was calling for aid. As he opened the gate to go into the yard, something
tore past him. Looking around to see what it was, he beheld Zip running
for all he was worth, with a little gray monkey perched on his back,
clinging to his silver collar which the Judge had given to him.
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