use I have wings and can fly--" Here the Flamingo flapped his wings
proudly--"and I could take Tom on my back and fly anywhere with him, for I
am an extremely powerful bird. But I want to know one more thing about him
before I undertake to save him. We birds must stand together, you know,
and I'm not going to befriend a foe to my kind under any circumstances.
Thomas!"

[Illustration: In a moment he was sitting astride the great bird's neck.]

"Yes, sir," replied Tom, all of a tremble, for he hadn't the slightest
idea what was coming, and as a truthful boy he knew that whatever the
consequences to himself might be he must give the correct answer.

"Do you have Sunday breakfast at home?" asked the Flamingo.

"Yes, sir," Tom replied respectfully.

"You have coffee and hominy and toast and fried potatoes and all that?"
queried the bird.

"Yes, sir," Tom answered, turning very pale, however, for he was in great
dread of what he now saw was likely to come next.

"And--ah--fruit?" said the Flamingo.

"Oh, yes, plenty of fruit," replied Tom very nervously.

"And now, sir," said the Flamingo, severely, and ruffling his feathers
like an angry turkey, "now for the main point. Thomas--and, mind you I
want a truthful answer. Did you ever eat a broiled--Flamingo for your
Sunday morning breakfast?"

Tom breathed a sigh of relief as the Flamingo blurted out the last part of
his question.

"No, sir. Never!" he replied.

"Then hurry and climb up on my shoulders here," the Flamingo cried.
"You're a boy after my own heart. I believe you'd be kind to a stuffed
parrot. But hurry--there's the edge right ahead of us. Jump--"

Tom jumped and in a moment was sitting astride of the great bird's neck.
In his right hand he grasped the claw of Righty, in his left that of
Lefty, while these two clutched tightly hold of the Bellows and the Poker
respectively. A moment later the Oscycle reached the edge and dashed
wildly over it, the Kangaroo following out his plan of jumping higher
still and fortunately for himself catching a passing trolley cloud by
which he was borne back to the starting point again.

As for the Polar Bear and the Hippopotamus, they plunged out into space,
while the group comprising our little party from home and the Flamingo
soared gracefully back to earth again, where the generous-hearted bird
deposited them safely on top of the most convenient Alp.

"Thanks very much," said Tom, as he clambered down from the bird