'Ah!' said the Pretenderette with satisfaction, 'he won't do any more
pecking for some time to come.' And the wide Hippogriff wings swept on
over the wide sea.

Polly's cage fell and floated. And it floated alone till the dawn, when,
with wheelings and waftings and cries, the gulls came from far and near
to see what this new strange thing might be that bobbed up and down in
their waters in the light of the new-born day.

'Hullo!' said Polly in bird-talk, clinging upside down to the top bars
of the cage.

'Hullo, yourself,' replied the eldest gull; 'what's up? And who are you?
And what are you doing in that unnatural lobster pot?'

'I conjure you,' said the parrot earnestly, 'I conjure you by our common
birdhood to help me in my misfortune.'

'No gull who _is_ a gull can resist that appeal,' said the master of the
sea birds; 'what can we do, brother-bird?'

'The matter is urgent,' said Polly, but quite calmly. 'I am getting very
wet and I dislike salt water. It is bad for my plumage. May I give an
order to your followers, bird-brother?'

'Give,' said the master gull, with a graceful wheel and whirl of his
splendid wings.

'Let four of my brothers raise this detested trap high above the waves,'
said the parrot, 'and let others of you, with your brave strong beaks,
break through the bars and set me free.'

'Delighted,' said the master gull; 'any little thing, you know,' and his
own high-bred beak was the first to take hold of the cage, which
presently the gulls lifted in the air and broke through, setting the
parrot free.

'Thank you, brother-birds,' the parrot said, shaking wet wings and
spreading them; 'one good turn deserves another. The beach yonder was
white with cockles but yesterday.'

'Thank you, brother-bird,' they all said, and flew fleetly cocklewards.

And that was how the parrot got free from the cage and went back to the
shore to have that little talk with the blugraiwee which I told you
about in the last chapter.

* * * * * *

The ark was really very pleasant by daylight with the sun shining in at
its windows. The sun shone outside as well, of course, and the Union
Jack waved cheerfully in the wind. Breakfast was served on the terrace
at the end of the ark--you know--that terrace where the boat part turns
up. It was a very nice breakfast, and the sea was quite smooth--a quite
perfect sea. This was rather fortunate, for there was nothing else. Sea