ear and wonder.

"We tried to play Wild Man in our barn," he said to the man. "But none of
the fellows knew how to be wild. Tom wanted me to find out how."

The sailor drew near to Sonny Boy and lowered his voice to a whisper. "It
wouldn't do to let everybody know it, but if you and I are going to make a
bargain about that parrot I don't care if I tell you that I'm the Wild Man
of Borneo, and I'll show you just how I do it! I'll give you twenty
dollars for the parrot, and I'll throw in the Wild Man business! I'll do
more than that--I'll get you a chance to ride on the buffalo, in the
procession, when the show comes to Bolton, this summer!"

Bolton was the town where the hospital was--the town they had just left.
It would be easy to get to Bolton to the show.

[Illustration: "'I'LL GIVE YOU TWENTY DOLLARS FOR THE PARROT.'"]

Twenty dollars might be a small price for the parrot, but the secret of
being a Wild Man and the chance to ride on a buffalo were extras that a
boy could not easily resist! The parrot changed hands, and so did two
ten-dollar bills. And the man gave Sonny Boy his address so that he might
find him when the show came to Bolton.

"Aren't you stuck up? Scat!" screamed Polly after Sonny Boy, by way of
good-bye, when they parted at the city station.

Sonny Boy was very penitent when he found, on reaching home, that his
absence had made Aunt Kate very anxious. She said a dreadful thing; she
said that she never could trust Sonny Boy again!

But Sonny Boy knew she would find out that he wasn't the kind of a boy
that runs away. He thought it was enough to make any boy lose his mind to
change his white mice for that parrot!

Aunt Kate thought that twenty dollars was a plenty for the parrot! She
said she would see about the extras. She didn't seem to understand the
advantages of learning to be a Wild Man or of riding on a buffalo.

But she said she thought of taking a house at Bolton for the summer, while
her husband was away at the war; it was seashore, and it was also near the
city, where she could hear the war-news soon.

And then Sonny Boy felt sure that he should not miss his extra pay for the
parrot.

His sister Polly would not think that a boy ought to want to ride on a
buffalo; she would say that none of the Plummers had ever done such a
thing. But Aunt Kate was different.

"There are other things I want, Aunt Kate," said Sonny Boy suddenly, and
he stood as tall as he could before his aunt--