grunts he said, "Poor Lorito, poor Lorito," and shut his eyes
again. Evidently the children's pets had no inclination to be sociable
just at present. Just then the ormolu clock on the mantel-piece struck
ten.

"We shall have to wait ever so long," said Louis, "because they won't
talk till midnight. Let's lie down on the rug with Fritz."

So the three children cuddled close to the big dog and waited. Louis
pulled mamma's blue and red afghan from the lounge, and after tucking it
carefully over his little sisters, crawled under it himself, and--

"Bow-wow," said Fritz. "Who's got a story to tell, I wonder? I'm not
going to tell one, that's very certain, for I scratched my throat this
morning with a chicken bone."

"Mew-mew," said the white kitty. "I've done lots of work to-day. I
unwound a big ball of green worsted for my little mistress, and I'm
tired. Let somebody else do the talking."

"Peep," said the canary. "I'm a stranger; I only arrived yesterday, and
I ought to be entertained. Some other time I will tell you all my
adventures, but to-night I prefer to listen. I would like to hear from
that gray-coated gentleman over there in the corner, for as he is a very
distant relation of mine, both of us belonging to the great bird family,
I would, I am sure, take great interest in his history."

"Lorito, you will have to do all the talking to-night," said Fritz and
the white kitty both at once. "Tell our new friend Rique all the
wonderful things you have seen, and all the strange adventures you have
been through."

Thus entreated, the gray parrot, after flapping his wings several times,
in a lazy manner, began to tell his history.

[Illustration: "PAPA BROUGHT THE MATERIALS."]

[Illustration: PAPA FEEDING MAMMA.]

"I will begin my story," said the gray parrot, "with the good old times
when my grandfather and grandmother lived in the hollow of a giant tree
which grew in the valley of the Congo, whose broad waters flow downward
through the wildernesses of Southern Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. My
grandfather belonged to a very large family, which was increasing
rapidly; indeed, the gray parrots of Africa, with their magnificent
crimson tails, are the chief glory of the country. The children of my
grandfather were very numerous, and no father was kinder or more
skillful than he in providing them with an independent establishment,
for he believed that young people should always set up housekeeping for
themselves as