Cap'n Bill jumped this way and Button-Bright that, and then there
alighted on Trot's shoulder the blue parrot that had been the pet of
the Princess Cerulia. Said the bird,

"Gee! I've flown
Here all alone.
t's pretty far,
But here we are!"

and then he barked like a dog and chuckled with glee at having found
his little friend.

In escaping the palace, Trot had been obliged to leave all the pets
behind her, but it seemed that the parrot had found some way to get
free and follow her. They were all astonished to hear the bird
talk--and in poetry, too--but Cap'n Bill told Trot that some parrots
he had known had possessed a pretty fair gift of language, and he
added that this blue one seemed an unusually bright bird. "As fer
po'try," said he, "that's as how you look at po'try. Rhymes come
from your head, but real po'try from your heart, an' whether the
blue parrot has a heart or not, he's sure got a head."

Having decided not to venture into the Arch of Phinis, they again
started on, this time across the country straight toward the Fog
Bank, which hung like a blue-grey cloud directly across the center
of the island. They knew they were being followed by bands of the
Blueskins, for they could hear the shouts of their pursuers growing
louder and louder every minute, since their long legs covered the
ground more quickly than our friends could possibly go. Had the