He made a dash out of the room, and the boys screamed so that Mr. Morris came down from his study to see what the noise meant.  As soon as the parrot saw him, she would not utter another word.  The boys told him though what she had been saying, and he seemed much amused to think that the cabin boy should have remembered so many sayings his boys made use of, and taught them to the parrot.  “Clever Polly,” he said, kindly; “good Polly.”

The cabin boy looked at him shyly, and Jack, who was a very sharp boy, said quickly, “Is not that what you call her, Henry?”

“No,” said the boy; “I call her Bell, short for Bellzebub.”

“I beg your pardon,” said Jack, very politely.

“Bell—­short for Bellzebub,” repeated the boy.  “Ye see, I thought ye’d like a name from the Bible, bein’ a minister’s sons.  I hadn’t my Bible with me on this cruise, savin’ yer presence, an’ I couldn’t think of any girls’ names out of it, but Eve or Queen of Sheba, an’ they didn’t seem very fit, so I asked one of me mates, an’ he says, for his part he guessed Bellzebub was as pretty a girl’s name as any, so I guv her that.  ’Twould ’a been better to let you name her, but ye see ’twouldn’t ’a been handy not to call her somethin’, where I was teachin’ her every day.”

Jack turned away and walked to the window, his face a deep scarlet.  I heard him mutter, “Beelzebub, prince of devils,” so I suppose the cabin boy had given his bird a bad name.

Mr. Morris looked kindly at the cabin boy.  “Do you ever call the parrot by her whole name?”

“No, sir,” he replied; “I always give her Bell, but she calls herself Bella.”

“Bella,” repeated Mr. Morris; “that is a very pretty name.  If you keep her, boys, I think you had better stick to that.”

“Yes, father,” they all said; and then Mr. Morris started to go back to his study.  On the doorsill he paused to ask the cabin boy when his ship sailed.  Finding that it was to be in a few days, he took out his pocket-book and wrote something in it.  The next day he asked Jack to go to town with him, and when they came home, Jack said that his father had bought an oil-skin coat for Henry Smith, and a handsome Bible, in which they were all to write their names.

After Mr. Morris left the room, the door opened and Miss Laura came in.  She knew nothing about the parrot and was very much surprised to see it.  Seating herself at the table, she held out her hands to it.  She was so fond of pets of all kinds, that she never thought of being afraid of them.  At the same time, she never laid her hand suddenly on any animal.  She held out her fingers and talked gently, so that if it wished to come to her it could.  She looked at the parrot as if she loved it, and the queer little thing walked right up and nestled its head against the lace in the front of her dress.  “Pretty lady,” she said, in a cracked whisper, “give Bella a kiss.”