The sound came from the cloak closet on one side of the classroom.

“It’s a parrot!” cried Charlie Star.  “A poll parrot!”

“Yes, I believe it is,” said Miss Bradley.

“You didn’t bring a parrot to school to-day, did you, Bunny?” she asked.

“Oh, no, Ma’am!” he exclaimed, so earnestly that of course Miss Bradley believed him.

“But I know whose parrot it is,” said Sue, eagerly.

“Whose?” asked the teacher.

“Mr. Winkler’s!  He’s got a parrot and a monkey.  They’re always getting loose.  Maybe the monkey’s in the cloakroom, too, only the monkey can’t talk like Polly,” went on Sue.

“Keep your seats, children!” said Miss Bradley.  “I’ll look in the cloakroom.  There is no need to be excited.  A parrot will hurt no one, nor a monkey, either.  Keep your seats!”

As she opened the cloakroom door the harsh voice again sounded more loudly than before.

“Bow!  Wow!  Wow!” it barked.  “Cracker!  Cracker!  Polly wants a cracker!  Let’s have a song!  Ha!  Ha!  Ha!”

Then it began what I suppose the bird thought was singing.

The children laughed, and so did the teacher.

Out of the cloakroom flew the parrot, fluttering up on the teacher’s desk.  There it perched, preening its feathers with its big beak and thick, black tongue, now and then uttering harsh squawks and making remarks, some of which could not be understood.

“Is this the parrot you meant, Sue?” asked Miss Bradley.

“Yes’m, that’s Mr. Winkler’s,” answered Sue.  “I can take it back to him if you want me to.  Polly knows me.”

“And he knows me, too!” exclaimed Bunny.

“And me!” eagerly added Charlie Star.  “Let me and Bunny take him home, please?” he begged.

“Is that the way to say it?” remarked the teacher, for the room was more quiet now.  “What should you have said, Charlie?”

“Let Bunny and me,” corrected Charlie.

“That’s right.  Always speak of yourself last.  It is more polite.  Well, I think you and Bunny may take the parrot back to Mr. Winkler,” went on the teacher.  “Certainly we don’t want him in our class, though he seems a bright bird.”

“You ought to see Wango, the monkey, climb!” cried fat Bobbie Boomer, and all the other children laughed.  “He’s great!”

“Well, I think a parrot is enough for one day,” remarked Miss Bradley, with a smile.  “Take Polly home, Bunny and Charlie.”

“Just see, Teacher, he’s tame and he knows me,” Bunny said, stroking Polly’s head, a caress the parrot seemed to like.  Polly perched herself on Bunny’s shoulder, and then he and Charlie went out, envied by the other pupils.

“Oh that bird!  Out again!” cried Miss Winkler, when Polly was restored to her.  “I declare, I’ll make Jed get rid of her and Wango!  They’re more bother than they’re worth!”

“I’ll take ’em if you don’t want ’em!” offered Charlie Star.