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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23281, 25 February 1939, Page 17 (Supplement)

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CHAPTER V.—(Continued) fPHE parrot steadied down and fell back upon his familiar phrase, whereupon Gregory lifted his hand for silence, took a seat before the cage and concentrated upon the odd jumble of sounds. He brought a pocket-book from his. coat and a pencil from his waistcoat. Then he noted down phonetically each potential word as it fell upon his ear. Everybody awaited any results with interest; but to Jane there sounded a mocking and even cynical flavour in her bird's utterance. Mr. Barbour proceeded upon his . .curious task with utmost solemnity and threw no light upon 1 what might be in his mind; but at length he begged that the parrot should be removed. "Take him away," ho said, "and leave me quite alone with my memoranda for the space of half an hour, please. I will take, these data into the garden, Jane, and sit in the summerhouse. Should you hear strange noises, feel no concern. I shall utter these words aloud and feel how they may sound upon my tongue when it comes to fashioning the labials and dentals. Gregory departed, and presently faint sounds came to their ears where the young people sat. and smoked on the grass 20 yards away. "I'm not hopeful," said Tom. If Greg had got a line, he'd have been dramatic about it and created a big effect." "You never know with him, thong t / Nicholas "He's awfully deep really." , ' But when half an hour was gone the linguist joined .them, and Jane perceived at once that he h nothing ■" hopeful to report. ' "You always know by Greg'fi walk if he's satisfied with life, or disappointed with it/' she told them. He s failed, and he'll bo full of reasons why he's failed, and put the blame on the parrot." . She proved quite right. "My results are entirely negative I regret to say," he began, spreading a silk handkerchief upon the grass before he sat down.

"There is no shadow of doubt that your bird has been taught something, but I should judge that he must have failed of his lesson through mental or phvsical inability to repeat it correctly. Had he done his part, I make no doubt that it would have proved well in my 'power to do mine; but I have come to the conclusion that his utterance is inaccurate and faulty—so much so that it lies beyond the power of science to arrive at anv explanation of it. 1 detect fto evidences' of any known language in this farago and, on trying it out vocally, found 110 small difficulty in saving several of the words—so to call

By EDEN PHILLPOTTS Author of " Yellow Sands," "The Farmer s Wife." etc., etc.

(iCOPYRIGHT)

A romance that commences in Peru and takes three young people, filled with -the spirit of adventure, on a quest for Inca treasure.

"Did you notice that he used three what you might call English words?" suggested young _ Bradshaw, and Gregory looked at him coldly. "That fact had not escaped me, Nicholas," he replied, " and if you can glean any light from it, by all means illuminate our darkness." Nick subsided, and the linguist handed his pocket-book to Jane.

"I want each of you in turn to speak these words aloud as I have set them down," he said, " that I may feel the sounds impinge upon my ear.

Thev spoke the words aloud, each in turn following the parrot's pronunciation; but their efforts did not assist Mr. Barbour. " No clue transpires," he said, " and I much fear that we must resign ourselves to disappointment. There is something radically wrong here. One knows no ancient or modern language that could possibly serve as a basis for these irregular sounds. I should be® prepared to admit they may wrap

them —a€ all. Anything like fluency is impossible, and the vocal cords feel the effort. Listen."

Mr. Barbour drew out his notebook again and spoke as follows, uttering each sound slowly.'

"Rcsyeg ta egrog rctenam cache sogapalag west rotaque no potelbat." "The parrot says it better than you do, Greg," declared Jane. "He does, for the reason that he talks from his throat, while I talk from iny mouth," explained her friend. "A bird has neither lips nor teeth to assist pronunciation; but you will notice in this sentence the number of guttural sounds. These require an effort from line, but come naturally to a parrot, and I suspect that the crux of the problem lies there. He is certainly saying something," but if wo could hear his teacher say the same things, we should probably find the inflexion, emphasis, and so forth to be quite different and wholly intelligent to the skilled ear."

up some enigma, but I have not the least suspicion of what. # Since you say, however, that your bird once belonged to a dissolute Peruvian mariner, Tom, the deduction would be that what it means can hardly amount to much."

" Grapes are sour, Greg.," said Tom Aylmer. " Because you can't make top or tail of it, you say it's probably tripe in any case." " The assumption would certainly be that it is ' tripe, ' Tom—to use your own offensive word." "Is there anybody else at the British Museum, or the Universities, or anywhere, who might possibly succeed where vou've drawn a blank, my precious Greg?" asked Jane, and Mr. Barbour regarded her reproachfully. " As to that," he answered, " I cannot enlighten you. But by all means find someone better equipped than, myself if you feel my powers inaedquate." " Darling, don't talk in that tone of voice, or I shall cry," declared Jane and Angus made a suggestion. " Perhaps it isn't a case for a swell linguist liko you, Mr. Barbour," lie said. "How would it be if we turned a medium, or a thought-reader, or some such person on to it?" " You speak as a Scot," answered Gregory, " and their propensities in the direction of the esoteric are, of course, well known. They claim not only for themselves, but even for their dogs and other domestic animals, the gilt of second-sight; but when I tell you that I have no belief whatsoever in second-sight, you will judge that I should not imagine this cryptic puzzle can bo solved by necromancy." Angus was silenced. Jane spoke. "Perhaps your last word was the wisest, Greg.," she said. "Perhaps it is just a puzzle, like a jig-saw, or crossword, and nothing else at all.' " It may veritably be so," admitted Gregory; " but I am a man of science; not a conjurer, Jane. We know that feminine intuition will occasionally solve a problem when logic and reason have striven in vain for a solution, so you had better apply your powers and see if the enigma will yield to them." They drank tea and Mr. Barbour discoursed. Then he took his leave and begged that, if any light dawned, he might learn its nature. Gregory started his motor-car and sailed away, while Jane praised him. " Isn't ho priceless?" she asked. " He may be, but he is quite useless to us," said Angus Maine. "AVhat you have to do now, is to find a necromancer." " There's my feminine intuition, remember."

The parrot was quickly dismissed from their minds and Jane, suddenly faced with the prospect of early marriage, troubled no more about linn. Plans for the future began to develop and the initial difficulty of Mrs. Aylmer was quickly settled. On learning that her son felt it might be better that tliev should not join forces, she made quick capital out of her disappomt-m(-"lf the wish of my life is to be denied me, and I am not to live with you and Jane," she said, " then you must make it up to me as-best you can, Tom I should, of course, have been willing and happy to dwell anywhere with your companionship; but as you talk of foreign travel and so on, then 1 must be freo to find a modest home. My friends had not mattered if you and Jane joined me; now, of course, they do, for I need the society of my fellow creaiures." . " "VVe might find a nice little London freehold'to be sold," said Tom. Then you'd feel you were living in your own 10 " So that ,it is spacious enough for entertainment and within West End, I care very little," she said, . but you had better let iw© take the pfGliminary steps, my dear son, _because I know what I shall need, and you do not. " Are you .going to keep any ot the old staff?" he asked. " Not one," replied Mrs. Alymer. " They have been schooled in your father's bitter regime, and you know how difficult it is for domestics to change their habits. Everything will be new in my little home, even to the furniture. I shall suffer less and be less under the old dominion of the old restricted, unnatural existence, if I cut loose and fix my mind upon the future. That is the healthy thing to do in my opinion. A starved soul demands nourishment just as much as a starved "I'm going to have lots of fun with mother," Tom told Jane when next they met. " She's going house-hunting at once. She proposes to cut loose, anyway—whatever that may mean. " It means a dash at Park Jjane, said Jane, " and then, wounded and battered and disillusioned, shell tall back on the next best hole." il One will liave to be firm, Jane. " It's the hardest thing in the world to be firm with a mother like yours, she answered him. " Where there is no arithmetic, firmness becomes brutality." CHAPTER VI. THE RIDDLE HEAD Mr. Gregory Barbour, like the true scientist that he claimed to be, hesitated to ignore a mystery while there remained any hope of its reasonable solution. -r, •> Thus Gregory wrote to Miss Bradshaw, directed her to take action, and revived her interest in the subject. _ "Do this, Jane, please, lie said. "Follow mv own procedure. Take down verbatim and with phonetic precision the ten words spoken by your parrot (for that they are words no reasonable person can pretend to doubt) and then comparo your results with my own. The girl obeyed and was interested to find that her dictation corresponded exactly with her friend's. "Letter by letter they are alike, she wrote. "There is no difference what-1 ever, Greg, and I am bringing my feminine intuition to bear at full steam. If I don't see the meaning of it in the next twenty-four hours, I shall blow UP But well within the allotted time Jane arrived at the solution and laughed to find its childish nature. (To bo continued dally.).