Arabel and Mortimer Read Online Free

scarlet tail. Mortimer's eyes almost shot out on stalks when he saw the parrot; he became completely silent and stared with all his might. The parrot stared back. She had a beak that was curved like the back of a spoon, and she looked very knowing indeed.
    "I do hope you are enjoying yourselves, dears," said Lady Dunnage.
    "Oh yes, thank you, dear, we're having ever such a nice time," said Mrs. Jones.
    "This is my parrot, Isabella," said Lady Dunnage.
    "Kaaaark," said Mortimer.
    "I've arranged for you to sit at Captain Mainbrace's table for dinner; he has a son called Henry who is about your age, Arabel. And do let me know if there's anything you want in the meantime."
    "Oh please," said Arabel, "could your parrot come to my cabin and play with Mortimer? I think he'd like that."
    "Certainly," said Lady Dunnage graciously. "I'm sure Isabella would enjoy it, too. When she wants to

come back to me, just let her out into the passage; she knows her way all over this ship, as we came on board such a lot while it was being built."

    "Can she talk?" Arabel asked.
    "Not really yet; she's only a year old. All she can say is 'hard cheese.'"
    Arabel went back to her cabin with a bird perched on each shoulder. In spite of the very good tea, she knew that Mortimer had not been enjoying himself in the Rumpus Lounge; somehow his bright black eyes didn't seem as bright as usual, and he kept swallowing; Arabel was worried in case he wasn't going to be happy on the cruise.
    However, once back in the cabin he seemed to cheer up. Arabel had thought the two birds might like to play with marbles or tiddledywinks, both of which she had brought with her, but they did not; they took turns climbing the ladder to the upper bunk and then jumping off on top of each other.
    Then they took turns shutting each other in Arabel's suitcase and bursting out with a loud shriek. Then they had a very enjoyable fight, rolling all over the floor and kicking each other; showers of red, gray, and black feathers flew about. Mortimer shouted, "Nevermore!" and Isabella screamed, "Hard cheese!" Between them they made a lot of noise and presently there was a bang on the door and it burst open.
    There stood Miss Brandy Brown, her eyes flashing even more than the sequins on her dress.

    "
Will
you stop making such a row? I'm trying to rest after my performance," she said very crossly indeed.
    The instant she opened the door, Isabella flew out through it like a feathered bullet, so that all Miss Brandy Brown saw inside the room was Arabel, looking perfectly tidy, and Mortimer, looking decidedly
un
tidy.
    "If that bird makes any more disturbance I shall tell Captain Mainbrace that he's got to be shut up in a crate in the hold!" she said. Then she went out, slamming the door, and flounced back to her own cabin. She was not best pleased when, ten minutes later, Mike the steward tapped on the door and came in.
    "It's just to fetch the tie, Miss," he said.
    "Tie? What tie?"
    "Tie for the young lady's raven next door," said Mike, taking it from the fridge and tiptoeing out again.
    After that, relations were a bit strained between Mortimer the raven and Miss Brandy Brown.

3
    On the second day at sea, luckily, the weather was calm, if rather foggy. Arabel spent a good deal of time in the games room, playing table tennis with Henry Mainbrace, the captain's son. This was fine, so long as they managed to keep a rally going and the ball stayed on the table. But Mortimer and Isabella were watching, perched like umpires on a convenient pile of folding deck chairs. Every time a ball went onto the floor either Isabella or Mortimer would swoop down and swallow it. By eleven o'clock each bird had swallowed so many balls that Henry declared he could hear them rattling inside.

    "All those balls can't be good for them," Arabel said rather anxiously.

    "No worse than having eggs inside you," Henry pointed out. "And lots of birds have those. Isabella laid an egg last month."
    "Mortimer has never