Dirrell'Yes I do!'I said.'He killed his wife!
Amurderer!'Mother cried.'And he walks round in the fields.
Gerry,you mustn't go fishing with him.'
In the end she agreed that I could go if Leslie came and looked at the man first.So after the next day's fishing I had plenty of food for Alecko.
Chapter 12 Birds,Snakes and a Party
The house was busy.Farmers arrived with bags of fruit,veget- ables and chickens.Margo lay on the dining-room floor and made large pictures on brown paper.Leslie stood in the middle of pieces of furniture,trying to decide where to put them.
Mother cooked in the kitchen with the help of two local girls.I went from room to room and helped if I could.Upstairs in his bedroom Larry was asleep.The family was getting ready for a party.
When the day arrived,I found that some of my snakes in the pool outside were killing the fish.I moved the snakes to a large tin.A little later I noticed that the tin was in the sun and the snakes were lying on the top of the water without moving.They looked dead.I ran into the house with them.
The only way to save them,I explained to Mother,was to put them in a cold bath.Mother agreed and the snakes soon looked better.
I left them there and went outside again to look at the tables.
In the middle of a beautiful dish of food sat the Magenpies.
There were knives and forks everywhere,and bottles of beer lay in pieces on the groundOne of the birds walked slowly towards me with a flower in his mouth and fell off the table.
They were both fullof beer
Mother came out.After a few angry words she was calmer.
31