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That was Arnaux's first public record; but others came fast, and several curious scenes were enacted in that old pigeon-loft with Arnaux as the central figure. One day a carriage drove up to the stable; a white-haired gentleman got out, climbed the dusty stairs, and sat all morning in the loft with Billy.
He shut the door and dropped the catching-net quickly over Arnaux's head. A moment later he had the roll in his hand; in two minutes he was speeding to the office of the Company, for there was a fat tip in view.
Oh, but he's the real grit!" so his owner prattled to the silent ones whose birds had been defeated. That was the first of Arnaux's exploits. Best of fifty birds from a good loft, his future was bright with promise. He was invested with the silver anklet of the Sacred Order of the High Homer. It bore his number, 2590 C, a number which to-day means much to all men in the world of the Homing Pigeon.
It is the custom of moralists to point to the lower animals, and especially to the Pigeon, for examples of love and constancy, and properly so, but, alas there are exceptions. Vice is not by any means limited to the human race. Arnaux's wife had been deeply impressed with the Big Blue, at the outset, and at length while her spouse was absent the dreadful thing took place.
Arnaux's brother Arnolf, with three fine records on his wings, was thus murdered in the act of bearing a hasty summons for the doctor. As he fell dying at the gunner's feet, his superb wings spread out displayed his list of victories. The silver badge on his leg was there, and the gunner was smitten with remorse.
Oh, he's a darling; only three months old and a winner he's a little darling!" and Arnaux's owner danced, more for joy in his bird than in the purse he had won. The men sat or kneeled and watched him in positive reverence as he gulped a quantity of water, then turned to the food-trough. "Look at that eye, those wings, and did you ever see such a breast?
He was a man of influence, and the Pigeon Protective legislation at Albany was the immediate fruit of Arnaux's exploit. The steamer incident seemed to prove him coward; he certainly was a bully. One morning when Billy went in there was a row, two Pigeons, a large and a small, alternately clinching and sparring all over the floor, feathers flying, dust and commotion everywhere.
This was rolled up, wrapped in waterproof film, addressed to the Steamship Company, and lashed to the under side of Arnaux's middle tail-feather. When thrown into the air, he circled round the ship, then round again higher, then again higher in a wider circle, and he was lost to view; and still higher till quite out of sight and feeling of the ship.
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