"Have yer seen a singed possum?" roared Bill.

"No, I haven't," said the Parrot, and he actually had the
insolence to laugh in Bill's face.

"Of all the swivel-eyed, up-jumped, cross-grained, sons of a
cock-eyed tinker," exclaimed Bill, boiling with rage. "If
punching parrots on the beak,wasn't too painful for pleasure,
I'd land you a sockdolager on the muzzle that ud lay you out till
Christmas. Come on, mates," he added, "it's no use wastin' time
over this low-down, hook-nosed, tobacco-grabber. "And leaving the
evil-minded Parrot to pursue his evil-minded way, they hurried off
in search of information.

The next person they spied was a Bandicoot carrying a watermelon.
At a first glance you would have thought it was merely a watermelon
walking by itself, but a second glance would have shown you that
the walking was being done by a small pair of legs attached to the
watermelon, and a third glance would have disclosed that the legs
were attached to a Bandicoot.

They shouted, "Hi, you with the melon!" to attract his attention,
and set off running after him, and the Bandicoot, being naturally
of a terrified disposition, ran for all he was worth. He wasn't
worth much as a runner, owing to the weight of the watermelon,
and they caught him up half-way across the field.

Conceiving that his hour had come, the Bandicoot gave a shrill
squeak of terror and fell on his knees.