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Moore was still a serene witness to the sorrowful dumas that James spoke out loud in the heat of anger. No one else dared to disturb the old madman. James went to bed, without hesitating to think that if anybody would stay with him, it was only this strange, but very clever, helmet cat.
The tiny spirit who had made a small leafy rosehip bush his home saw Moore slip out of his tent at midnight. The observation element was clearly aware of the matter:
- Are you going to leave the two-legged man? Have a drop of gratitude!
Muri instantly found the branch on which the critic was sitting, but did not say anything.
- What about his heart? - The spirit continued in a reproachful manner. - It got used to human villainy, but surely, what it does not doubt is your devotion, the evil animal.
- Why should I care about the human heart? - Muri answered with a sniff of the wind.
- The old man will be upset!
- What do I care about the old man?
- How come you haven't turned your head yet?! - The spirit was outraged, protesting such cynicism. - Or were you born in a shirt?
Here, so rumbling that the inhabitant of the rosehip involuntarily went numb, Moore showed true psychology.
- Aspiration! - meekly, with a condescending reproach, he explained to the fool. - Isn't that enough for a real armor?
Then the cat went from Zenica to Banja Luka, and from her - to Priedor, Sava on the city of Kranj. When Muri crossed the Tiaglovskie Mountains, winter came.
Let's distract ourselves a little bit from the wanderings: that winter Pete Stout, already familiar to us, was lucky. The pet circus in Uryupinsk goose Timosha, who at the beginning of his career made a simple subtraction and addition of up to ten not without the help of assistants slipped breadcrumbs, instantly became a celebrity. During the performance, which did not promise anything out of the ordinary (as it should have been from the poster - just dancing elephants, mice, monsters, ustav-telepat), the bird shook the trainer, unexpectedly, without any secret hint, twice replying "ha" to the order of some particularly inveterate spectator to divide in half four.
Thomas the unbeliever did not understand. Timosha again "miscalculated" - and again guessed. There were questions that were immediately followed by correct answers. Behind the scenes, they were not afraid. The tamer, a grated rookie with more than one dozen rabbits and roosters in his service record, wiped off the cold sweat. Since then, the goose has continued to divide, subtract, multiply and add up three-digit numbers and set a record-breaking record. The circus was in shock.
The city administration was stunned. Rumors spread and curious people reached out to Uryupinsk. Local filmmakers were already going to make a film, but here the authorities intervened, categorically forbidding to take out rubbish from the house before the arrival of the special commission. The commission arrived only to document the bird's amazing abilities. Photos of the bird appeared on the Internet - the "Fatherlanders" triumphed!
On that significant day, the cage with Timosha and two geese was very lively. Apart from Pete and his company, namely the cameraman, two journalists of the newspaper Son and the most loyal follower, the microbiologist Charles Lencer, who followed the teacher everywhere, representatives of the Chelyabinsk Parapsychological School and three hereditary sorcerers pushed here. Just in case, the authorities set up a police post near the cage.
Pete Stout was told that shortly before his arrival, a trainer with a goose was tested by an even more authoritative committee of zoological and psychological luminaries. The professors confirmed that there was indeed a phenomenon. However, the luminaries could not accept such an anomaly, so they made an unambiguous conclusion - the trainer uses an unknown trick.
The fact that Timosha was repeatedly examined without the presence of a mentor, and the object of the examination continued to be well versed in arithmetic, the commission was not convinced.
Timofey, who was already tired enough, reluctantly demonstrated to the foreigner his abilities by dividing four hundred and forty-four times in half. All those present scrupulously counted the endless "ha" and were convinced that the subject had given his voice exactly two hundred and twenty-two times. Expressive Stout almost missed the blow.
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To be continued in the next part