Almost before the gosling had been adopted, it had been given a name. The Chinese owner had shouted to the gosling to "come here" after it had been admired by Sir Allen. He used the expression "Bau Lai," and so this is what Sir Allan's pet has been "dubbed" ever since.
"My goose is fully grown now," Sir Allan explained, "it takes 120 days for a gosling to grow into a goose, and I have had Baulai for more than this period. It has recently started laying one egg every three or four days. I have provided it with a bath-tub in which it splashes around merrily. N is a friendly creature, and will eat out of my hand. 'I do not, of course, allow it in my house, but it has the whole of the garden to roam around in.
"Bawa is very fond of the company of human beings" Sir Allan continued, "I don't think it has ever set eyes on another goose, and it has never seen a creek. It takes kindly to the birds which nest in the trees around its little house, and allows them to eat any scraps of food which it does not want. Sometimes, lacking the company of other geese, it feels rather lonely, and it then goes and among a heap of flower pots."
Sir Allan's fondness for animals is well-known, and he is president [of the SS.P.C.A. The goose is the third somewhat strange pet which he has kept, the first being a snake, which he owned while at school, and the second an owl, "quite a friendly little owl," as he put it. Sir Allan is also a great lover of dogs. At the moment, however, the goose occupies pride of place among his pets, and the little orphan creature which was wandering about near Soochow last spring with a broken foot is now a healthy, strong goose thanks to the kindly thought of the Judge of H.M. Supreme Court for China.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.