SsS 3*9
"A STURDY, MEDIUM - SIZED DOG SAT UNDER THE TREES"
{See page 60)
Ir^ti
ixTt'v.^*
Copyright, igo2
By L. C. Page & Company
(incorporated) i*-"v>n
All rights reserved *J
8537
Published, August, 1902
Colonial Ipreas
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
Go
tbe jfl&emotE of
fltta,
JSest iovco of tug 2>og0,
tbte boofc fa affectionately oeofcateo
b bet sorrowing flM0tre00
preface
For a long time I have had in mind a story
bearing on the immortality of animals. Some four
years ago, while walking with my father, I sketched
the outline of this paradise for animals that I so
earnestly wished to write about. He was much inter-
ested, and said at once, " You should make your old
favourite Joe the hero of this paradise." Almost
shocked at the idea of trading, as it were, on the
popularity of the dear old animal, I said, firmly,
" I can not do that. I shall never bring Joe into
another story."
However, last autumn, when in great grief over
the death of a beloved dog, my mind turned strongly
to my animal story, old Joe was ever before me. He,
and only he, was suited to preside over the happy
republic where the animals found themselves after
death.
Struggle against it as I would, Joe constantly con-
fronted me, and as his death has occurred since the
publication of the story of his life, I at first reluc-
tantly, then gladly, introduced my former friend
into a second story.
This is my apology for a sequel an after-part
which in many cases is of doubtful discretion.
Marshall Saunders.
J Table q{ Patents
CHAPTER
page
I.
Dead
II.
A Voyage through the Air
. 28
III.
The Beautiful Island
4i
IV.
The Home of the Swans .
. 49
V.
A Fight with an Anarchist
. 60
VI.
An Audience with the Preside
NT . 68
VII.
On the Way to the Cat's Hoi
IE . 82
VIII.
The Abode of Her Nbcromanci
r . 94
IX.
A Lodge by the Sea .
. 107
X.
The Arrival of Malta
. 120
XI.
An Impromptu Circus .
. 132
XII.
Fish Philosophy .
M3
XIII.
The Fox Escort .
157
XIV.
Black Art ....
. 168
XV.
The Tiger in the Marsh .
. 182
XVI.
The Widow Comes
194
XVII.
A Changed Goat .
. 202
XVIII.
Joe's Home
. 208
XIX.
On the Way to the Bakeries .
. 223
XX.
Bread and Sweet Cakes .
. 238
XXI.
The Widow Again
253
XXII.
The Rescue of the Cat
. 266
XXIII.
The Rout of the Animals
274
XXIV.
The Captain of the Mouse Brk
JADE 290
XXV.
Transporting the Anarchist .
. 3o
XXVI.
The Dance on the Beach .
313
XXVII.
Joe's Departure .
. 322
XXVIII.
I Come Back to Earth
339
XXIX.
Mother Gets a Start
358
H sturfc t mefcium*si3e& fcog sat unber
tbe trees M {Seepage 66) . , , Frontispiece
TKDie were going up anb up" . . 28
ttbe elepbant was an awful looking
beast" i . , 63
Ube lamb went skipping to bint" . 80
XTbe wboie buncb of animals burst
into a sbout ot laugbter" 126
At was a big isianb from tbe nortb" 147
Ubey were all covered witb fireflies " 165
Uben U saw bim run" 191
a crow bab just brougbt bim a sweet
cafee" 202
Uurneb bis bacfe to tbe sea" 226
Hn arms of pigs anb boars " 251
IPalo Hlto anb 11 basbeb up to tbe
Cat" 272
TTbes formed a balf*moon arounb ber,
anb urges ber on" 296
ne olb grf33l bab a rabbit" 316
/ore brotber tban bog " 348
JSeauttful Sot'* fteairtat
CHAPTER I.
DEAD
I have had some pretty queer adventures lately,
and as I don't want to forget one of them, and as
I also want old Joe's friends to hear about them, I
am going to write them down.
I will start at the first. My name is Sam Emer-
son, and I live in San Francisco used to live
East, but came West for my mother's health. She
is a widow, and I am her only child- People say she
spoils me, but that is a mistake. I spoil her.
Well, one day a month ago, I came into the house
with Ragtime under my arm.
Ragtime is my bull terrier, or was. He was
wrapped up in me, and I well, I guess I just liked
Ragtime about as much as a boy ever liked a dog.
He was dead. There was a fellow called Geof-
frey Hillington living next door to us. He was a
i2 ffiof'g 3&*v*Xt**
Californian, and nearly six feet tall, as a good many
Californian boys have a trick of getting when they
are about sixteen.
Geoffrey was a perfect gentleman according to
the gospel of his mamma, and he hated me.
I don't know why, for I never did a thing to him
till he began to make faces at me. Maybe he was
jealous because I was tough and could knock about,
while he had to stay in the house a good deal and
keep his legs on a chair because they grew so fast.
It was a very pretty hatred. We never tired of
doing things to each other, and I never slacked up,
even when an awful fear came over me that he
would strike at me some day through Ragtime.
I kept the dog with me all the time, except when
I was in school, and then he was shut up, but even
a cat will be caught napping, and one day mother
sent me on an errand across the street, and I forgot
Ragtime.
I raced back when I remembered, but it was too
late. My foe was ever watchful. He had been out
in his garden. There was a ladder against the wall
that his father's gardener had been using. He
mounted it with his pocket full of stones.
I won't say that he intended to kill the dog. He
only threw stones when Ragtime began to tell him
in dog language that the wall was half ours, and
not all his. A nasty sharp-pointed bit of rock hit
IP rag 13
the dog on the head. There was just a little dent
in Rag's velvet forehead when I picked him up, only
that and nothing more, but he was as limp as a doll.
I held him in my arms. I didn't know there was
I such a difference between a dead dog and a live one.
His legs hung loose. Then I took him in the house.
I put him on my bed and sat down by him. Where
was Ragtime? A few minutes ago he had been
screaming, jumping, yelping now he was only a
warm heap of bones and flesh.
Ragtime was not here. I had lost him. The
stupid feeling went away. Something awful came
over me. Ragtime was dead, but his murderer was
alive.
I pushed away the servants mother had gone
cut and rushed down-stairs.
I didn't stop to ring the Hillingtons' bell. I tore
into the garden. Geoffrey was lying in a hammock.
He looked kind of white when he saw me coming,
but his lip went up into its usual curl, and I could
see the word " Baby! " coming out of his mouth.
It never got out. I gave a roar. I had never
fought him because he was so large, but now there
was a demon in each of my fists. I butted the
hammock, and he went sprawling on the ground.
Then I called to him to get up. He did, and I
ran at his legs and upset him again. Then I
pounded him. I was going to make him suffer, and
i4 ffiors flaraflrtee
I did, until, in the midst of my jellying, I thought
of his mother.
" Ragtime ! Ragtime ! Ragtime ! " I howled in
his ears. Then I finished mashing and pounding
him, and let him get in a few digs. They didn't
hurt me, for my flesh was like iron, and they encour-
aged him.
Then I keeled him over once more. He went down
like a gum-tree and I ran home.
If there was a God of justice surely he would let
Ragtime come to life no, he wouldn't. There
lay my dog on the bed, getting cold and stiff now.
I shut the door, and pulled down the blinds. This
was death. I had heard of it before, but hadn't
had much acquaintance with it. In school, we used
to sing about the old King reaper, who with his
sickle keen, bearded the little children, but singing
is nothing, talking is nothing, hearing is nothing,
it's feeling that counts.
My father had died when I was a baby, too young
to feel my loss. I had never lost an animal. I had
never had a brother or sister to lose. I only stared
when other people cried. Now I cried myself.
Then I walked the floor. Then I groaned.
Where was my dog? I only had his body. There
had been life inside him that was Ragtime.
Where was that life?
I went out to the balcony outside my windows,
and looked up at the sky.
Bratr 15
My mother said we all went to heaven when
we died. Just then she came into the room.
" Oh, Sam," she said, " I am so sorry for you."
" Mother," I said, " where is Ragtime? He isn't
there," and I pointed to the bed.
She looked troubled.
" Do dogs go to heaven? " I asked.
She was quite shocked.
" Why not? " I said. " Wouldn't you rather meet
that dear old dog in heaven than Hillington?"
" Yes," she said, she would, but Hillington had
a soul, and Ragtime hadn't.
" But Ragtime made better use of his no-soul than
Hillington does of his soul."
She said she didn't know she would ask her
clergyman, but she thought that when animals died
they just turned to earth.
" But there was something alive inside Ragtime,
Mother," I argued, " something that would never
die."
" But all animals could not go to heaven, Sam,"
she said, " lions and tigers, and flies, and creatures
that bite us."
" Mother," I said, " Hillington is a biter.
Wouldn't he have to be made better to go to
heaven? "
She said she thought he would. He was too
malicious to go in his present state.
16 $*t f u ff*?attte*
" Then if the God that made us, can improve Hill-
ing-ton, he can improve lions, and tigers, and even
snakes," I said. " I don't believe he would create
a dog as good as Ragtime just for a little bit of a
time. He was made to live for ever. And if he isn't
good enough now to live for ever, he will be made
so."
My mother said again she didn't know. Then
she was called away.
In a few minutes she came back. " Sam, you
have got yourself into terrible trouble. The Hill-
ingtons are threatening to have you arrested.
Geoffrey's face is swollen enormously, and both his
eyes are closed."
" Let them arrest me," I said, for I began to feel
desperate again, " and I hope he will swell all
over feet, and hands, and joints, and ears, and
every hole and corner of his body " and I went in
and threw myself on the bed. Nothing mattered
now. I didn't care what became of me.
I've got the best mother in the world, and she
sat down beside me and smoothed my head. " If
you had only waited, Sam, I could have had Geof-
frey arrested. There is a good society for the pro-
tection of animals in San Francisco, but you took
the law into your own hands, and now the Hilling-
tons can arrest you."
" I wish I could get at him again," I roared.
33catr 17
" Sam, you are no better than he is."
" Go away, Mother," I said, trying to push her
from me.
But she would not go. She kept on smoothing my
head, then she begged me to cry a little. It would
make me feel better.
" I am not a girl," I said, " and there is a great,
dark pit inside me."
" Have something to eat," she said.
Faugh! the mention of food made me sick. If
I could see that dear old dog get up and crunch
a bone ! but he would never eat again !
Mother sat beside me all the evening. When
bedtime came, she begged me to let the coachman
take the dog away and bury him.
"Not to-night, Mother," I said. "He's slept
with me every night for ten years. Let me have him
once more."
Then I broke down. You would have thought I
was a girl.
My mother begged me to compose myself, but I
couldn't. Then I made her go to bed. I had to
promise to leave my door open, so she could hear
every groan I made. I promised, but there are
so many ways of deceiving a good mother!
I took Rag in my arms and went out on the
balcony, and shut the glass doors behind me.
I was alone now with my trouble. The sky was
like a great blue blanket wrapping up everything for
me. The stars peeping down, and mocking me
through their pin-holes, knew where Rag was.
Whether he was gone to nothing, or whether he
was still alive.
Perhaps he was away up there behind the blanket.
Perhaps there was a heaven for animals, just as
there is a heaven for us.
The stars would not tell me, and I let my eyes fall
down from them to the sweet-smelling gardens back
of our house and the Hillingtons'.
Beyond the gardens was the city, and beyond the
city the grand old Bay.
Up to four o'clock this afternoon I used to feel
comfortable when I took in this view. Now it
was all dull and dead. Was this the way a fellow
felt whenever he lost anybody belonging to him?
Why, you might as well die yourself at once, and
be done with it. Life wasn't worth living. I
wished I could lie down beside Ragtime.
I couldn't cry now, but there was an awful feeling
inside me a kind of sinking, dreary, smothering
feeling. I didn't want to sleep, I didn't want to eat,
I didn't want to go anywhere, or do anything.
Then the dog side of the question came over me
again. Where was Ragtime? If he were alive and
in another world, he was looking for me. I would
have feet my life on that. Not all the angel dogs in
Dcatr 19
creation would make up to Ragtime for one minute
with me. Why, that dog hardly ever took his
eyes off my face. He was more brother than dog.
We'd go up Pine Street, and down California
Street, and along Bush Street, and there wasn't a
dog or a boy that dared to look cross-eyed at us
when we were together. Not one where was
he now?
Give me back my dog," I muttered, and I
pounded my hands on the iron railing, but softly for
fear of waking mother. " God, or Devil, or what-
ever has him, give me back my dog. It doesn't
take a mite of difference to you, and it makes all
the difference in the world to me."
Something seemed to burst inside me. There
r as a kind of fluttering and breathing under my
)reast-bone, as if there was a bellows or a wind-bag
tere. I couldn't control it. My breath came and
rent. Why, this must be sobbing. I had often
ead of it, but had never felt it.
Anyway, it kept itself up, till I was weak, and my
iyes felt as if they had been boiled. That water
mring out of my head was very warm, but it
mldn't heat poor Rag's cold head, and I doubled up
in a heap beside him.
I sobbed like a baby or an idiot, till I was tired
mt. Then I fell asleep.
I was as sound as a log for about two hours,
20 $ot f u ffaratttee
and then something took me by the arm and woke
me up.
I opened my eyes. A round soup-plate of a moon
was just edging over the top of our house, and look-
ing down at me. Then something got between me
and the moon. Some hairy creature was trying to
pull Ragtime from under my arm.
I felt ugly, and sprang up. A huge monkey with
a face as round and big as the moon was staring
down at me in the soft light.
I snarled at him, and tried to push him away.
My one thought was to protect Ragtime.
" I want your dog's body," he said, mildly.
I looked all round. Was he speaking? Yes, he
must be. There was no one else near.
Somehow or other, it didn't seem queer to me.
It's wonderful how quickly we get used to things.
However, I wasn't going to swallow him whole,
so I said, " You sha'n't have it."
He grinned, and said, " Here, Gibbon."
Immediately another smaller monkey, and uglier
than the first one, if that could be possible, came
scrambling over the iron railing of the balcony.
I gave a kind of roar, and prepared to fight them
both.
" Hush," said the big monkey, " you'll wake your
mother."
" I don't care if I do," I said, trying to frighten
them.
mwxt
21
The old monkey grinned again, and stared at me
'ery kindly. Then he said to the young one, " Go
>ring the air-ship."
The young one disappeared round the corner of
te house, and presently a very snug little white
illoon, with a wicker car below, floated beside my
ilcony. I was dumfounded, and stood with my
ick against the wall, and Rag in my arms.
There was a third monkey steering the air-ship,
id curled up on one of the seats, on a folded bit of
loth of gold, lay quite a common-looking black
it.
The old monkey stepped up to the air-ship, and
lid something to the Cat in a low voice.
The Cat didn't seem to be listening, but right
terward she sprang to the balcony railing.
I was nearly staring my eyes out. I had never
;ard of anything as queer as this. It was a heap
leerer in a minute, too, when the Cat just carelessly
ived her paw at me, and my arms dropped to my
les as if they had been paralysed.
The old monkey caught Ragtime's body as it
II to the floor, and was about to put it in the
lir-ship.
I caught hold of him. Now I was frightened, for
le had beaten me.
Don't take my dog away," I begged, like
lother dog. " Please don't do it. I want to bury
in the garden."
22 3)ot f * jiaratrf^r
" To bury this ? " said the monkey, with a
strange smile. " Go bury that," and he nodded
over his shoulder.
I caught my breath. There was another Ragtime
lying dead on the balcony, the very image of my
own Ragtime, but I held on to the real one.
" This dog has his spirit in him," said the old
monkey, softly; " you must not bury him."
I caught hold of his hairy old arm again. " Will
he come to life ? "
He nodded.
" And be just as he was here? "
" Exactly."
Something choked me. " Where? " I said.
" On the Island of Brotherly Love."
"What island is that?"
" Oh, 'way over yonder," and he waved his hand
in the air.
The monkey looked queerly at me as he spoke.
Like lightning it flashed into my mind that he
wished I were going with him.
"Take me to that Island," I said, boldly. "I
want to be with my dog."
"But your mother?"
" Could you take her, too?"
I was sorry as soon as I asked the question. I
had lately been reading aloud from a boy's paper a
good deal about air-ships and races that were being
Dtair
n
held in Paris. Ballooning was getting to be as safe
as railroading. No accidents out of five hundred
>censions. No need of accidents, if one had plenty
)f nerve and common sense. Still, I was not willing
take my mother, and anyway she wouldn't go.
" Couldn't you take me with you for a visit ? " I
lid, "and then let me come back?"
" Certainly," said the monkey, " but I must
msult Her Necromancy."
Her who?"
Her Necromancy, the Cat. I have but little
>wer over mortals. She has a great deal. We
>metimes have visitors to the Island, and it is well
have her cooperation."
" Did you plan to take me? " I asked.
He hesitated. "No, not exactly; but we all
lew how you were suffering, and we were sorry
)r you. You have a good name among the animals
the Island."
[ Are your animals all dead ? " I asked.
c Oh, yes, what you call dead. We haven't a
igle living one."
" Are you dead ? "
" As a door-nail," he said.
I felt a kind of shock. Still there was nothing
be frightened of, unless they tried to kill me.
I think the old monkey guessed what I was think-
lg, for he said, kindly : " You will be perfectly safe
24 3iot f u tyuvutitet
with me. You are under powerful protection from
the moment you leave here till you come back
that is, if Her Necromancy doesn't turn stubborn,"
and he stepped toward the Cat.
I could not help overhearing their conversation, at
least the monkey part of it. " The President won't
mind," he said. " I have heard him speak favour-
ably of the boy. He is mischievous, but he has
been a brother to animals. He is in danger here.
The next-door people will have him arrested in
the morning. Can't your Necromancy make a false
image ? "
The Cat as before scarcely seemed to hear him.
However, when he finished speaking, she rose,
stretched herself, and went leisurely into my bed-
room.
The glass doors were shut, but I saw her go
through them as plainly as I ever saw anything.
She sprang on the bed, and stared as hard at the
pillow as if there were a mouse under it.
"What is she doing?" I whispered to the old
monkey.
" Wait and see."
I did wait, and in a few minutes I saw a shadow
on my bed. The shadow deepened and strengthened,
until at last there was I in a rumpled baseball suit,
just as I was when my dog died.
I tried to rush in through the doors like the Cat,
Beartr 25
but only broke the glass. I drew back, seized the
handle, and tore in. I never before had such a
chance to examine myself. This was better than
any mirror.
This boy was asleep. First I stared at him. I
fairly ate him up with my eyes not very tall,
chunky rather than graceful, pretty good limbs
though not every fellow has a chance to feel his
own arms and legs with another set as I did bullet
head, short-cropped hair, never cared for foot-
ball pug nose, eyes shut, but I knew they were
gray boy sounder asleep than ever.
I grinned at the Cat, but as if not liking any
familiarity, she immediately disappeared.
" Come back," said the monkey, running after
her, " his mother heard the breaking glass and is
coming." The Cat came back. She waved her
paw at me, and though I felt myself standing there,
I knew she had made me invisible my mother
could not see me.
The little woman was shading a candle with her
hand. Going up to the bed, she bent over that
mock boy, she kissed him, she said in a whisper,
" He is sleeping, my poor darling."
I was in a rage. I ran up to her. I threw my
arms about her. I tried to draw her to me, but she
only clasped her white gown round her, and mur-
muring, " It is chilly here, he will get cold," went to
the window.
26 ffioe'g j3araaist
I was in terror. She would discover the broken
glass, she would be frightened.
She did not. The window had mended itself, or
had been mended by that extraordinary Cat.
I stood paralysed till she went to her room. Then
when the Cat waved her paw at me, and I felt myself
growing visible, I turned sullenly to the monkey.
" Have you made me dead ? "
" Oh, no," he said, in a shocked voice. " It takes
a higher power than ours to do that."
" Well, I don't like your magic tricks," I said, and
I dropped into a chair. I felt weak and miserable.
I suppose I wanted food.
" The most of our performances are natural," said
the old monkey. " We only resort to magic when
the natural won't wcrk. It would have been an
unkind thing to shock your good mother."
" Yes, it would," I muttered.
" We have made that image of you to save her
feelings," he went on. " She would be frantic
if you were missing. When you come back, that
image will disappear. While you are away, it will
lie in a trance a good thing, for a warrant for
your arrest has been made out. The officers of the
law will not take a sick boy from his mother. Be
easy on that score. Now, are you coming with us,
or are you not ? "
The old monkey was a good fellow. No one
Dcatr 27
looking into his honest face could doubt it. My
wrath was over. I slapped his hairy old back, and
followed him. I wanted my dog. I would follow
him to the clouds if necessary, for the sake of bring-
ing my good Ragtime back to earth.
CHAPTER II.
A VOYAGE THROUGH THE AIR
The old monkey climbed into the wicker basket.
He pushed aside some bags of ballast, made a
place for me, then signalled to one of the young
monkeys to lift the anchor that held us to the balcony
railing.
I set my teeth hard. This was more or less of an
adventure. Then we were off, the three monkeys,
the Cat curled up on the cloth of gold, and dear old
Rag on the bags of sand at my feet.
I must not forget our escort. Just as we were
starting, two large, beautiful birds flew down
from the roof of the house, where they had been
resting. They were two swans, the handsomest
I had ever seen, and when we started, they
placed themselves beside the car, one on each side.
I held my breath. We were going up and up, and
I expected to gasp and have a catching in my throat
as if I were in a swing. But there was nothing
of the sort. It just seemed as if there was a sweet
little breeze blowing by the balcony, that took us
28
WE WERE GOING UP AND UP
1
in its arms, and bore us right out over the Bay. In
going with it we felt nothing, no rocking motion,
nor rushing motion, nor any kind of motion, but
just the sweeping away of things beneath us.
All my trouble was over now, and I could have
thrown my cap up in the air for joy, only I was
afraid I mightn't get it back again. Mother would
not be worried, Rag was going to come to life now
if I only had something to eat, I would be as happy
as a lord.
I edged up to the old monkey. He was still
fussing about the car among instruments, blankets,
bottles, ropes, and boxes.
I felt as free to speak to him as he were my
father or brother, so I said, " Have you got any-
thing to eat?"
" I was just looking for some seed-cakes," he
said; "here they are."
He handed me a paper bag and a bottle.
The cakes were good, and the water was extraor-
dinary. It livened one up like a tonic.
I ate, and while I ate, I looked down. What a
scene! What would the fellows at school say if
they could see that map? The teachers were
always giving us things to draw; just suppose I
could hand in a sketch of this !
San Francisco from the clouds : it was a diamond
map spread over dull velvet sand-hills. The electric
30 ffiot*s 3)atatnsc
lights ran away out like trailers, to bring the sub-
urbs into line. And across from the city, Oakland,
and Alameda, and Berkeley were sparkling like a
necklace on the throat of the Bay. Away in the
distance, little towns twinkled and winked at us,
as if to say, " Come back to earth." All except
lonely San Quentin prison off in a corner. Its lights
seemed sad and dull.
Tamalpais, old Mount Tamalpais, was a beauty.
It was queer to have the stone profile looking up at
us, and not for us to be looking up at her. Clapped
right on her head was the gay hotel, just like the
bright things that ladies wear on their heads. I
had looked at her a good many times from the
valley, never from the air.
Zigzag down her sides went the track of the
mountain railway. We could see the rails shining in
the moonlight ; and I could make out the faint line
of trail in some places through the chaparral. Many
a time I had gone stumbling down there with some
of the boys.
Now we were sailing out over the Golden Gate.
I threw a last glance at the solemn, old mountains
standing round the Bay, and watching us go. The
dear only knew when I should see them again.
" Good-bye, old Grizzly, and Diablo, and Hamil-
ton/' I said to myself. " I wonder whether the
Lick telescope is turned on us ? "
" Could they see us from the observatory ? " I
asked the old monkey.
" No, we are invisible to mortals."
" And yet this seems an ordinary air-ship, and
you are managing it in the usual fashion, aren't
you?" I asked, trying to air some of the balloon
knowledge I had picked up.
" Yes, the President of the Island has a great
prejudice against magic, except for purposes of
amusement. We have to do things by natural
means, and obtain results by our own labour. Are
you having any trouble in breathing?"
We were still going up, and I was beginning to
feel queer.
" Here is an oxygen bag," said one of the young
monkeys.
The old monkey shook his head, and pulled the
valve rope. " Don't give it to him. We will
descend."
A cloud bank sailed below us, soft and fleecy like
cotton wool. I felt better now, and began to think
over my situation. Was this I, myself, Sam Emer-
son, up here in the clouds with a car full of animals ?
and I pinched my arm.
I hurt myself, and gave a kind of squeal. It
sounded like the blast of a trumpet. I felt ashamed,
for the animals were all laughing at me, even the
Cat, and the gentle swans, who turned their long
necks in amusement.
32 $m*u agaraate*
Now I remembered how plainly we had heard the
earth sounds when we were over the city. Even
though it was night, a kind of hum came up from
it, and in the midst of the hum I could catch single
noises, like the barking of a dog, the cry of a cat, and
the hoot of the cunning, little, gray tufts of owls that
came round the suburbs at night.
Just at present, there were some sailors bawling
a song on a fishing-vessel down below us. I sup-
pose they were in good spirits because they were
going in through the Golden Gate. We could hear
every word of the song :
" Nancy was a tom-boy,
Sarah was a witch,
But Polly was a dandy girl
That carried every stitch
of sail that a sea-bird could carry, and here was a
rover come home for to tarry, with a hey ho, jolly
boys " and so on, a long rigmarole that I couldn't
catch, but I gathered that Polly was the name of
their ship, and I laughed loudly.
My laugh sounded like the roar of a cannon, but
the animals did not make fun of me this time, for
they were all taken up with something in the water
below us.
It was the Japanese mail steamer from San Fran-
cisco, bound for Honolulu, the old monkey told me,
& Togas* gTfltrottflt) tfjt att 33
id it was steaming along at a fine rate, bright with
'hts, and looking very cheerful.
I don't know why, but I am always crazy about
teans of locomotion. Trains and ships stir me
}p like everything, and I had often watched this
?ry steamer passing in and out the Golden Gate.
I knew its name, I knew some of the people on
>ard, and I screamed and waved my cap, and
le old monkey obligingly manipulated the valve
)pe until we were just over the smoke-stacks of
le steamer.
The people on it did not pay the slightest atten-
>n to me, though the air fairly rang with the
>ise I made, and the peals of laughter of the young
mkeys, who seemed to think I was a pretty good
>rt of a joke.
The old monkey scowled at them, then he looked
>und for something for them to do. " Throw out
ie ballast," he said, shortly.
They stopped laughing then, for each one had
take a tin dipper and ladle out allowances of
sand.
Some of it went on the steamer, but no one felt
it, no one saw it. I stared in amazement at a lady
who was lying in a deck chair gazing up at the moon.
She got a dipperful fair in her lap, but she didn't
notice it a particle. I was in the magic circle. I
was cut off from human beings, and I groaned, and
fell back, and held my tongue.
34 ffiors agarafttee
" You are frightened," said the old monkey,
kindly, " but you will soon get over it. Should you
like the Cat to make you visible and be dropped
down on the deck there ? "
"Could Rag go?" I asked.
The monkey shook his head.
" Then. I stay," I said, " I'm going to see this
thing through."
The old monkey nodded approvingly, threw out
half a bag of sand, and we flew up and away like
a bird, beyond the slow old black tortoise in the
water.
"Is this a dirigible balloon?" I asked the old
monkey.
" Yes, but we have been going directly with the
wind. Now we shall mount. Gibbon, the oxygen.
You won't need it long," he said to me.
" How far are we up now ? " I asked.
He looked at an instrument.
" About four miles."
My head felt light again, and to calm myself, I
put out a hand and touched Ragtime. Here was
something familiar. Then I slipped down, and
threw my arm over him. There was no sign of life
in him yet.
" You are cold," said the old monkey, and he gave
me a blanket. I put it half over myself, and half
over Rag. It was fine to have something to curl
mder in that clear, cold, crystal air, and having no
longer any nasty, biting kind of a trouble to keep
le awake, I fell asleep.
When I woke, it was day. I could not stand
the sudden and awful glory of that sun looking
down at me as if it was my creator, so I dropped
ly gaze to earth.
But there wasn't any earth. It was all water.
Tpon my word, I was frightened, and my eyes just
flued themselves to the old monkey's face.
Here was a lovely spot to drop a boy and a dog.
Is is it the P-p-pacific ? " I gasped, " or are
r e in in another world? "
The old monkey chuckled.
" Which do you think it is? "
" I I don't know," I said.
" Well, it is another world," he said.
I stared and gasped for a few more minutes,
'hen I said, " But it is the same old sun, and I
Feel just the same."
The old monkey laughed outright. " Why how
lid you expect to feel ? "
" I don't know, but it sounds queer to say another
rorld. Well, what world is this anyway ? "
" One of many," he said, gravely. " Surely you
lidn't suppose that your little world was the only
inhabited one in this vast universe?"
" I didn't know. I've heard of people having
36 ffioe's ffarattfee
been seen on Mars, but I thought it was all guess-
work."
" Well, don't puzzle too much about it now," he
said, kindly. " I will talk to you again. I haven't
time now, for we are nearly home. I will just say
that this world consists of a system of large, float-
ing islands. We are going to the Island of
Brotherly Love, where all animals from the United
States of North America come immediately after
death. Gibbon, the cloth of gold."
One of the young monkeys respectfully ap-
proached the Cat. She got up, and taking the
cloth of gold from under her, he unfolded it, and
lifting the blanket, spread it over Ragtime's body.
" Now don't touch him for awhile," said the old
monkey. " Just wait and see what will happen,
now that he is in the reviving air of this world."
I drew back. For a long time there wasn't a
movement. Just the shining yellow cloth spread over
my dog's gamey outline. I did not watch our course
any more. I had no eyes for the sky getting more
and more glittering and beautiful above us, and the
water getting more and more beautiful and glittering
below, till our little white balloon seemed to be in
the hollow of a magnificent cup.
No, I was thinking of a little dog spirit, and my
head just ached from staring at the yellow cloth.
I knew what was going to happen. I am not a
M Togagt 8Tf)tottot) fyt &ir 37
-emarkably smart chap naturally, but I was getting
tarpened by contact with these clever animals.
Very soon I saw a tiny morsel of dangling gold
fringe quiver, just quiver, not shake nor move
violently.
It was enough, though. I would have sprung to
ly dog, as a cat springs on a mouse, if the old
lonkey hadn't grabbed me.
Wait still longer, and look about you. We are
jproaching the Island."
I just gave one hasty glance over my shoulder,
teyond us were a number of other balloons, sailing
)out in the air as if it were as common a thing
travel by air in this world, as it is to travel by
md and water in the one we had just left. Below
the sea was alive with leaping, gamboling fishes
bright colours, and in the distance a long shore
r as in sight a green shore with a fringe of white
>reakers and tall palms. There was also a sound
singing, and a joyful confusion of noises a sort
)f barnyard and circus chorus mixture, but I
>uldn't pay attention to it.
All the mind I had was on my dog. I saw those
impact feet kick out, that long flat head raise itself.
saw, saw for I snatched the cloth of gold
;ide. Not all the monkeys in creation could hold
le. Then I had my dog in my arms, and I thought
should die of joy.
38 ffioi'g jiavattfsc
Have I described Rag? No, not yet. Well,
if you want to hear of a beauty, listen.
He was a dead white, thoroughbred animal, only
I never sent him to shows, because they wouldn't
let me in his box with him, and I couldn't have Rag
stand the fuss and misery of a show for all the
prizes in the world. Weight, thirty-five pounds,
chest like a table, strong and broad. Coat, glossy,
short, and stiff; nice little dent down face without
a " stop " between the eyes. Eyes, small, and black
as shoe-buttons, regular steel-trap jaws, tail long
and low-set. Two rags of ears originally cut, and
the rest chewed off in fights Oh, he was a beauty !
Well, I thought I'd go crazy when I felt the
heart beating in him again, and when that pink
tongue went working over my face, round one ear,
via forehead and cheeks, then to the other ear and
back again.
" Rag! Rag! Rag! " I said, " you've been dead,
but now you're alive. I'll never be mad at anything
again, never in my life. I'm jam full of thanks."
" So am I, master," he said.
I nearly fell over the edge of the car into the sea.
So am I, master! Why, Rag was speaking, too !
Somehow or other it had not seemed strange to me
that the monkeys could speak, but that Rag had
found a voice, was the biggest surprise in my life.
" Why, Rag," I gasped, when I recovered my
centre of gravity, "can you talk? Do you know
what I say? "
I've always partly understood you," he said,
>olly, " now I know every word," and his dear
old eyes shone like black stars.
Rag ! Rag ! Rag ! " and I choked and hugged
him till he scarcely had any breath left. Then he
grunted, as he always did when I squeezed him,
md looked round with a comical face.
" Where are we at ? "
" You're resurrected, old fellow," I said, " and this
is your paradise. I'm just calling on you, but I'm
foing to raise rebellion, if I don't get permission
to take you back to 'Frisco with me."
Rag didn't answer me. He was puzzled almost
>ut of his dog senses, and wrinkling his white
forehead in a comical way he had of doing, he was
Jtaring at the dark monkeys and the white swans.
Those grand old birds were singing now such
a beautiful song and stretching out their necks
md their wings, till I thought of the hymn we sing
in church about the bird returning fondly home.
After Rag got done inspecting them, he took in
le Island, and now he was a more flabbergasted
dog than ever.
It was a gorgeous place, and if I shut my eyes
now, I can see those palms and flowers, and hear
those white breakers throwing themselves like big,
powerful dogs along the golden sands.
4o 3*t'u ffatraftjge
But more wonderful than breakers and palms,
for we had them in California, was the crowd of
animals waiting our arrival.
It looked as if this animal heaven was all alive
for the arrival of friends, and that, I found out, was
the exact state of affairs.
Our air-ship had floated over a good-sized green
hill, and the old monkey was throwing out an
anchor. It bit the ground right on top of the hill,
and without a single jar we were hooked and steady.
CHAPTER III.
THE BEAUTIFUL ISLAND
The Cat sprang out first, the monkeys followed,
Rag bounded after them, and I came last.
" Me-ow, me-ow," said something close to my
ankles, " don't you know me, Master Sam? "
I fell back a step. There was a thick fringe of
animals round the hillock, two elephants, goats,
a camel or two, dogs, a royal Bengal tiger, cows,
sheep, horses, hens, rats, mice, rabbits, weasels, and
a lot of other animals sandwiched in between them.
They were nearly all motionless, and it flashed
into my mind that it was etiquette for them all to
stand still, except those animals who recognised
friends on the air-ship.
This cat that pressed forward was an Angora
kitten that my mother had lost from poison a month
before.
" Oh, Rag, I'm glad to see you," she murmured,
purring round him, and arching her back, with
her tail held aloft, and looking as big as ten tails.
41
42 $ot f u ffaratttee
She was a daisy of a cat pure white, long-
haired, and blue-eyed.
" Why, puss, I'm happy to find you here," I
said, and really it seemed just like meeting an old
friend.
" Oh, you nice boy," she said, and she sprang on
my shoulder, and ran her nutmeg-grater of a tongue
over my face, till I laughed and put her down.
Then I just gazed at the other animals, and Rag
gazed too.
" Ton my word, master," he said, in a queer way,
" there's a lamb licking that Bengal tiger's skin.
Wouldn't you think he'd nab the little creature? "
" Oh, Rag," said Pussy, in her funny little voice,
" you've got ever so much to learn. Animals don't
tease each other here. You used to chase every cat
but me. You won't want to chase any cat here.
All the badness will fall away from you."
" I say, Pussy," I remarked, " Rag is a good dog."
" Yes, but he used to hunt cats. I've seen him.
Look, Master Sam, there is another friend."
I haven't said anything about the birds. But
they were there flocks of them. Some perched
away up on the palms, some in lower growing
shrubs pomegranates and little oaks, and fig-trees.
A tiny canary bird had left them, and was circling
round my head such a yellow morsel of a thing.
" Why, Taffy," I said, " are you here, too? "
Qfyt mmtiful Jtelantr
43
" Tweet ! tweet ! tweet ! I've been here for ages,"
le little fellow said, saucily, and he perched on
te tip of my outstretched finger. " Don't you
remember when you were a small boy the wind blew
ly cage over and killed me, and you cried I've
lever forgotten you. It is just sweet to see you
lere," and he twittered, and gently rubbed his beak
>ver my fingers, and fluttered his tiny wings, till
caught him up and hid him against my face.
It made me feel queer and like a girl; actually
lere were tears in my eyes. Here I was, set down
a strange island, and there were creatures that
tew me, and were glad to see me. It seemed
'ery homey, and my heart got lighter than ever.
>h, if mother were only here! She had loved these
-eatures.
" Rag, old fellow," I said, in an undertone, " isn't
lis great ? "
He was grinning from ear to ear. " I never felt
kind of satisfied before," he said. " Seems as
I'd never have a care again. I say, Master Sam,
s step down and speak to those other animals.
ley're all dying to get close to you. My venerable
iriend here says they don't see humans once in a
log's age."
His venerable friend was the old monkey, who
tad been standing behind us. I felt quite flattered,
was a kind of show for them.
44 3ot f & ffataftis*
" Come on then, Rag," I said ; then I gaped at
him. "Why why, Rag," I stammered.
" What's the matter, master? " he said, in alarm.
" Your ears they've grown on again."
He shook his head. " Why, so they have. Now
where did those chewed bits come from ? "
" No animal remains mutilated on the Island,"
said the old monkey, gravely. " Could you see the
condition of some creatures who leave earth, you
would realise how impossible it would be for us
to remain happy while contemplating them. No,
soon after they enter the healing atmosphere of this
World of Islands they are made whole."
I gave a kind of whistle. It seemed to me that
I'd have to let off steam somehow or other, while
taking in all these wonders.
" Tweet ! tweet ! " whispered the little canary on
my shoulder. " Don't you remember, dear Master
Sam, how my wings and legs were broken ? they
are quite well now."
" So they are, you little yellow morsel," I said, and
I took him in my hands, and examined him closely.
" Turn turn, turn," trumpeted one of the elephants,
who was getting impatient, " can you tell me the
latest news from Central Park ? "
I immediately stepped down toward him. He
was the largest of the elephants present, and he ran
his trunk caressingly up and down my back.
" I want to know about my keeper/' he said, in
lis huge voice, " I want to know about my keeper,
>ig Mike McGarvie. I loved that keeper. I want
to see him. Hum, hum," and he trumpeted, loudly,
md raised his head to look over the ocean as if
te would bring the missing man to him.
" I was in Central Park last winter," I began.
" Last winter! " he repeated; " why, I hear every
;w days from him. Has any one heard anything
ibout Mike McGarvie on this trip to the earth? "
" No, no," said the old monkey, soothingly, " per-
laps the next air-ship will contain some one who has
ien him."
I'll go to the bird telegraphy station," said
le elephant, who was a splendid specimen of an
irican beast, and he tramped away, swaying dis-
:ontentedly, and only half listening to the comforting
"emarks of a fawn Jersey cow that ran by his side.
I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't help it.
The old monkey didn't laugh. " I'll tell you that
lephant's story," he said. " He was born in cap-
:ivity, and loved his keeper passionately. When he
ras full grown, he became ill with some hopeless
lisease. It was decided to poison him. His keeper
>rotested, but it was done. Done badly, for they
:ould not regulate the dose of poison for such a big
mimal. Then they tried to shoot him anyway, he
ras three days dying, and his sufferings were such
j6 ffiors jJaratnsc
a shock to his keeper,, that he lost his mind. Now
he is in an asylum. Some day he will die, and some
day the elephant knows he will be transported to
another world. There they will be together."
I was silent, and didn't want to laugh any more.
" Don't you know me ? " said some one, softly,
"don't you remember me?"
I started and looked up. Without thinking, I
had made a few steps toward the circle of animals,
and now a pretty spotted deer was thrusting his
damp nose in my hand.
" I'm the Indian chital from the Park in San
Francisco," the creature went on. " Don't you re-
member you were there that autumn day when the
other deer set upon me, and killed me? You were
only a little boy, and you couldn't get over the
paling, but you raged and stamped, and the last
thing my dying glance rested on was your distorted
little face. I've never forgotten you."
I threw my arm round his neck. I couldn't speak.
Then I turned to the old monkey, and after a time
got my voice. " I feel queer," I said. " What makes
all these animals look at me so ? "
He smiled a kind of grave smile. " The animals
on this part of the Island have nearly all been
used to the companionship of man. He is a divinity
to them, and they will never be perfectly happy
till they meet their former masters."
" And when will that be ? " I asked, eagerly.
He gave a strange far-away look out over the
sea. " No one knows. Away off there is the World
of the Blessed. Every little while a beautiful white
air-ship comes gliding along, and takes away some
of our best animals. That world is also full of
islands, and they are said to be a thousand times
more beautiful than this little paradise."
" Then every animal finds his owner there? "
" Yes, if the owner has already arrived. There
are some very happy meetings there."
" But how is there room for everybody ? " I said.
" People have been dying for thousands of years."
" Don't you remember I told you that there are
other worlds besides this one and yours?" he said,
calmly.
I kept quiet a minute, trying to take it in, then
I said, " Worlds upon worlds? "
" Yes, systems of worlds."
" And all with people on them ? "
" No, not every one," said my new friend. " Not
all are habitable."
"Why, it is enormous to think of," I said; "it
gives a fellow a kind of back-handed blow on his
imagination."
The old monkey looked at me pityingly. " So you
have been supposing that the great Maker of the
universe had only your little sphere to command.
48 ffioe's ffaratttee
You are oh, what are you, and we?" he said,
choking all up, and looking at the sea and land.
" Our worlds," he went on, when he got his
breath, " are only two drops of water in an ocean,
two little stars in the field of the sky. We go on
after death. People and animals, too, are trans-
ferred from one world to another. This satisfies
the love of travel implanted in every breast."
" But when I die, I wish to be with my mother,
my friends," I said, sharply.
" Your wish will be gratified, boy. Do you sup-
pose your Creator would be cruel enough to set you
down in the midst of a savage African tribe where
my forefathers lived? No, families, communities,
races, will be kept together if they wish, and yet
there will be freedom for all; but we will talk of
these matters again. You must be introduced to the
President of the Island."
CHAPTER IV.
THE HOME OF THE SWANS
" I suppose the President is one of your largest
mimals," I said, as we walked along a firm white
>ath running through the grass by the seashore.
The old monkey laughed. " Wait and see. He
is full of dignity, I assure you of that but let us
ove on."
I had stopped a minute to look behind. The throng
>f animals that had gathered to welcome our arrival
r as all moving slowly after us, with their eyes fixed
)n me, and I felt foolish when it came into my head
lat I represented boys and girls, men and women,
jrobably all of them much more important than
lyself persons that they had loved on earth.
However, I couldn't do anything but just be my-
self, so I turned round and walked on.
This was a glorious walk. Above us were the
>alms, beyond us a forest, and on the left hand was
the magnificent sea.
" Look there," said the monkey.
I did look. Up and down the beach a common old
;oat was running, excitedly shaking his head, wag-
49
so ffiot's jiaiatrfse
ging his beard, and occasionally stopping to kick
desperately.
" Just see him," said the monkey, in a queer voice.
We went nearer, and now I saw there were tears
running down the old goat's beard, and that as he
mournfully wagged this beard, he kept muttering
something to himself.
" What is he saying ? " I asked.
" Come nearer and ask him," said the old monkey.
Then he spoke to the goat. " Come, Jerry, hold up
a minute; here is an earth boy just arrived."
" Oh, if I only hadn't ! " muttered the goat ; " oh,
if I only hadn't ! " and he kept on shaking his head,
as if he didn't hear the monkey.
" Don't be foolish, Jerry," said the monkey.
" Look at this boy ; perhaps he can tell you some-
thing of your mistress."
At this the goat stopped running and jumping,
and turned his bleared eyes on me.
" Do you know old Widow McDoodle, of Bangor,
Maine lovely Maine ? "
" I was born near there," I said, " but I never
heard of the Widow."
He gave a kick, and began to run up and down
again, crying harder than ever, and wagging his
old beard, till I thought it would drop off.
"What did he do? what is the matter with
him ? " I asked my friend, the monkey.
Wfyt ffiamt of tfie Stoatts 5 1
Walk on and I'll tell you," he said, in a low
r oice. " It is a very sad tale. He was a lonely
idow's only pet goat. She loved him, and even
it him sleep in her cottage on cold winter nights.
>ne day she went to the well to draw a bucket of
rater. She had just put on a new red wrapper, and
le goat says the instant he saw her leaning over,
le awful thought came into his mind, ' What a good
lance to bowl her over into the well.' He says it
mst have been the red colour exciting him. Any-
way, he couldn't resist the evil thought. He ran
to the old woman, he butted her, and she fell into
le well. He was nearly crazy. He bleated and
Tried on, till neighbours ran and got her out;
ten he went down on his knees and begged her
irdon, but she wouldn't listen to him. She gave
im an awful beating, and sold him the next day.
" He died of grief, and was brought here, and for
le solid year he has run up and down that strip
)f sand, crying and muttering, ' Oh, if I only
ladn't!'"
The old monkey's face was a sight as he finished
lis story. He was so sorry, so kind, but he did for
le. I tried to hold in, but I couldn't, and the next
istant I was in a roar of laughter. I shouted and
stamped, and finally rolled down on the clean, white
md.
I hadn't laughed as much since I played Hillington
52 ffioe'g afrarartrtsi
the brick trick, that is, my hat on the ground over
a brick, he kicking, I watching.
Well, I nearly frightened the old monkey to death.
He thought I had been taken with some inward con-
vulsion, and all the other animals came trotting
up, and stared at him, kind of ugly, as if to say,
'* What have you been doing to this dear little boy? "
I had a lovely time. I rolled and rolled, and
every time I looked up and saw that circle of ani-
mals' heads round me, I just yelled, and rolled some
more.
Rag was the only one that understood me. I saw
him standing grinning from ear to ear. He always
had a keen sense of humour, and then he had been
so much with me that he understood me.
He passed round the word. " Don't mind him.
He always laughs when any one gets hurt."
I heard a low murmur, " Very like a boy," and
then began to feel ashamed of myself in comparison
with all those sympathetic animals, and tried to
sit up.
" The goat amuses him," explained Rag, and
upon my word the old sinner was laughing himself.
I followed his glance over his shoulder. All the
animals were looking at the goat now, and like an
idiot I took another peep at his watery old eyes and
wagging beard.
It set me off again. I suppose I was half-hysteri-
gfie P?omr of tyt Stoans 53
cal from my adventures, and the hot, clean sand was
like a bath to my tired limbs. Anyway, I had
another good time, till Rag whispered to me that
the monkey was making off, whereupon I jumped
up, and ran after him.
Excuse me, sir,'' I said, wiping my eyes, " but
ly grandfather was a great laugher."
The poor goat is much to be pitied," he said,
jverely.
" I'll tell you what'll cure him," I said. " He's
tock full of nonsense now. Bring the Widow to
;e him. He's idolising what do you call it
lealising her."
We don't call it nonsense," said the monkey,
:ill more severely; "we call it sentiment."
The name doesn't cut any figure," I said, im-
ttiently. " You bring the Widow I'll guarantee
'11 shut off those water-works."
The old monkey looked thoughtful, then he said :
Your suggestion may be a good one. I'll mention
to the President. By the way," and he hailed
)ne of the flock of birds that I forgot to say was
lovering over us, " where is the President ? "
The little sparrow-hawk he nodded to, flew close
?side us. His fierce little eyes took me in, his
lottled wings, as beautiful inside as out, waved
^entlv, like two of my mother's choice fans.
" The President is over beyond the Swan Lake,"
54 3ot f # ffaratrise
he said, " near the corral," then he flew back, and
took his place in the procession.
" By the way, Mr. Monkey," I said, " how do
birds of prey get things to eat ? You don't let them
kill anything, I suppose?"
" There isn't a particle of flesh food eaten on this
Island, or in this whole animal world," said the
monkey, " but there are trees and shrubs here that
bear wonderfully sustaining fruits and berries."
" What about killing the trees ? " I said, jokingly ;
" you're such particular people here, that I should
not think you would want to kill anything."
The old monkey's face lighted up. " I have heard
that in advanced stages of life or death, as you would
call it, a tree when it is struck will cry out, and a
flower will bend its head and weep if you hurt it."
I gathered myself up as if I didn't want to touch
any growing thing about me.
The monkey smiled. " Do not be afraid. Our
vegetation has not progressed so far. If a tree
dies here, we cut it down, but I must say that
we don't pull flowers as earthly people do, and
cruelly throw them on the ground to die. We regard
that as demoralising, but come this way," and
waving his hand to the animals behind as a sign
that they were not to follow us further, he abruptly
turned into a path leading from the ocean to the
forest.
3Epg ?l?omc of tf)e Stoatis ss
" Never mind, I'll see you later," I said, waving
my own hand to the disappointed faces in our rear.
" I'll see you later. He'll bring me back." Then
I ran after the monkey, and said, politely, " By the
way, what is your name? "
" Soko."
" You are a good-sized monkey."
" I am not a monkey. I am a man-like ape a
chimpanzee. Have you ever looked into the history
of apes and monkeys ? "
" Never."
" It would repay you. The chimpanzees are very
proud of their bodily structure. We are more like
man than any other apes."
" When I go home," I said, " I'll look into this
monkey business. I suppose you have no books on
the Island?"
" Oh, yes, we have a number. They have been
brought from earth on the air-ships."
" And are all the animals as clever as you ? "
" They are like human beings. Some like study,
some don't care for it, but just look there."
Oh, what a sight! I am only a boy, but I felt
like an angel. Very beautiful old trees stood over
us. It seemed to me that their hanging arms were
trying to smooth my shoulders, and birds, birds,
birds, were everywhere, peeping at me, and talking
to each other in their own language that I did not
understand.
I haven't the gift to describe it properly, but
everything felt so kind, and the wood was just
beautiful. Lots of the trees and shrubs I recognised,
lots I didn't, and I couldn't make out which were
earthly, and which were heavenly.
" Look here! " I said to Soko, " when I left the
East, and we went to California, the first thing I
wanted to do was to get into the woods. The
fellows took me up a canyon, they showed me a
creek, and upon my word, every single flower and
shrvb there was new to me. Now I can't make out
whether these are magic things here, or whether they
may be growths I'm not acquainted with."
" Every growing thing on this Island resembles
some other growing thing in your world," said Soko.
" There is nothing magic about our trees and flowers.
I don't know why it is that mortals always imagine
that in any kind of a future state, things must be
reversed. A new world is only the old world made
over good things left, bad ones taken out."
He made me feel comfortable. " I am at home
in this heaven," I said. " I would be all upset if
I found myself in a place where trees were growing
with their roots in the air, and people were walking
en their heads oh, what a glorious lake ! What
do you call it ? "
" The home of the swans," said the monkey, or
the ape, as I suppose I must call him, " our whis-
tling swans, and white swans, and black swans."
I just gasped I wish I had some new adjectives
to describe the place before me. I don't seem to
lack words when I'm running straight ahead with
talk, but when I come to a description I miss them.
There's a dictionary beside me just chock full of
rords, but I can't seem to make them fit in, and
ist have to use the same old ones " beautiful,"
specially.
Well, here goes I'll do the best I can with plain
iguage. Imagine a lake in the woods, very quiet,
iry still a beautiful lake just heaps of flowers,
and blue, and green no, the leaves were
een. Well, all colours of flowers bending, and
tiling, and nodding at themselves in the lake, and
irk shrubs behind them, and trees behind the
irubs, and everything calm and lovely, and dozens
white swans gliding through the water and trail-
)g after them such sooty little dolls of swans.
Oh, you daisy things," I cried, stretching out
ly hands to them like a girl.
I didn't expect them to come up to me, but they
id. They let me fuss with their feathers, and
:amine their bills. Some had red bills with a
)lack knob, that Soko said was called a " berry,"
)me had bills black at the tip and lemon yellow
>out the nostrils.
I felt as if I could live and die in this swans
paradise, but the old ape urged me on.
s8 3*v# ffaraaise
" Where is the President, Dulce? " he asked one
of the swans that had come with our air-ship.
I winked something damp out of my eyes. She
looked like my mother, as she queened it round that
lake with one sooty dab of brown beside her.
" Over there," she said, and she bowed her beau-
tiful neck toward a winding path.
" May I call again ? " I whispered, as she pressed
her breast against the moss to reach my hand.
" As often as you like, dear boy," she said, like
a lady, and with a final squeeze of her soft throat,
I ran on after the ape.
He was journeying through the underbrush, pick-
ing big white raspberries as he went.
I imitated him. " Nothing magic about these," I
said.
He gave me a half-moon grin from his enormous
old face. " The only magic thing about our vege-
tation is, that products of temperate and tropic zones
all grow together for the good of our mixed assembly
of animals."
" But if there are only animals from the United
States of America, why do I see so many African
and Asiatic creatures here ? "
" There are not many in proportion, but creatures
from warm climates have a way of spreading them-
selves. I should have said that all the animals
that die in the Union come here, that is, unless they
fftje ffiome of tfie Stoans 59
prefer to go to their own people in other islands. I
was happier to come here after death, than to go to
some island where I would be with my ancestors
'horn I had never known. I lived my life
imong American animals. I prefer them."
" Where were you born ? "
" In a monkey-house in a southern city."
" Were you always kept in captivity ? "
" Always."
"How did you die?"
" I went mad from the smallness of my cage."
" I guess animals suffer a lot that way."
He shuddered. " They suffer unspeakably but
here is the President."
CHAPTER V.
A FIGHT WITH AN ANARCHIST
We had come to a small green clearing in the
forest. An African elephant with huge ears was
thrashing about on the grass, trumpeting, waving
his trunk, and cutting up generally.
" Is that your President ? " I asked.
" That crazy thing ! " and the ape gave me a
pitying glance.
"He is so large; I thought he must be."
" More muscle than brain," said the ape, sharply.
" No, there is the President," and he pointed to a
group on a little green knoll to one side of the
clearing.
I looked for myself. A sturdy, medium-sized dog
sat under the trees. He had a following of a smaller
dog something like himself, six pups, a liver and
white field-spaniel, an Irish setter, a fox terrier,
and a wolf, a white rat, a cur dog, a snake on the
cur's back, and several horses.
" Yes. that is our President," said the monkey,
proudly.
60
& iFigtlt toittj an ^narcflist 61
"That small-sized brown dog?"
" Dignity isn't bounded by inches nor feet."
" I guess not, if you have that small animal to
rule over you. I thought you'd have a hippopotamus
at least."
Is not the dog the nearest friend and companion
of man? "
I looked down at Rag. " I believe you're right."
" And hasn't he by constant association with man
learned to be more like him than any other animal ? "
You're right again. But that dog isn't even a
thoroughbred."
" A good mongrel is the best thoroughbred."
" Seems to me I've seen him before," I said, in a
mzzled way.
" Perhaps you've heard of him."
"What's his name?"
" Joe Beautiful Joe."
" Joe, old Joe," I gasped. " Of course I've read
f him, but he's a story-book dog. I thought this
>aradise was only for real animals."
Can't an animal be a real animal and a story-
>ok animal, too? "
" The book said he was real, still I didn't believe
it."
" Well, he truly was a real dog people used to
read his story, then go to see his living self. He
died a year or two ago, and we brought him here
62 $ot f 8 jiarattfst
in an air-ship. His false body is buried near his
home, and if you choose, you can see it when you
go back to America."
" Well, well," I said, in astonishment ; then I
stared at Joe. There he sat, well-preserved, firm-
looking, a wise old dog, with his missing bits of
ears and tail grown on again. However, I couldn't
see any Presidential dignity about him.
" A queen died some time ago in Europe," said
Soko, " a queen who was not a very large woman,
yet every one who went near her said she was full of
dignity and majesty. Wait till you get near old Joe.
You will see that he is a ruler."
" It was a fine thing for you to make him your
President after the hard time he had on earth," I
said, " but I vow I can't see anything wonderful
about him."
" Watch him then," said Soko.
I did watch. Joe never looked at me, and the
animals about him were too much taken up with
the elephant's antics to turn round.
"What's the matter with the beast?" I asked,
when we had for some time stared at him thrashing
round, throwing up earth and digging his tusks
into the roots of trees.
" He's an Anarchist," said Soko, " only came here
yesterday."
" An Anarchist among wild animals ? "
"THE ELEPHANT WAS AN AWFUL LOOKING BEAST"
& if igfrt toitf) an atnartfrtst 63
' He is doubly wild. He was put out of the
world because he wouldn't submit to law and order.
It makes him crazy to find a model government
lere. Look out he's coming this way."
We fell back a little, but the President and his
friends did not move.
The elephant was an awful looking beast. His
tiny eyes shone like spots of flame. He was muddy
md earthy, as if he had thrown water over himself,
ind then rolled on the ground, and the air about
lim was fairly hot with rage.
I was concerned for the brave old dog. I had
lade friends with him through the story of his
life, and without thinking, I called out, " Take
care, Joe."
The old fellow turned. His brown face fairly
>eamed; then he looked squarely at the advancing
east.
For some reason or other the lunatic stopped
tramping and waving his trunk in the air.
"Brother!" said Joe, kindly.
The elephant raved up and down before him.
I ain't your brother. You're a boss and a liar."
"Brother, what do you want?" said Joe again,
and a kind of shiver ran down my back as he said
it. There was power in the old dog's voice.
The elephant tossed his trunk in the air and
waved his tusks. " I want equal rights, equal divi-
64 $*t*u ffaraatse
sion of labour, equal division of property, govern-
ment by the animals as a whole, not by one dirty,
low-down cur."
" Stupid brute! " said the ape, angrily, in my ear.
" We have hardly any machinery of government
and what we have is rabidly democratic."
The elephant was worse again, and now the most
of Joe's following had taken refuge behind trees.
The old dog still sat on the knoll as if he disdained
to move. He was very quiet, very sorrowful, and
the elephant acted as if he were dying to kill him,
but didn't quite dare.
At last Joe turned round. " It is of no use, he is
utterly unreasonable. Send for the good elephants."
A whole flock of different kinds of birds, that had
been perched on the trees overhead to watch the
sorry spectacle, flew away like the wind at Joe's
word.
" What does that mean? " I asked my guide.
" The good elephants will surround the bad one.
If he resists, they will force him into a big corral
that we built yonder, under those oaks, for refrac-
tory animals."
" Will you send him back to earth ? "
The ape shivered. " No, that would be toe great
punishment. He will be sent to the Isle of Pro-
bation."
"The Isle of Probation? Where is that?"
& iFigtjt toitft an &narcfrtet 6s
" It is another island, much smaller than this an
international spot where bad animals from all this
world are sent. They are all raging anarchists,
murderers, thieves, and other misguided ones.
Nothing cures them like a dose of themselves. In
a short time they invariably beg to be sent back
to the island they came from, where they behave
themselves ever afterwards. There is an Isle of
Probation dog," and he pointed to the cur near
Joe, " that Bruno."
" Bruno," I said ; " not the Bruno in ' Beautiful
Joe,' who was so bad that Mr. Wood had to shoot
him?"
" The same he is a good dog now and devoted
to Joe."
" I should like to speak to him."
The ape smiled. " Wait till this elephant busi-
ness is over. Bruno is deep in that bunch of rhodo-
dendrons just now. Here come our warriors
aren't they fine ? "
A brace of Asiatic elephants were loping down
toward the green clearing. Their small ears were
wa ggg, their loose skin was wriggling, till their
rounded old backs looked as if they had been
ploughed.
f : Good boys, Sumatra and Borneo," said the ape,
I and look at Bengal coming to help them."
When the elephants ran, their posts of feet came
66 $ot f u tyav&Xfiut
plump, plump down on the earth. The beautiful
creature beside them leaped through the air like
a cat. His eyes were two spots of light, and as he
leaped, we could see, on the under part of his dark
striped body, fur that was as white as milk.
" Now the Anarchist is dished," said Soko, coolly.
" He might as well give in."
He didn't give in, though, for a few minutes. He
steamed up to his three foes. He snorted and
screamed, he bellowed and thumped the ground, and
I got all of a perspiration. Imagine a fight between
three elephants and a tiger!
But it wasn't as lively as I hoped it would be.
It was more like a game played by rule. And there
was too much mercy in it for fun that is, speaking
as a boy on earth, not in paradise.
The tiger sprang on and off the Anarchist's back
as if he were doing duty work in a gymnasium. I
could have watched him for ever, he was so supple,
and while he did the graceful act, Sumatra and
Borneo seesawed and crowded and pushed, till they
got the Anarchist away from the greensward and
rammed against the trees.
It was funny to see them the three big creatures
fighting with their three trunks in the air.
" Why don't they bang each other with them ? |
I asked the ape.
" They might hurt them. The trunk is exceed-
& jPtgfrt toitfl an &natrcjitet 67
ingly sensitive, and exceedingly useful. See, the
Anarchist tries to pin the tiger to the ground with
his tusks. He could give him a tremendous toss
with them, too, if he could catch him."
" He'll never catch that tiger," I said.
" Never see, they have corralled him."
I ran forward. The good elephants had driven
the bad one into the strong enclosure, which was
so covered with green climbing things that one
scarcely knew it was an enclosure.
" Shut the gate," said Joe, sadly.
The good old dog had come forward, and was
looking in at the raving Anarchist.
"Now what happens?" I whispered to the ape.
" He will be left to think over his sins till hunger
has made him manageable. Then he will be shipped
to the Isle of Probation."
" Suppose he repents. Will he be allowed to
stay?"
" Certainly, but Anarchists don't usually repent
without a taste of Probation. We don't want any
foolish sentiment, even in Paradise."
CHAPTER VI.
AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT
All the animals and birds round about were
staring through the wattles at the captured elephant
all but Joe. He came up to me the good old
dog.
I looked down at him ; then I dropped on my knees
to be on a level with him.
Something shone out of that old dog's face, some
force that made me feel, " Well, here's an animal
that's only an animal, and yet he knows more than
I do."
" You old boy ! " I said, and forgetting about
his Presidential dignity, and treating him just as
if he were a common dog, I threw my arm over
his shoulder, and drew him toward me. " You
good old dog, I never expected to stroke your back."
Joe's eyes were full of tears, upon my word they
were, and there was something in his glance, some
peculiar light, telling me that, hearty and jolly and
glad to see me as the other animals had been, there
68
,
wasn't one of them to whom my visit meant as much
as it did to Joe.
" You always were half-human, old fellow/' I
said. " You have lots of friends, do you know it? "
Still that same strange, steady glow in his eyes.
" If I could have some human beings here ! " he said.
" I'm happy, quite happy, and yet it seems to me
sometimes that I cannot wait for my dear Miss Laura
and Mr. Harry, and the rest of the Morris family."
" They will come to you sometime, Joe," I said,
rubbing his head. " You don't want them to die."
" No, no," he said, chokingly. " The earthly life
is very sad at times, yet there are bright spots.
Let them accomplish their journey, but how glad I
shall be when I hear that they have gone to the
World of the Blessed. When birds send word from
earth of Miss Laura crying, it seems to me I shall
go crazy. Think of tears in her gentle eyes. She
that never hurt any one ! "
" Never mind, Joe," I said. " There's an end to
everything. Some day you will get what you want."
He licked my hand. " You are a dear boy. I've
heard how you stand up for persecuted animals,
and when your heart was nearly broken over your
dog's death, we all wanted to have you come here,
Soko especially."
" Joe," I said, " you spoke just now about birds
sending messages from earth. How do they do it? "
70 %*t'u ffatratrige
"You have heard of wireless telegraphy?"
" Yes, Joe."
" Well, we have bird telegraphy. Birds fly to
given points, and sing news all over the worlds
from their beautiful throats. Thus we are kept
posted."
" Goodness ! " I said. " I've seen birds sitting
on tree-tops nearly breaking their little windpipes.
Do you suppose they were telegraphing?"
" Very likely but I am forgetting myself. See-
ing a dear human being has made me weak. Jess,"
he said, raising his voice, " don't you want to meet
one of our earth friends?"
The comfortable looking little dog that resembled
him waddled up.
" Why, Joe," I exclaimed, " this isn't your
mother, is it? poor Jess, who was abused by
Jenkins ? "
He nodded, and the small, fat dog behind him
smiled so widely that she showed every white tooth
in her little head. " Yes, I am Jess, and here are
my pups," she said, in a pretty voice.
" Hello, boys," I said, as the six of them came
scrambling over each other to me. " There's no
Jenkins here, is there? "
They wagged their little heads; then, too full of
fun to keep still for a minute, they went rolling
and tumbling over each other about the grass.
" It is a good while since they were pups," I said,
" if the story of your life is true. Isn't it time
they grew up? "
He curled his dear old lip in a dog laugh. " Oh,
yes, but remember, my boy, you are still in time,
and we have entered upon eternity. Think of the
duration, or the want of duration of our lives.
Puppyhood is immensely prolonged."
" But you are in Paradise, and you are not a
puppy."
" No, Master Sam ; I could not go back to puppy-
hood just now and be happy. I like to be an old
dog without the infirmities of age. But," and he
grew thoughtful, and looked away out over the
sparkling sea, in the peculiar way that the animals
all looked, " I have heard that in a future state, after
ages and ages, there is a re-birth and a re-growing,
but I do not know. We have so much to learn, so
much that is improving and delightful, and that
keeps our minds occupied. I often think that if, to
us, these unfoldings are so wonderful, what will
they be to you beings of a higher order. I often,
often think about it," and he wagged his old head
wisely.
Then his eye fell upon Soko, who with every long
hair in the dunnish fuzz around his dark face stick-
ing out with pleasure, was watching us, eagerly.
" Ah, Soko, my trusty lieutenant," he said, " you
are there."
72 ffoe's flarafrtee
" Why, Joe," I said, " you were a President a
minute ago, and now you sound like an admiral or
a general."
" States and dignities don't count much with us,"
said the old fellow, smiling at me, " and I fear we
get them mixed. We are a republic, pure and
simple. I am nominal head, but all the others are
with me. You see there are no jealousies here, no
strivings for office. We are all on an equality."
"You have sorrow, though, Joe; witness the
goat."
He became very grave.
" Send for the woman that owned him, Joe," I
said ; " do send for her."
" Would it please you ? " and his brown eyes
shone at me.
" Down to the ground."
" Very well, Soko, you see to it."
" All right, sir," said the ape.
" And get the boy a comfortable place to sleep
to-night."
" Yes, sir."
" Here's my dog, Joe," I said, pulling Rag
forward, " he hasn't been introduced to you."
I put my hand over my mouth to keep from
laughing. It was just " too sweet for anything,"
as the girls say, to see those two dogs run up to each
other. I was impatient for them to get on their
hind legs. They seemed just like a pair of boys
to me, now that they could speak. But they didn't.
They touched muzzles, and grinned at each other,
and then they were friends.
" This is a boss place, old man," said Rag, easily.
" Say ' Mr. President,' you dog," I muttered
under my breath, and I gave him a push with my
foot.
" Boss place, President," repeated Rag, still more
easily.
" Very boss," replied Joe, gravely. He never
used slang himself, but I believe Joe would lie
down and die before he would hurt anybody's feel-
ings.
" Never saw such goings on," said Rag, " that
elephant fight was scrumptious. Couldn't you give
us something in the line of magic ? My master loves
funny and puzzly things."
Joe's face clouded.
" Shut up," whispered Soko, " Joe doesn't like
anything of that sort."
" I'm keen on magic myself," Rag went on,
unabashed.
I felt ashamed, but I couldn't rebuke him, for he
spoke my thoughts.
Old Joe looked at me lovingly. " You are a real
boy, and boys like magic shows. Come with me,
and we'll interview Her Necromancy."
74 %*t*u ^atraftise
" You go with Soko, Rag," I said, nudging him.
" You're always putting your foot in it."
" Here's gratitude," he said, grumblingly, " and
I sha'n't go with Soko. I'm not going to fall one
step behind you, till we finish sizing up this place."
I was afraid Joe heard him, and tried to make an
excuse for him. " He's a spoiled dog, Joe. Bull
terriers are always saucy, I think."
" He reminds me of Dandy," said Joe, with an
indulgent smile.
" Dandy, Dandy, the tramp," I said, " one of the
dogs in your book ? Where is he ? "
" He died in the book, don't you remember? "
" Oh, yes, he snatched bread from a child, and
her dog fought him I'd like to see him."
" Well, we'll summon him," said Joe, and he
nodded to a sparrow who had been perched near us,
with its head on one side, listening to every word
we said.
" Doesn't he keep to one place here? " I said.
" Oh, no," and Joe laughed, " a tramp on earth
will be a tramp in Paradise. The great Ruler of
the universe does not change the proclivities of his
creatures."
"Joe, what are proclivities?" I asked.
" You know there was a race long ago on the
earth called the Latin race ? "
" Yes, Joe."
&n ^ttirtence toitfr tfre ffr* sitrent 75
" Well, this word is formed from two of theirs,
' pro ' forward and ' clivis ' a hill."
" Then proclivities are down-the-hillnesses."
" Exactly."
" Something like backslidings ? "
" No backsliding is going down the wrong
side of the hill. Proclivity is going forward."
" Do you get time to study Latin ? " I asked,
admiringly.
" Oh, yes, we have eternity before us, you know,"
said Joe. " Come, let us go see the Cat."
See the Cat, the Cat, the Cat," croaked some one.
" Take Bella to see the Cat," and a stunning, gray
irrot with red tail feathers flopped to my shoulder.
Upon my word of honour," I said, staggering
ick, " if here isn't that wonderful bird, Beelzebub,
Bella, from Joe's story of his life. How do
ludo, old girl?"
Very well, very well," she said, giving me a
lw to shake. " How's yourself? "
Fine, Bella, all the better for seeing you. Well,
rou're a gay old resurrectionist."
"I'm the belle of the Island, the belle of the
Island," she said, glibly. " Pretty Bella, lovely
Sella, sweet Bella. Give Bella a walk."
I laughed, I roared; there was something so
^impudent and funny about this saucy gray parrot.
She didn't care a bit, but as serene as possible sat
76 ffioi's jiaraOfoc
on my shoulder, only gripping slightly when I stag-
gered from laughing.
" Toby," she called, " come forward ; come see
the earth-boy."
" Toby, Toby," I said to myself. " Who is Toby ?
I seem to remember him."
" Toby," she screamed, " he doesn't know you.
You've grown so handsome, Toby, so be-au-ti-ful,
Toby such a dude, Toby."
" Joe," I whispered, " who was Toby? I forget."
" Don't you remember," he whispered back,
" Toby, Jenkins's horse, the miserable, broken-down
creature, weak in the knees, weak in the back, and
weak all over, that the milkman used to beat all
the time to make him go ? "
" Well, Toby," I said, turning to the plump old
horse, approaching, " I beg your pardon. You're
such a gentleman that I didn't know you."
He rubbed his nose on my shoulder. " Good
boy, I'm glad to see you here."
" No need to ask whether you are happy," I said.
" Happy," he replied, with a thick, contented
laugh, " I never even dreamed of such rich grass
on earth, such peace and quietness to eat it in. Do
you remember Fleetfoot? He's my greatest chum
now."
" Fleetfoot oh, yes, he was the chestnut-col-
oured colt in Joe's story, the pet of Mr. Harry who
n ^tttrimtt toitfr fyt ^vtutatnt 77
married Miss Laura. He could do tricks, couldn't
he?"
" He does them yet," said Toby, with an admiring
smile, and immediately the brown-eyed beauty
stepped forward. He, of course, was a smarter
looking horse than Toby, and he was as graceful
as a deer. The way he came up, pawing and bowing,
made us all laugh.
Bella screamed with delight. " Oh, my, oh, my,
what a face, what a form, the King of Dudes.
Where's my gentleman, where's Davy the rat?
Find Davy, some one. Davy, Da-vy, Da-vy,
Da-a-a-a-vy ! "
The pink-eyed white rat came scurrying from
under some fig-trees, where he had been stuffing
himself.
" Come, Davy," shrieked Bella, in a gale of merri-
ment. " Come show your paces. Jump for Bella,
dear Bella, and the pretty boy who has come to
see you."
" That rat is a simpleton," grumbled old Toby
in my ear. " He believes every word that Bella
says."
Davy was as fat as a pig, but he was as much
Bella's slave in death as he had been in life, old Joe
whispered, and round and round the ground he went,
leaping and flying through the air as if he had
wings.
I thought the parrot would suffocate herself laugh-
78 3ot f u ffatraatee
ing. She clutched my shoulder with her claws, and
between her shrieks she would call out, " Faster,
Davy, faster, faster ! "
By and by the rat gave out, and fell in a heap.
" Fan him, some one," said Bella, coolly, recover-
ing herself. " Throw water on him."
No one did, and she screamed : " Sumatra,
Borneo, have you got any water in your reservoirs ? "
I didn't know what she meant, but I kept a still
tongue in my head, thinking I would find out.
Dear old Joe saw my fix, though, and he mur-
mured in my ear : " An elephant has a stomach
something like a camel's. He has a chamber in it
that can be cut off from the digestive cavity. In
this chamber he can store several gallons of water.
Our elephants are very fond of giving themselves
shbwer baths through their trunks in this way."
I looked across the green clearing. The two
elephants, Sumatra and Borneo, were keeping guard
over their prisoner, who was thrashing about inside
his green barriers. Close to them, the tiger was
lying on the ground, licking some slight wounds
he had received.
Bella was a kind of tease among the animals, for
when the elephants heard her shrill voice, they be-
gan some kind of grumbling talk in their own lan-
guage that sounded like, " You go. No, I won't
you go no, you."
^n gtttttew* toitfr tfie ffresttrgnt 79
However, at last, the smaller one of them got up
he had been lying with his hind legs extended
backward, like a person kneeling, and he set his two
or three tons of flesh in motion without any fuss.
Then he waddled over to us, and, extending his
trunk, gave poor Davy such a deluge of water that
he was quite washed away.
" Where's my rat?" said Bella, skipping from
my shoulder, and looking under every bush and
tuft of grass near by. " Where's my rat ? You
great, big, hateful, ugly Borneo, I wish I could kill
you," and she flew to his broad back and began
digging her sharp beak into his hide.
The elephant made a big, rumbling noise inside
him that sounded like laughter. Then he swung
himself back to his comrade.
Bella was on the ground again. " Davy, Davy,
dear, dear Davy, sweet Davy, precious Davy,
where's Bella's rat, her angel rat?"
" Ba, ba, ba," said another distressed voice,
" where's my tiger, my tiger brother ? I'm cold and
lonely without him."
Ragtime snickered beside me. " Ton my word,
there's the tiger's baby, looking for his keeper."
It was a fetching little lamb that careered over
the grass and ambled right up to Joe. A stupid,
little lamb, for it never saw the tiger lying right
before it.
8o ffiors ffatraftise
No, it went up to Joe, with the most beautiful,
innocent look you ever saw, and bleated out a piti-
ful story about losing his friend.
It was all in ba's and ma's, but I understood.
Lamb talk or any domestic creature's talk is easy
compared with wild beast talk.
It was funny to see the tiger, in the minute that
Joe took to tell the lamb about the combat with the
Anarchist.
Mr. Bengal lay with his body on the ground,
and his head raised slightly, and he looked for all
the world like a huge, good-natured, happy cat.
His handsome tail just moved slightly, then he
half got up, as if to say, " What are you keeping
my lamb for ? " fell back again, as if he thought,
" Oh, you're all right, anyway," and then the lamb
went skipping to him.
The tiger didn't make any fuss. He just opened
his paws a little, and it was as good as a play to
see the lamb snuggle up to him. I noticed that
Bengal stopped licking himself in the place where
the lamb put its head, though there were several
raw spots there.
" Look here ! look at that ! " yelled Bella, and drew
all our attention to her.
She had Davy by the back of the neck, and was
dragging him before Joe.
"He isn't dead, is he?" I asked.
THE LAMB WENT SKIPPING TO HIM"
" Oh, no," said Joe, " he can't die here. He's
only overtired. It's Bella's own fault, for keeping
tim running. Bella, let him lie in the shade. Don't
rorry him. He will come to."
Bella sat back on her tail and stared at him. " I'd
ike to kill that Borneo."
" Come," said Joe to me; " if we are to see the
it, we ought to be moving on."
"Wait for me," screamed Bella. "I like that
>y. I want to go, too. Some one carry Davy.
ho'll carry Davy? Who'll carry my rat?"
" Give him to me," I said; " I'll put him in my
)cket."
" Your pocket's not warm enough. Where's a
iangaroo? Where's Aunt Australia? Aus-tra-
! "
A mild- faced Kangaroo came hopping out of the
>rest.
" She's got young ones in her pouch," said Toby.
" Chuck 'em out," shrieked Bella, " let 'em walk,
[ere, Aunt Australia, put Davy in your bag.
ilia's going to see the Cat, and Davy must go,
The Kangaroo obligingly put her young ones on
te ground, and took Davy in. When Bella's tongue
r as still, our procession formed for the home of the
it.
I was quite excited. Earthly magic was pretty
good, but what must the magic of Paradise be?
CHAPTER VII.
ON THE WAY TO THE CAT'S HOME
Our train swelled as we went along, and most
of the animals that Soko had waved home came
dropping in by twos and threes.
" You will be the real President of the Island
while you are here," said old Joe, in a comfortable
voice.
" I don't want to cut you out, Joe," I said.
" Human beings will always command where
animals are concerned, and I am well pleased to have
it so, dear boy," he replied.
" I believe you, Joe you're a sensible old dog
no nonsense about you,"
We marched on, Joe and I in front. Now we
were under fragrant bay-trees reminding me of my
adopted home in California. There was a tangle
of wild roses, lupins, and ferns under them, and not
far away a little brook was singing softly to itself.
" This part of the wood is especially for Cali-
fornian animals," said Joe, as if reading my
thoughts, " soon you will see some bare, brown hills,
82
n tyt azaiag to tfie eat'g 3%omt 8 3
here squirrels and gophers live. There is also a
lountain for lions, bears, and snakes."
I should like to see a real, good, resurrected rat-
ler," I said, " and hear him rattle, without feeling
'd got to run."
" There is a rattler on the mountain," said Joe,
called Old Gray Beard, but you'd likely run, for
;'s a snake with a keen sense of humour. He lives
a cave, and has a numerous family, but even to
le youngest great-great-great-grandchild, they all
irry when they hear a stranger coming, to let him
LOW."
What for? To bite them to death?"
" Master Sam," said Joe, reproachfully, " you
irget we are in a land where death is unknown."
" Beg pardon, Joe. Tell me what the snake does
10?"
He is a mischievous old fellow, as I told you.
[e runs out, he rattles, then he springs. His vie-
always runs, unless it is a creature that has been
;re for years, because it is second nature with us
protect ourselves, and it takes an age to outlive
After a time, when the rattler gets done laugh-
ig, he cries out to the runner to stop. Then he
iplains that it was all a joke; but it is a joke that
keeping him away from his second paradise, and
>metimes I think we'll have to send him to the
>le of Probation."
84 ffiot's ffarafrtee
" He likes his fun better than his prosperity."
" And he is so old," said Joe, in a disgusted voice,
" a great-great-great-grandfather! "
" So no animals die here, Joe? " I said.
" Not one."
" Well, suppose that Anarchist elephant to-day
had torn the tiger to pieces ? "
" He would not have been allowed, but even
if he had, the vital spark would be left. The
tiger would revive. There can be no death here."
" Only suffering."
" Very little suffering, unless the animals violate
well-known laws. In future states there will not
be suffering."
"And they fight here?"
" There is but little fighting. I wonder that there
is not more. You see the animals come here direct
from earth, many of them with evil passions. That
there is not more quarrelling speaks loudly in favour
of a good environment. Look, there is Squirrel
Hill."
I did look, and like that old boy in Roman his-
tory, I could have stumbled and kissed the ground.
This was a bit of California. There was a grain
field, a grove of live-oaks, and a dandy hill for the
squirrels and gophers, with never a rancher to fight
them for the grain.
"Any poison oak, Joe?" I asked.
n fyt g&ag to ttie at*g IDomt 85
He smiled. " Plenty of it, but it doesn't poison."
We walked round the hill, the animals all coming
out of their burrows to stare at us, and to chirrup to
one another that there was company.
Behind the hill was a winding road, fronting a
magnificent plain, and a twisting river.
There was no sign of house, or barn, or human
creature anywhere, but the plains were alive with
animals of different kinds, and the air was so clear
that I could even see them bathing in the smiling
river.
" Let us sit down here a little while," said Joe,
" and admire the view. I dare say you are tired
and hungry, too, perhaps," he added.
" I'm not tired, Joe," I said. " I feel as if I
could leap over this hill and back again, and vault
the plain and river in three jumps, but I am most
powerful hungry I've a kind of feeling as if I'd
been wound round a drum."
" I know that feeling," said Joe, gravely. " I
had it all the time when I was a puppy. What
would you like? "
" Roasted chicken and sweet potatoes, a slice of
pork, and turnip, and cold tongue, and celery, and
carrots, and beets, and squash pie, and ice-cream."
" Bring a chicken, some one," said Joe, turning
his head.
He and I sat with our faces toward the noble view.
86 $*t*u ffiarattig*
All the birds and beasts following us had politely
grouped themselves behind.
I looked over my shoulder. A brown and white
spaniel was hurrying toward the wood.
" You're going to get fooled, boy," chuckled Bella,
in my ear.
"Shut up!" I said.
" Naughty boy ! " she screamed, " naughty boy ! "
Then she went on in a wheedling voice, " Do you
know that dog, nice boy, that good spaniel dog
that used to live with Bella?"
" No," I said, " I don't."
" Why, that's Jim," she said, " the sporting dog,
Jim, that the cruel young man fired at and made him
gun-shy. He can carry three eggs in his mouth at
a time. He will bring a chicken for you, boy, a
tender, sweet chicken."
I said nothing more, and we all looked at the
view until old Jim came scurrying back. He had
a plump, white chicken between his jaws, and his
mouth was so soft that he had scarcely ruffled a
feather.
He set it down before Joe, and then modestly ran
behind all the other animals.
" Run, chicken," said Bella, slyly, but the plump
little chicken stood there not a bit frightened, and
keeping one bright eye on Joe, began to smooth
down its feathers.
&n tyt ggfrag to fyt eat's p?owe 8 7
" Has any one a knife? " asked Joe.
A small monkey, who had a belt round his waist,
came forward, and handed Joe a thing made of
stone.
" Thank you, Howler," said Joe; " give it to the
boy."
" It seems pretty sharp. What do you use it
for ? " I asked, playing with it in a silly way.
" For cutting roots and shrubs, young master,"
said the monkey, saluting me ; then he dropped back.
" Come put down your head, little white chicken,"
said Joe. " The boy will have to kill you himself,
for no animal here would do it."
The little creature stopped making her toilet, and
stepping up to a stone laid her head on it.
I was so mad with Joe that I could have stuck the
life into him ; could I strike that bright-eyed thing
>oking up at me so trustingly ?
Take your old knife," I said, and I threw it
long some bushes.
Naughty boy ! " said Bella, from my shoulder,
f naughty boy ! "
I dragged her from her place, and threw her up
into the air.
Such a shrieking and a chattering as she made.
'Bad boy! Cruel boy! you hurt Bella's claw.
*oor Bella where's Davy ? He's a good rat. I'm
:oming, brother," and she made her way to the
mimals behind us.
88 ffiors ffaraftise
But Joe hadn't finished my lesson yet. " Here, pig,
pig," he said.
A pink and white thing ran out from the crowd
behind, the cleanest thing in pigdom that I ever
saw, but before I could lay a hand on him, a glorious,
flaming macaw flew before me, and held suspended
in his beak a bunch of superb Tokay grapes. An-
other macaw brought muscats, an eagle had half a
dozen bananas in his talons. Word had soon got
about that I was hungry.
" Bring also breadfruit, and pineapples," Joe com-
manded ; then good-natured at the sight of so much
food, I caught piggy by the hind leg. " This little
pig goes to market, this little pig stays home," and
I tickled him so hard under his clean little joints,
that he ran off squealing for mercy.
" Don't you like my lunch better than yours ? "
said old Joe, softly, when I had eaten.
" I'm not used to butchering my own dinner," I
said, roughly.
" Some one has to do it," said Joe.
" If I had to slaughter all the animals I eat," I
said, " I'd live on vegetables."
Joe laughed, softly. " I often think of the
wolf slinking to the hut door of the- shepherd, who
was partaking of roast lamb. ' What a fine fuss
there would be, if I were to do that ! ' said the wolf."
" Yes," I said, " we pity animals, then we eat
them. It's queer, isn't it?"
Gu ttie WLup to tfle <&ut f tt %otn* s 9
" I have heard," said Joe, " that on account of
the progress made with regard to laws of health,
and protection of animals, human beings will soon
refuse to eat the more or less tainted flesh food."
" But, good gracious, Joe, what could we do? "
" You who are really not carniverous could get
on better without flesh food than we do and we
are perfectly comfortable without it."
" But animals would overrun the earth ? "
Joe laughed. " Therefore you must eat up super-
fluities. My boy, if everybody gave up eating flesh,
there would not be so many animals bred."
" And where would we get our shoes ? " I said,
sticking out my foot, " and our clothing ? "
" Men are clever enough to invent anything. Look
at the different uses to which paper is put but
you must be thirsty some brook water, some one."
A monkey ran with a gourd, and soon I had
another drink of the crystal water of the Island.
" Come on, Joe," I said, jumping up, " I can
walk to San Francisco now."
Our train of followers started up, and we wound
along down a road skirting the plain below.
All the time I could hear Bella scolding and chat-
tering behind. " Come here, old girl," I called
out.
" Here I am," she cried, brushing my ear with her
soft, gray wings. " Here's Bella, glad to see
you, boy. Is your little temper over, boy ? "
9o ffioe's jJaratifsc
" You hush up/' I said, " or I'll box your ears."
" Davy/' she called, shrilly, " Davy, he sends his
love to you, and are you pretty well ? "
The old Kangaroo, taking this for an invitation,
came hopping alongside with her young ones and
Davy.
"Bella," I said, "how did you happen to die?
I thought parrots lived to be a hundred."
She lost her saucy manner, and her feathers
drooped. " Oh, it was very sad. Bella was caught
napping. She never was afraid of cats, but one day
when she was out in the garden with Mr. Ned, he
went to sleep, and Bella went to sleep, and then a
naughty Miss Pussy came, and she took a mean
advantage of Bella's being asleep, and she jumped
on her, and squeezed her to death, and Mr. Ned
beat the cat, and took Bella away, but she was dead,
stone dead. Poor Bella ! "
"And Davy, how did he die?"
Bella shook her head. " Nobody knows. He
thinks it was a cat, but he isn't sure. Sometimes
he says it was another rat."
" I should think an event like that would have
been impressed on his mind," said Aunt Australia,
unexpectedly and mildly.
" And how did you die, Auntie? " I asked.
" Of thirst, I and my young ones. It was terri-
ble. Everything was baked; it reminded me of a
drought in Australia."
u fyt aroag to fyt ears ffyomt 9*
" Oh, you died in this country?"
" In the United States of America," she corrected,
gently. " I was taken young from my own country.
I was brought up with American animals. At the
last, our menagerie train was crossing a desert. It
broke down; there was a lire, and many animals
were killed. Strangers came around me, and I
hopped away. I looked for water for my babies.
There was none. At last I found a can half-full of
some liquid. I gave it all to them ; then I wandered,
wandered over the desert. My feet got sore, my
tongue cracked. At last I lay down on the hot sand.
My strength was gone. ' I do not know where we
are going,' I said, ' but we will go together/ and
I very gently choked all my young ones. There was
short time of agony. Then there was perfect
liss. I slept, and did not wake till some one held
water-bottle to my lips. I was away up in the
ir in a beautiful, white ship. I could feel my chil-
*en moving in my pouch. The good old ape Soko
'as saying, ' Where shall we take you ? ' ' Take me
fith you,' I said, for I had been with him for a
iort time in New Orleans. Then we came here."
Poor Auntie," I said, " you had a rough time."
But this makes up for it," she said. " This
lakes up for the suffering on earth."
You are a good-natured doll, Aunt Australia,"
tid Bella, shrilly, " a good-natured old doll. Every-
)dy likes you."
92 ffioe's HacaOtec
" Bella," I said, " tell me something that has often
puzzled me about parrots, earthly parrots, not heav-
enly ones. Do they always know what they are
saying? "
" Of course they do," said Bella, briskly.
"I mean do they know what the words mean?
For instance, when a parrot says, ' Good morning/
does he know what that means ? "
" Not a bit of it," replied Bella, " that's abstract,
but he knows what i cracker ' means, 'cause when he
says, ' cracker,' you give him food. I used to know
lots of words. How could I help knowing that ' Joe '
meant ' dog? ' Every time I said it he would look
at me. And I knew ' Davy ' meant ' rat ' but I
was an uncommonly bright parrot," she said,
modestly.
" I guess you were," I said.
" And look here, boy," she added, sharply, " when
in doubt about animals, remember this, they know
more, not less, than you think. Every look, and
movement, and squeak, and gibber, means some-
thing. Every one humans are only beginning to
understand animal and bird talk. See that stupid-
looking green parrot back there on that monkey's
shoulder ? "
" Yes," I said, turning my head.
" I'll just give him a glance," said Bella. " See,
just a half glance. I haven't even spoken to him."
n ttie a&ag to tjjt (gat's 3%omt 93
" You winked,'' I said.
" No, I didn't," said Bella, and indeed she hadn't.
" I just looked as if I had something to tell him,
some piece of news. Now you'll see him come
blundering up here."
Sure enough he did, craning his neck, and with
eyes goggling, for all the world like a curious
person's.
" Get away, you old gossip," screamed Bella, as
he flew beside us, " I haven't a thing to tell you,
except that you look greener than usual."
" You mean bird," I muttered ; then my attention
was called from Bella to the Kangaroo, who was
trembling timidly, and whispering, " There is the
Cat's home. I'm half-afraid to take my children
there."
" Never mind your children ; look after Davy,"
said Bella, sharply. " Is he coming, too? "
" I think he's all right now," said the gentle
Kangaroo, " perhaps I could tumble some of my
young ones in."
" Come up here, Davy," said Bella, " up on this
nice boy's shoulder."
" I won't have him on my shoulder," I said, " it
is bad enough to have you here."
" Put him in your pocket, then. You promised,"
she squawked, as I hesitated.
I let the subdued looking rat slip into my pocket ;
then I raised my eyes.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ABODE OF HER NECROMANCY
We had turned our backs on the grassy meadows
and the river, and were facing a desert. There
seemed to be nothing on it, but sand and heaps of
stones that looked like ruins.
The slippery sand was hard to walk on, compared
with the firm, winding paths, and the smooth green-
sward that we had just left.
" I don't see any house," I said to myself, looking
away off to the rim of the desert where it met the
sky.
" Look again," said Joe, " do you see those
broken pillars ? "
" Oh, yes, a little to the left."
" Well, behind them is a group of doom-palms.
The Cat has her home there under the ground
now let us consider," and he looked anxiously about
him. " Her Necromancy hates to be stared at. This
whole crowd can't go."
A murmur from birds and beasts immediately
arose.
94
3Epe &ttoft* of y%tx TSTmrotnatug 95
" Well," said Joe, diplomatically, " I will make
an exception in favour of the birds. They may all
go, remembering to keep high in the air, and not
to spy all, that is, except the sparrows. Her
Necromancy doesn't like them."
" Why doesn't Pussy like sparrows ? " I whis-
pered to Bella.
" Says they're gossips," said Bella, " and so they
are, hateful little things. They've told lies about
me."
The sparrows looked as mad as fire. However,
there was nothing to be done. Joe was President,
and they had to mind him. Making a subdued
twittering noise like that you hear from earthly
sparrows about bedtime, they flew off a little way,
and, perching on some dried up, old cacti, watched
us going on.
" Do tell me something about this Cat," I said to
Joe.
His old face looked troubled. He hated queer
or mysterious things. He was a very honest dog.
" Her name is Isis, or Moon Face, but the animals
mostly call her ' Her Necromancy.' She has lived
in this Island a long time. No one here knows how
long. She is very fond of accompanying the air-
ships to earth, and we encourage her to do it,
especially if we are to have dealings with mortals,
as in your case."
" Couldn't the apes have made me invisible? "
" No, the animals have very little power over
mortals, though they can do about anything they like
with those of their own kind. Very often they
have most puzzling cases. Suppose an animal has
been almost utterly destroyed our good, perse-
vering apes search until they find something belong-
ing to it, if it is only a hair or a handful of ashes.
When Mrs. Montague's Barry was burned in that
dreadful fire in Fairport, nothing could be found of
him but one tiny leg bone."
" That's the fire in your story where the Italian's
performing animals were destroyed ? "
" Yes, well, Soko took that tiny bone, put it
under the cloth of gold, and Barry was resurrected."
" And can't mortals see the apes when they are
at work?"
" Oh, no, no. They are quite invisible. They
pass in and out among human beings all the time."
" But the Cat, you say, is different."
" Yes," said Joe, and he again looked troubled.
" She was the pet Cat of an Egyptian princess who
was a sorceress, and made a study of unknown
forces, and other peculiar mysteries that I do not
understand. Anyway, she was a very bad lady.
I don't know where she is, but I think it is on
some kind of an Island of Probation in the World
of the Blessed."
arpe gtttotrg of %tt TStecrotnatug 97
" Why was the Cat sent here among these Ameri-
can animals ? " I asked.
" I think she has been on nearly every island in
this World of Islands," said Joe, and he added,
lowering his voice, " I will tell to you what I
would not tell to an animal here. Pussy has I
know been on, not one Isle of Probation, but
several. ,,
" W T hy, what a bad Cat she must be! "
" Yes, she is pretty bad, but she has some good
qualities."
" W r hy, I should think she would upset all your
good animals."
" She has not that kind of badness," said Joe,
still in the same low voice. " Her badness is not
violent like the Anarchist Elephant's. It is all
inside her. I think she has been sent here because
we have some specially good and gentle animals,
and the great Ruler of all things hopes that she
will get some love into her heart. Without love,
she can never progress into a higher state."
" I believe you're the model, Joe," I said, clap-
ping him on the back, " you old bundle of goodness."
Joe blushed or acted as if he were blushing.
" Hush, boy, don't speak so loud. To continue
about Pussy. I think she is improving, for occa-
sionally she shows a little kindliness toward a good,
little white mouse that I gave her for a servant."
98 3ot f u ffaratttee
" Will she mind giving an exhibition of magic
for me?" I asked.
" No, I don't think so. She may even be secretly
pleased. She is very undemonstrative. It is hard
to find out what she really thinks."
While Joe had been speaking, we had come close
up to the pile of stones. Behind them, under the
palms, was a tiny brick pyramid, with a hole in it
large enough for a cat to go in. Beside it was
another hole large enough for a mouse.
" Why don't they both go in the same door? " I
asked.
" The dear only knows," said Joe. " It is some
of the Cat's nonsense. Pussy, Pussy," he said,
going to the larger hole in the pyramid, " Pussy,
will you come out ? "
There was no answer, and we all gathered round
the pyramid. There were Joe, myself, Bella, the
Kangaroo, Ragtime, half a dozen monkeys, three or
four horses, calves, panthers, wolves, foxes, an ox,
a camel, goats, sheep, more pigs than I could count,
and a lot of poultry.
While we all stood gaping at the pyramid, there
was the slightest noise behind us, and turning round,
I saw the Cat behind the pile of stones.
She winked at me, and I almost fell over. She
had been so stiff with me on the way to the Island,
that I felt as if she didn't like me. Now she was
2Tije ^fcoire of 1%tv T$ttvommt$ 99
putting herself on an equality with me, as if to say,
" Just look at those silly animals, goggling at
nothing."
" Pussy, Miss Pussy," said Joe, beseechingly,
" the earthly boy wishes to see you."
" Suppose you turn round," said the Cat, sar-
castically.
All the animals turned their heads, and it was
fun to see their faces. The birds, of course, knew all
the time, and were snickering up on the palms.
Joe looked grave as if he were thinking, " Now,
isn't this just like some of her tricks."
" Madame Moon Face, Your Necromancy, or
Pussy," he said, " whichever you prefer to be called,
I am here to ask you to give an entertainment for
the amusement of our earthly visitor. Will you
do so?"
" Don't I have to do so," she said, coolly, from
her pile of stones, " if the President of the Island
commands? "
" No, you don't," said Joe, firmly. " You know
you don't. You will not submit to any one on this
Island."
" But you know I want you to send a good report
of me over yonder," said the Cat, quite simply, and
with a longing glance across the desert toward the
sea.
All the animals giggled. They were uneasy in
ioo 3*t'u m%x$tiiut
her company, and had been so often fooled by her,
that they didn't believe her when she spoke the truth.
She drew her black brows together, and Joe went
on hastily, " Will you give the entertainment ? "
" Yes."
"And when?"
" To-morrow night."
"And where?"
" In Fifteen Foxes Valley at eight o'clock."
" Very well," said Joe, " thank you," and he was
about to leave, when the Cat spoke again, " Would
the boy like to visit my palace ? "
"Your palace?" said Joe. "Why why, cer-
tainly, if he wishes."
The good, old fellow told me afterward that he
was confused, for she had never before offered to
confer such a favour upon any one.
To tell the truth, I didn't want to go. I was
afraid of her. Everything in the Island seemed
so square and above board, but her Catship, that I
mistrusted her.
"Cold feet!" said the Cat.
Her sneer reminded me of Hillington, and I
called out, " I'm not afraid."
" Come, then," she said, and getting up, she coolly
walked past all the animals present as if she did
not see them, and crawled into the large door in
the pyramid.
atjje atiolre of J%tv TSTmromatug
IOI
" Do you expect me to wriggle in there? " I asked.
" Wait a minute," she replied.
There was a pounding down below, then the
pyramid swung back, as if it were on hinges, and
underneath was a pair of magnificent doors, laid
slopingly in the ground like the old-fashioned out-
side cellar doors in the farmhouses in the East.
These doors were gorgeous and no mistake dull
brown metal with gold pictures on them, and they
were set into a marble wall.
Now I had plenty of room to descend. The door
swung back, and I saw before me a flight of white
marble steps. I ran down them, to show off to
the animals behind.
Rag ran after me.
" Oh, your dog is coming, too, is he? " remarked
the Cat.
" He always goes where I do."
" But he wasn't invited."
" Hello, master," said Rag, " I'm stuck."
I turned round. There the old fellow was grin-
ning from ear to ear, but rigid.
" I've been turned to stone," he said, " never mind
me. Go on, I'm not suffering. I suppose Blackface
will unstone me when she comes back."
' You shouldn't try to enter a lady's house
without permission," said the Cat.
I made a step backward. " You release that dog,
madam, or I'll not go another step."
io2 ffioe's ^starts*
" Will you send him back? M
" Yes."
Rag immediately found the use of his limbs.
" Skip," I said, pointing to the steps. " Stay with
Joe, and if I'm not back in an hour, come after me."
Pussy curled her lip. Then she laughed. The
faces of the animals peering down the doorway were
too funny. They had enough to amuse them till
I came back, for they were gaping at the gorgeous
doors, and the long marble hall as if they never
meant to stop.
" You have a very fine house," I said.
" Yet I'm not happy," said the Cat, with a sigh.
" I knew now she was speaking honestly, so I
looked sympathetic.
" I want my old home and my dear mistress," she
went on " my dear Egyptian princess."
" But there are no Egyptian princesses now."
" My princess was a daughter of the Pharaohs,"
said the Cat, proudly.
" Je whillikens ! " I said. " You must be old.
These American animals must seem like mushrooms
to you."
She hung her head. " I have had a sad story.
My mistress did not do good things. She taught
me to be bad. So closely do we animals follow our
human leaders. She is working out her probation.
So am I. But I cry every night to be reunited to
her, and to be in my old haunts. I hate this Island."
arfre Afloat of y$tx TSte erotnatug 103
" Poor Pussy," I said, softly, and I stooped down
and stroked her fur.
" Don't tell the other animals this," she said,
brokenly, " they don't believe in me. All the cat
was educated out of me by the princess I was
worshipped by human beings. I love to have you
here, though a girl would have been more to my
taste."
I told her I was sorry for her sake I was not a
girl, and all the time we were speaking, we kept
walking down the marble hall. Open doors were on
either hand, and looking into them I could see mag-
ificent rooms with pictures and vases and queer
>rnamental kinds of furniture. And all the paint-
ings and decorations looked odd and square, like
ie pictures in my illustrated Bible.
I felt about a thousand years old, till the hall
came to an end, and then what I saw took all thought
of myself out of my head.
In front of us, the hall widened into a square
courtyard, and this courtyard was about the most
striking thing I ever saw. There was a fountain in
the middle of it, and flowers scarlet, and blue, and
all kinds of colours. I'm a little colour blind, but
they were bright and dazzling, anyway. Well,
around the fountain and flowers, there were
seats, and back of the seats were windows. The
palace was built round this courtyard. All up
io4 $ot f # ^uvuHint
and down were windows, and balconies, and hanging
flower-boxes, and baskets, and strips of gay carpets,
and rugs thrown over railings.
" Why, this is splendid," I said " never saw
anything like it. Now, if you only had some people. "
" People," said the Cat, " oh, yes, certainly,
don't you see them ? " and then I rubbed my eyes.
At nearly every window, there was a dark head,
with long, black hair, and queer, stiff-looking gold
combs and head-dresses, and their heads were nod-
ding, and bowing, and smiling, and I even heard
talk soft, low talk, such as ought to be spoken
in a king's house.
Near at hand, there were women and children,
paddling in the fountain such fat, chubby chil-
dren, but all odd and foreign-looking. I didn't think
they were real, so I went up to one fellow playing
with some goldfish, and nipped his shoulder.
The flesh felt firm just like mine, and he screamed
" Ouch ! " and turned and gave me such a crack.
The Cat was showing every one of her shining
white teeth at me. Those teeth didn't look many
thousands of years old. Then she said, " We must
hurry on, if you don't want to spend more than an
hour here."
We went on, and she showed me all kinds of
things. Big halls with gold and collections of
precious stones, and for the life of me, I couldn't
artie gltiofte of %et yrettrowantg 105
help bawling out, " Oh, how I wish I had some."
11 Fill your pockets," she said, and I assure you I
didn't wait for another invitation. I chose diamonds
mostly. There was a big bracelet I took for mother,
and the middle stone in it was as large as my bantam
hen's eggs. How pleased I thought mother would
be with that stone. Then I picked out a fancy kind
of a head-dress for her diamonds again, but with
a few pearls thrown in. Oh, I was sharp, I assure
you. I just looked round and thought, " Now a
diamond is the most valuable of stones. When I
get back to earth, that will command the highest
price." However, I did sandwich in a few topazes,
rubies, and emeralds.
When my pockets were stuffed, I tightened my
waistband, and poked the jewels down my shirt.
" If I had a basket, I could carry more," I said to
the Cat.
Her lip was curled. " You are a real, human
boy. What can those pretty things do for you on
this Island?"
" May I not take them back to earth ? " I asked,
anxiously.
" Oh, by all means," she said, dryly, " but the
hour is up. We would better get back."
On the way down the marble hall, we met a
beautiful creature coming toward us a haughty
young woman with a touch-me-not air.
106 $*?# patrattig*
"Is that your princess?" I asked, eagerly.
The Cat looked mad, then she began to cry. " My
princess ! No, did I not tell you that I am
separated from her for thousands and thousands of
years ? "
Then she said, snappingly, to this beautiful
creature : " Follow us ! "
I gaped, when the scornful young person fell
meekly in behind that common looking black Cat.
Soon we reached the marble cellar doors. There
was old Joe looking down anxiously, Rag and the
other animals peering over his shoulders.
I looked behind me. Where was the princess?
I wanted Joe to see her. She was gone.
CHAPTER IX.
A LODGE BY THE SEA
Where also was the marble hall, likewise the
flight of steps, and the gorgeous doors?
Upon my word, they were gone too. There I
sat blinking like an idiot, and looking down at the
holes in that dusty pyramid, which was like the
den of an animal, and at the Cat, now rather cross,
with a faded-looking white mouse beside her.
" Till to-morrow, then," said Joe, gravely, " Fif-
teen Foxes Valley eight o'clock."
" All right," snapped the Cat ; then she wheeled
round and disappeared in her pyramid.
Joe turned eagerly to me, " Did you enjoy your-
self, dear boy ? "
" Yes, Joe, but I'm glad you're not a magician.
Such tricks stagger me."
"But you like them?"
" Oh, yes, I love to be fooled and fooled over
again. Just look here," I said in disgust, and I
began heaving out the lumps of coal from my
pockets and shirt front. " I thought these were
diamonds."
107
io8 %*VU ffarafrtee
Joe laughed heartily. " That Cat would deceive
any one. All the time you were gone, she kept us
amused with a little magic creature with sixteen
legs and ten heads, that came leaping and dancing
up and down the marble steps, making faces at us,
and never getting twice in the same position."
" I suppose she just lives in a hole in the ground,"
I said.
" Yes, an underground place. She hypnotised
you, dear boy, and made you see anything she
wanted you to. People on earth do such tricks."
" Yes, I know. I've seen lots of magicians. But
still, Joe, there's something we don't understand
about some tricks, isn't there ? "
" There is, dear boy. There is the spirit world.
Since coming here, I have learned that mortals
puzzle themselves over some phenomena that they
cannot explain, namely, the connection between the
earthly and the unearthly. Some day all these
mysteries will be cleared up for them. I may not
speak too freely to you, since you are to go back
to earth see, here is Dandy."
We had all left Castle Egypt, as some of the
animals called the Cat's home under the doom-palms,
and we were travelling back over the desert.
A handsome brindled bull terrier was trotting
easily over the sand, preceded by the sparrow that
Joe had sent to find him.
gt 7lotrgc tig tfte Sea 109
" Well," he said, as he drew up and saluted Joe,
"you sent for me. What do you want?"
" To introduce you to a boy from America who
has read your story."
" I am charmed to meet him," said Dandy,
elegantly. " Is he a dead boy, or a live boy? "
"A live one," said Joe; "he is going back to
earth in a few days."
" I am glad to see you, Dandy," I said, " for as
I remember you in Joe's story, you belonged to
the race of tramp dogs."
" I belong still," said Dandy, " I hate to be tied
to one place."
" Let me introduce my bull terrier Ragtime," I
said. " I would like you to be friends."
Ragtime stepped forward and made his best bow.
" Well, I can give him some pointers on Para-
dise," said Dandy. " I get over this Island oftener
than any other creature."
" Are you happy here, Dandy ? "
" Yes, almost. I want a master. I wouldn't
stick to one on earth, but I'd even stop tramping if
I could have one here. With your permission, I
will attach myself to you, while you are with us."
His manners were really fine, and as I remem-
bered the story of his life, I recalled the fact that
he had been used to good society.
" I should like to introduce you to my mother,"
no ffoi's ffaratrteir
he said. " She's a dear old lady. I used to hate
her on earth, because she wouldn't stay home and
lick my ears when they were sore, but she's given
up tramping now, and we get on very well together.
I love to roam, but I always want to find her in our
little home when I return."
" I know men like that on earth," I said. " They
tramp, but their womenkind have to sit by the
fire."
" See, there she is," said Dandy, " just heaving
in sight against the horizon."
A fat old bull terrier was indeed wagging along
toward us. She and Dandy and Ragtime were the
only bull terriers I had seen on the Island. They're
pretty lively dogs, and I daresay a good many of
them had to go to the Isle of Probation.
" What is her name ? " I asked, when Dandy's
old mother came travelling up to us.
"Mella," said Dandy. "She doesn't look as
if she'd been run over by a cart and killed, does
she?"
" Is that what happened to her on earth ? "
I asked.
" Yes. Don't you remember Joe tells about it ?
Well, we might as well jog along with you. We
seem to be interrupting the procession. Where are
you going to sleep to-night, Mr. Sam? "
" I don't know," I said.
aiofrflg flg ttie Sea m
Joe overheard him. " Soko is getting a place
ready for the boy."
u I ask, because I'm going to sleep outside your
door," said Dandy, " mind that."
" You shall be first dog of the bedchamber,"
I said.
" You're likely to have a crowd of courtiers," said
I Dandy ; " but remember I spoke first."
" A crowd ! Why, who will want to sleep near
me?"
" Every domestic creature on the Island," said
Dandy, promptly, " and a few wild beasts. You
see, when night-time comes, animals get lonely.
They remember their masters, and you'll have to
play sub. But I'm keeping you from the President
excuse me. I wouldn't stand in Joe's light for an
island," and he politely fell back.
I remembered how kind Joe had been to Dandy
on earth. " Joe," I said, looking down at him, " it
seems queer to have you so small. If I had
my way, I'd swell you to the size of an elephant."
"Would you think any more of me then?" he
asked, with a kind of a shake in his old voice.
" No, Joe, I guess after all it's easier to like the
little things than the big ones, but I'm surprised not
to find you larger. You used to look larger in your
pictures."
" Oh, I was afraid of the photographer's camera,"
n2 ffioe's jJavatrfst
he said. " I used to sit in front of one to please
Miss Laura, but it frightened me terribly. It was
so mysterious now shall we turn a little aside
to see how your lodge is getting on ? "
With our long tail of animals, we turned toward
the seashore. Looking away ahead, past the big
trunks of the trees, I could see animals hurrying
about, and when we got near, I just stood and
stared.
Under the trees, close to the belt of white sand,
that ran round the Island, a large force of monkeys
was working. Upon my word, they seemed like a
swarm of smart, black carpenters. They had put
up a lodge, or wigwam, or camp I don't know
what to call it. Anyway, it had sweet green walls
of some flowering shrubs that just smelt fine, a roof
of thick woven branches, and a big door and two
windows that opened on to the sea.
" Oh, Christmas ! " I said, stopping short. " That
isn't for me, is it? "
" You don't like it ? " said old Joe, anxiously.
" It's scrumptious, but, Joe, what a lot of
bother to make it."
" Bother, oh, no, it is a pleasure to any of us,
to work for you."
" But you're not used to work in Paradise."
"To work," repeated Joe; "my dear boy, we
are never idle, unless we are resting."
ft Hottflc ttj? tfre Sea 113
I was too excited to pursue the subject just then.
I was so excited that I broke into a run, and all
the animals trailed after me, to the lodge.
My mother's Angora cat and the canary Taffy sat
on a tree outside, purring and chirping directions
to the monkeys, and pretending that they knew all
about the way that I liked to have things done.
The monkeys were listening good-naturedly. I
was on them before they heard me. They were
working very busily.
" Soko, old chap," I said, slapping him on the
shoulder, " you're a boss carpenter."
He grinned, and waved his hand toward the
swarm of younger monkeys. " I have good work-
men."
" Well, if this isn't ' just the sweetest,' as the
girls say," I shouted, as I ran inside. There were
two rooms, and the lovely smell of them was
enough to make a fellow want to go to sleep at
once.
" I think we'll leave you here awhile," said old
Joe, thoughtfully. " Lie down and rest. You
are tired and overwrought. Is that couch com-
fortable?"
I threw myself on the bed. I don't know what
it was made of, but it smelt like lemon verbena, and
orange blossoms, and wild thyme, and roses, and
lilies, and bayberry leaves, and pines, and lots of
other nice smells that I couldn't remember.
" Throw his blanket over him," said Joe.
" Why, Joe, old man," I said, " you don't have
stores here, do you ? "
The old dog smiled, and I saw that the blanket
that a young monkey was throwing over me was
of some vegetable fibre.
There I lay, happy as a senator, animals looking
in the window at me, and through the door, crowd-
ing and peering over each others' shoulders, as if
I were some kind of a show.
The tallest had the best of it, and soon I heard
some one squeal, " I can't see. Get off my toes.
Oh, what does he look like?"
Bella burst into laughter. " It's Tiny Tim the
Berkshire, the tiniest of all. Let him in, someone."
" Come, piggy," I shouted. " Come, look at me.
I'm a sight worth seeing."
The animals all made way, and didn't a mite
of a pig come trotting into the room? He raised
himself on his hind legs, ran his little snout along
the edge of my couch, squealed, " Pleasant dreams ! "
then scampered out. He was very fat and jolly
looking, and I heard him squeak all the way out-
side. The animals all seemed to like a joke, and I
think each one gave him a sly push as he went by.
" Now go out, everybody, please," said Joe, be-
seechingly. " We've been crowding the boy ever
since he came. Let him have a little time to him-
self."
& ?i,otfflt flg tfir Sea 115
"AH but me," said Rag, and he lay down by my
bed.
" And me," said Dandy, and he stretched him-
self out beside him.
" And I'm going to stay, for I was his mother's
bird," said Taffy, getting up somewhere among the
leaves on the roof.
" And I was Mrs. Emerson's cat, President Joe,"
mewed the Angora, and she sprang to my pillow,
which was of poppy leaves, soft as velvet.
" And I'd like to see any one put me out," said
Bella, fiercely, and perching herself close to my
ear, she began to sing in a cracked voice:
44 Go to sleep, my darling,
Go to sleep, my pet,
Close your little eyesies,
All your cares forget."
I laughed I roared that cracked voice, that
beak rising and falling, those goo-goo eyes, nearly
killed me.
" Bella, come out," said Joe, decidedly.
"Can't I just get a little bit of myself in?"
rumbled some one at the window, and I saw that the
elephant that wanted Mike McGarvie was hanging
his trunk in the room. " The boy reminds me of
my keeper. I'm going to be his body-guard while
he's here."
n6 %*t*u ffatrafrtee
I tried not to laugh, for it didn't seem polite, but
upon my word of honour, I thought I'd suffocate.
Joe was overborne. Every blessed animal on
the Island seemed to be crowding into that room to
see me go to sleep. He was pushed up close against
ray bed.
" Jump up, old fellow," I said, " you've the best
right here, and if you stay down there, you'll be
crushed."
Then I wiped the tears from my eyes, and tried
to see my way through lions and tigers, sheep
and poultry, dogs, cats, birds, panthers, horses,
cows, etc. Then I up on my bed, and made a
speech.
" Gentlemen and ladies," I said, standing up as
straight as I could, but still not being able to look
down on a gaping old giraffe, that had managed
by hook or by crook, I guess by crook especially, to
insinuate himself into my sleeping quarters. " I
feel highly honoured by your very prompt and
pleasing manner of calling on me at the exact
moment when I entered my new home. I will
return your calls as soon as possible, and looking
forward to seeing you soon again, I must beg the
privilege of* a little time to myself."
Well, I sat down, and everybody applauded my
speech, but no one went out.
" Ba, ba," pleaded some one in the doorway, " let
& Hofrge ttg fyt &tu 117
me in, and my dear tiger. The bad elephant has
gone to sleep, and we want to see the boy. I
think some one might have kept a reserved seat
for my Bengal please don't step on my hoofs
where is the President ? I think we might have had
the private entree. My Bengal has been as public-
spirited as any animal here."
" Oh, law," growled Rag, under my bed, " can't
that lamb talk ! I wish he'd keep his tiger out. I'd
love to worry one of those yaller ears."
I don't know why Rag was so suspicious at first
of that tiger. For a good while, he vowed that
Bengal would eat the lamb sometime when no one
was looking. I found the royal animal just about as
straightforward a beast as there was on the Island.
Well, the crowding went on, until it got to be
awful. Then Joe waxed dictatorial.
" Brothers," he growled, " leave this place. I
am shocked at your want of manners."
Still they wouldn't go, and he whispered to me,
" Didn't I tell you they wouldn't obey me when
there was a human being about? You are the real
President of the Island. Speak to them."
I stood on tiptoe on the bed. I waved my fists. I
thundered : " Get out of here, every mother's son
and daughter of you."
They all went, and I could have bent double to
see them shuffling out tigers, and wolves, and
n8 ffiot's aftarattteg
lions, and foxes., that could have eaten me as an
appetiser before dinner, and never felt me. I
remained standing and ugly, till they had all
disappeared.
" Except Ragtime," I roared, like a bull, as I saw-
that my wrath was sending even my own dog
slinking from the room.
Rag came leaping back, and went under the bed.
" Have a good sleep," said Joe, kindly ; then
he, too, disappeared.
I dropped on my pillow. " Isn't that an eye up
there? " I said to myself, " a tiny eye about as big
as a pinhead? "
" Yes, it is I," piped Taffy the canary "I didn't
go."
" You little beggar weren't you frightened of
me when I yelled so ? "
" Yes, but I hid behind the leaves and waited.
You'll not send me out, seeing I was your mother's
bird?"
" Come down here, you little imp," I said.
" What are you hanging back for ? You haven't
got any one else up there ? "
" Just my little kid brother," said Taffy, " little
Tweet-Tweet. He's very cunning."
" Well, stay, you little wheedler," I said, sleepily.
" What is in this air, Taffy? It is as delicious to
go to sleep as it is to stay awake. Do you have
night here, Taffy, does it get dark ? "
a llottgi ttg tyt &tu 119
" Oh, yes, Master Sam, as black as pitch. Then
we go to sleep."
" Well, good night, or good day for the pres-
ent," I said, drowsily. " All these wonders have
made me sleepy."
" Do not speak of wonders till you see what the
Cat can do," said Taffy. " I hear she is going
to give you an exhibition."
" Is she very wonderful ? " I asked.
I had to prop up my eyelids to keep awake to
hear the little fellow's answer, and even then I
didn't.
I fell asleep, and slept like a log Never a ghost
of a dream.
CHAPTER X.
THE ARRIVAL OF MALTA
When I awoke, it was sunrise. Old Joe and
Ragtime lay on the floor, or rather the earth, which
was carpeted with moss and leaves.
Taffy and his little brother had disappeared.
I looked through the open door of my lodge.
What a view! Near at hand, the grass and the
trees, then the sand and the plunging breakers, and
the great stretch of sea, and over all a grand pink
veil of sky.
" Good-morning, Ragtime and Joe," I said, " I've
had a glorious sleep."
" I have been waiting anxiously for you to
awake," said Joe. " It is just about time for the
air-ships to arrive from earth. I expect Malta this
morning."
"Malta," I said, "the gray cat in the story
of your life? "
" Yes, the Maine birds sang of her death to the
birds of the Middle States ; they sang to the Pacific
coast birds, and the Pacific coast birds sang to us.
artje glvvibal of Jftalta iai
They all knew Malta, for she had learned not to harm
birds. Will you please hurry, Master Sam?"
" Haven't I time for just one plunge in those
breakers ? " I asked, going to the door.
" Perhaps if you make haste."
I ran toward the water, throwing off my clothes
as I went.
Rag gathered them all up with his strong, white
teeth, and dragged them out of reach of the waves.
Oh, what water, what air! It seemed to me
there was something in it different from ours on
earth. Something that made me feel lively, and as
if I would never have a pain nor an ache, and
would live for ever.
There were five or six lines of breakers. I dived
through every one of them. I swam about. I felt
little gay fishes touching my legs with their damp
noses as I went. I even thought I heard them laugh-
ing and chuckling softly to themselves, but I hadn't
time to stop and investigate. However, when I
came out, and was putting on my clothes, I said
to Joe, " Is this a fish Paradise, too? "
He smiled. " Oh, yes, the great Ruler of All
Things would not leave out some of his creatures."
" Well, well," I muttered ; then I burst out with
a wish, " Oh, if mother were only here."
" Wait a little while," said Joe. " Some, day
she will be with you in the World of the Blessed."
" That is, when we die."
122 3ot f 8 3JqrqQisc
" Yes, as you call death."
" How much longer am I to stay in this world,
Joe?" I asked.
" You are not tired of us, are you ? " he asked,
quickly.
" Oh, no, but I was wondering how long I would
be allowed to stay."
" Only a short time longer, I fear," he said, with
a sigh.
" I suppose you don't feel like running," I said,
as we trudged along under the trees.
" Running, why, my dear boy, I run over this
Island all day long. I only walk when I come in
sight of the animals."
" Why do you walk then, Joe? Are you ashamed
to let them see their President running?"
" Oh, no," he said, simply, " I go slowly, because
they often have something to ask me, and they are
all so kind-hearted that if they saw me running,
they would think I was in a hurry, and wouldn't
stop me."
" Well, you have got a fine lot of animals," I
said. " However, let's have a run now, we don't
want to stop; " so he and Rag and I set out like
three deer for the Hill of Arrival.
There was a great crowd of animals there.
They were all watching far-away specks in the
air, for this was a time of day when air-ships were
fffre ^tribal of jHalta 123
coming and going between different islands, but
they crowded round me, and asked me how I had
slept, just like a lot of polite ladies and gentlemen.
I scattered pats, and pinches, and rubs, until an
old wolf came up with a sneaky, goody-goody air,
and said, " Billy wants to see you, sir."
"Billy," I said, "who's Billy?"
" The Italian's dog," whispered old Joe, " in the
story of my life."
I tried not to laugh. If old Joe had a fault, it
was his being stuck on himself because he was an
luthor.
" Well, Billy," I said, looking down, " I remember
you perfectly, but is this you or a lamb? "
I never saw such a dog, a fox-terrier, pure
white, barring ears, face, and tail. He was so
good, so gentle, as he stood with his big eyes, too
big for perfect pointing, fixed on my face. He was
a kind of sugar candy dog, a dog that would melt
in your mouth. Looked as if he didn't know what
badness was a kind of dog to be coddled and
protected.
" You dear little brute," I said, " if there's any
brute in you. I am glad to see you."
He immediately sat up on his hind legs, and cast
an appealing glance at the slinking wolf, who came
forward.
" Billy is my chum, sir. He doesn't care to talk
i24 ffiors jJaraatsc
much never did in life. He was a most discreet
dog, sir. Every one liked him."
" Well, what does he want now ? " I asked.
" I guess he's glad to see you, sir, and " added
the old fellow, hesitatingly " you haven't such
a thing as a piece of sweet cake about you, sir,
have you? Billy is a dog that always liked cake
better than meat."
" More than you could say for yourself, I sup-
pose," I replied, running my eye over his lean form.
u . I used to be fond of meat, sir," he said, meekly.
" I can't deny it but you must have some cake
in your pocket, sir."
" I tell you I haven't a crumb."
"Would you mind looking, sir?" he said, per-
sistently. " Billy never sits that way long unless
he smells cake. Just notice the look in his eye, sir.
Isn't it moving? "
" Well, now, how should I get cake here in Para-
dise? " I said, jokingly. " Don't you live off berries
and raw vegetables ? "
" Oh, no, sir. There's a bakery over the other
side of the Island worked by the monkeys. I'd be
happy to assist, but I can't use my paws the way
they use theirs. I wish I were in it, for they're a
little short in supplying us with cake."
" Come now, Grayskull," said an orang-outang
near us, in a good-natured voice, " don't prejudice
ggfie ^tribal of ffltalta 125
the boy against the bakers. It's a great deal of
trouble to make those sweet cakes, and the Presi-
dent tells us not to give out too many."
Grayskull turned his back on him, and said to
me, " I wish you'd feel your pockets, sir."
" Well, I declare, if there isn't a cake," I said,
bringing out a scalloped one. " I thought I'd eaten
them all. I'm hungry myself, I guess I'll eat it."
" Perhaps you'll give us half, sir," said the wolf.
I was only teasing him, and threw him the whole
of it such a tiny cake for such a big animal.
He laid it humbly before Billy. " Here, angel
dog."
Billy surveyed him with his melting eyes, that
looked too soulful for a thought of food, then he bit
off three-quarters, and gave him the rest.
I snickered what a queer pair ! Then I
watched them going the rounds, Billy sniffing the
air, and then sitting up before this animal and that
one, and always getting something, and always
taking the larger share, and giving the wolf the
lesser.
On account of this three-quarters business, and
also because his little carcass was so much smaller
than the wolf's, he soon got filled up, and then he
held up in his begging. The wolf sat beside him for
a time licking his lips hungrily, then he too tried the
sitting-up business.
126 $ot f * jJaraafsc
As he propped himself up on his hind legs with his
big fore feet dangling in the air, the whole bunch
of animals burst into a shout of laughter. He didn't
make the pretty little beggar that Billy did.
Then the animals took to cuffing him good-
naturedly enough, but it took all the spirit out of
him, and he went and sat on the edge of the
circle.
" The air-ship, the air-ship ! " called Joe. " Come
here, dear Master Sam."
I ran beside the old fellow. His brown head was
turned up, a ship was just overhead, and an ape that
looked as if he might be Soko's brother was looking
down out of the car.
A pair of swans black Australian ones this
time were hovering over us, preparatory to sail-
ing away to their beautiful lake.
We all fell back, for the car was touching the
ground.
The Cat sprang out, stared carelessly at all the
animals round about, gave me a knowing look, then
ran off to her palace, or castle, or hole in the
ground, or whatever she chose to call it.
"How did the Cat get on this air-ship?" I
asked Joe. " I thought this one left here some time
ago."
" So it did," said Joe. " She went out to meet it
yesterday in another air-ship. Here she is," he
went on, in a deep voice, " here she is."
THE WHOLE BUNCH OF ANIMALS BURST INTO A SHOUT OF
LAUGHTER "
ggfie vvfoal of JMalta 1^7
A little gray cat was looking timidly out of the
car.
"Malta," he said, "Malta, dear Malta, don't
you know me?"
She hesitated no longer, but sprang out. How-
ever, she was a pretty surprised looking cat, and
seeing the wild animals, put up her back, and began
to spit pluckily.
" Malta," said Joe, " this is the Island of Broth-
erly Love. Animals don't fight here."
She put her back down, but crowded up to him,
and said, " Joe, I'm frightened."
" Poor pussy," he replied, kindly, " you will have
a lovely time here. Do tell me how you died ? "
" Old age," she mewed, shyly peeping round at
us.
" Then if our Creator let you die, you didn't
suffer much ? "
" No, Joe, and I was glad. I was always afraid
a dog would tear me to pieces," and she shuddered.
"Did you mind the long journey?"
"No, Joe; where am I?"
" On an island in a world where the islands slowly
float about in a beautiful sea. We often come in
sight of other interesting islands, and they pass
us slowly like great ships."
" My head is pretty small," murmured Malta.
" I can't seem to take all this in."
128 3foe*g ffiaraftrige
" Well, you have come through a good deal since
you left New Hampshire," said Joe, kindly. " Just
look about you for a few minutes, and don't talk."
Malta stared at the animals, who were all staring
at her, and at a cargo of guinea-pigs that the ape
who looked like Soko, and who was really his
brother, was vainly trying to get out.
They would not come, and Joe asked : " Where
did you get them? "
" In Boston," said the ape, " from a medical
school vivisected pigs."
Joe shuddered. " No wonder they are afraid.
You go speak to them, Malta. They don't know us."
The gray cat went up to the air-ship. " Piggies,"
she said, gently, u this seems a very nice place. No
one is hurting me."
One or two little snouts were thrust out of the
car.
" Offer them some juicy grass," said Joe to the
ape.
" Do you think that will do>, sir ? " said the old
ape, with a wise shake of his head. "That is what
human beings' do. They feed them, then kill
them."
Joe sighed ; then he said, kindly, and with a very
good imitation of a guinea-pig voice, " Squeak-a,
squeak-a, squeak-a."
His tone was so kind, so inviting, that the little
pigs came dropping out, one by one, following each
other in a funny fashion. Pretty little fellows they
were, too white, and tan, and spotted.
" Not as intelligent as some animals," said Joe,
" but too intelligent to torture. Are there any pigs
here, this morning? "
" Nary a pig," said Dandy, who had just come
running up. " Like me, they love to sleep late in
the morning how de do, Malta."
" Take them, some one," said Joe, " over to
Guinea-Pig Settlement. Introduce them to the
other pigs, and make them feel at home."
" I'll take them," said the wolf, who seemed as
if he wanted to get the animals' good opinion of
him, by doing something dignified.
The animals were roaring with laughter again.
At sight of him, every guinea-pig had scuttled back
again into the car.
Joe smiled himself. " Thank you, Gray skull,
but you are too large. Here, weasel, you take
them."
" And don't sample their brains on the way,"
cried some one, mischievously.
The weasel turned, and threw a forgiving look
over his shoulder.
" Who said that ? " inquired Joe.
No one spoke.
f Let the animal who slandered weasel step
forward," said Joe.
i3Q $ot f u jiaratrtec
A red fox, simpering and smiling, came saunter-
ing inside the circle.
" Shame, Velvetfoot," said Joe, " shame. Now
go with weasel every step of the way, and think
hard all the time, that no matter how bad an
animal has been, a time comes when he may truly
repent of his evil ways, and lead a better life."
The weasel, the fox, and the train of guinea-
pigs set out.
" They say guinea-pigs are stupid things," re-
marked Rag, under his breath. " Just look at the
glances they are giving their escort. There are
volumes in each one. They wouldn't be a bit sur-
prised if they were eaten."
" They have a great deal to learn," said Joe.
" Come, let us escort Malta to my house."
The animals all formed a procession behind us
as we set out down the hill and along the beach.
On the way Joe talked to Malta, who was quickly
getting used to her new surroundings. " How is
Mrs. Morris, Malta?"
" Not very strong, Joe. I fear she will not last
long, and and "
" And Miss Llaura, or Mrs. Wood, as I should
say?"
" She is not well," said Malta, hanging
her head.
Joe stopped short, and his old face looked bad.
"Is she ill, Malta? is she going to die?"
acfie arrttoal of JWalta 131
"I I think so."
" Oh ! " and the old dog gasped. " Is she
suffering, Malta?"
" I am afraid she is, Joe," said the cat, reluc-
tantly.
" My dear Miss Laura! My dear Miss Laura! "
muttered the old dog, " she who never hurt a living
thing. Oh, it is strange, strange ! "
" It makes every one feel terribly to have her ill,"
said the cat. " She is so young and lovely. Joe,
when she dies, will she come to this beautiful
place? "
" No, Malta, she will go to one so much more
beautiful than this, that we haven't the slightest
idea what it is like. But how my flesh creeps to
hear that she suffers. I seem to suffer with her
Mr. Sam," and the dear old dog stopped sud-
denly, and turned to me, " will you excuse me if
I leave you? This bad news has upset me, and
I am too sad company for you. I did want to take
you to my house, but I think we would better wait
for another time. Dandy will feel honoured to
amuse you."
" Certainly, Joe, I will excuse you," I said; " go
home and talk to Malta."
" Take him to Gray Rock, and let him see the
fishes, Dandy," said Joe. " He is interested in
them."
CHAPTER XL
AN IMPROMPTU CIRCUS
I had been very much entertained as we walked
along, by listening to the conversation of the
animals trotting down by my knees.
Dandy now came forward, but I stood for some
time watching poor old Joe going sorrowfully
toward his house, with Malta talking beside him.
His head hung down, his old face was furrowed.
He was in Paradise, but still he could suffer.
" What part of the Island does he live in? " I
asked Dandy.
" On a hill back by the beaver swamp. He has
a good-sized house, for he has a large family.
You'll see it some time. Now quick march, for
the fishes."
We walked on and on, keeping to the dark rib-
bon of a path that wound along through the grass
fringing the sand.
The sun had come up strongly, more animals
had joined us, and I felt my lips drawing gently
back to my teeth.
132
&n Kmpvomptu <&ivtuu 133
"What's amusing you, Master Sam?" asked
Dandy.
I nodded over my shoulder. " Looks like a cir-
cus coming to town."
" Well, we'll have a circus," shouted Dandy,
springing on a sandy knoll, and barking to attract
attention. " Ladies and gentlemen, it will please
the boy to see you gambol. You are all walking
too soberly. Come, do something, all of you.
We've lots of circus animals here. Hurry up now,
and show your paces. Jumbo, come forward. Get
some boards and barrels, somebody, and a ladder
or two."
The monkeys, who seemed to be the busiest
workers on the Island, ran about as if they were
crazy. Some went among the trees, others scam-
pered down the beach.
A magnificent great animal stepped out from
among the others. I had not seen him before.
"Is that Jumbo?" I asked, "the New York
Jumbo?"
" He's the genuine, real, veritable, amiable dar-
ling old Jumbo, the pet and pride of the children
of two earth worlds," said Dandy, glibly. " He loves
boys. Go up to him."
I hurried up to the old fellow. He ran his trunk
over my figure, he smoothed me as gently as my
i34 ffioe'g ffaraftise
own mother could have done ; then, in a low voice,
he said, " This is like old times."
" Oh, you old ark," I said, trying to get one arm
half-way round his leg. " I've heard of you, and
I'm mighty glad to see you."
" Would you mind whistling a bit," he said, in
his deep, true old voice. " It is years since I have
heard a boy whistle."
I puckered up my lips and began " Old Black
Joe," as fine as a fiddle, but something stuck in
my throat, and I couldn't get on with it.
" Try ' Home, Sweet Home,' " said Jumbo, in a
voice that seemed a soft echo rumbling from some
deep cavern.
That finished me. "I can't," I bawled, and I
rolled over on the sand, and wriggled among his
gray pillars of legs ; "I want to see my mother. I
am a baby, a baby ! "
Jumbo rubbed me softly with his trunk, and a
sparrow flew hastily beside me. " Your mother is
well the earth birds have just telegraphed."
I sat up. " You are sure ? "
" We never make a mistake," said the sparrow,
prettily. " We always sing back the messages to
make sure. Your mother is well, and is sitting by
your bedside, not too anxious, because the doctor
tells her that your false body will soon come out
of its trance."
&n fottgrotttflttt (frirctts 135
" That's good," I shouted, and I sprang up.
" I'll soon see her now for the circus."
Dandy was barking at the top of his voice:
" Come, gentlemen, this way, gentlemen. The
circus will now begin. Wonderful leaps of the
spider monkey, Red-face, from the backs of the
flying foxes of Fifteen Foxes' Hill."
" You will enjoy this," whispered Jumbo.
" Boys on earth never saw anything like this."
Fifteen pretty little kit foxes, all brothers or
cousins, Jumbo told me, came scurrying down the
hard wet sand, which was as firm as a floor, now
that the tide had gone out.
A long-tailed monkey sat cuddling himself in a
heap, but as they came by, he sprang sprang
like a creature that was all springs. I never saw
such leaping. The fifteen foxes ran, they rushed,
they flew back and forth like the wind, and that
monkey kept up his springing, on the back of one,
now of another ; then didn't fourteen other monkeys
come on? and they sprang and leaped, till my eyes
got dazzled, and there was a perfect mix-up of
foxes and monkeys.
" Bravo ! Splendid ! " I cried, clapping my
hands. " I never saw anything like that before.
Good fellows," and I ran up to the foxes, who
were going off with their tongues lolling out of
their mouths. I rubbed their steaming sides, and
136 $*t*u ffarafrte*
praised them, and then I turned to the monkeys,
who were clapping their sides with their hands,
and looking as cool and gleeful as if they hadn't
done a thing.
In some way or other I felt as if all these animals
were my brothers.
" Come on, gentlemen, come on," said Dandy,
who was a great trick-master. " Get your hoops,
and balls, and whirling sticks. Little Billy's turn
next. Billy's last master was an Italian, you know,"
he said, turning to me, " a professional animal
trainer."
Billy's tricks were all good, but they were
earthly dogs' tricks. A row of wolves held hoops
in their teeth, and he jumped through, and caught
the flying sticks between his little jaws. But what
I thought most wonderful was his finding a grain
of sand.
" Blind Billy's eyes," said Dandy, and an ape
clapped his hands round the little fox-terrier's
head, but indeed the honest little fellow didn't try
to look.
" Now you touch a grain of sand," said Dandy,
" any grain remember the one you touched."
I had pretty hard work to mark so tiny a thing,
but at last I succeeded, and the ape loosed little
Billy, and didn't he go straight to the grain I had
touched ?
&n Kmpvamytu flitrntg 137
" It's magic," I said.
" It's a keen sense of smell," said Dandy.
" None of these are magic tricks. Only the Cat
does those. Earthly dogs could do this, and
earthly foxes could play with monkeys if they
would now, some more sports, brothers. The
President approves of these exercises. Let's play
Prisoner."
The animals immediately began running about,
here, there, and everywhere. Presently there was
placed a high seat with a judge on it who was
a red, uncomfortable looking calf, with a pair of
spectacles on, made of willow twigs, which specta-
cles kept falling down, getting over his nose, and
bothering him.
" Why didn't they put a smarter animal in as
judge ? " I whispered to Jumbo.
" Stupidity on the bench makes more fun in the
court-room," he said. "Just listen."
Below the judge were four tables, which were
tree-trunks cut off near the roots, and behind each
table sat a donkey on his hind legs, pretending to
scribble something on the table with a stick held
between his front hoofs.
M Those are the lawyers," said Jumbo. " Look,
here comes the criminal."
"Thief! thief!" called some one, and presently
two sheep came bundling in a wolf old Grayskull,
Billy's friend.
138 ffiors ffaratrtse
" Ba, ba-a," said the judge, " what is he accused
of?"
" Stealing cakes from the bakery," bleated the
sheep.
Every one shouted. It seemed that old Gray-
skull's fondness for cakes was a standing joke.
" Ba, ba," bawled the calf, " what am I to say
next? I forget; and will some one pick up my
glasses. They've fallen on the ground. I'm fixed
so nicely, I don't want to move."
" Say ' Guilty or not guilty,' your worship,"
remarked one of the donkeys, scowling at the
sheep, who were both trying to talk at once. One
sheep was black, one white, and they looked pretty
sharp for sheep.
" Guilty or not guilty, your worship," blundered
the calf " Dandy, no one has picked up my
glasses."
" Oh, you're too stupid for anything," said
Dandy, impatiently. " Drag him down from his
seat, some one. Hyena, you be judge."
A laughing hyena, making the most awful faces,
went to the bench, where a whole crowd of animals
was jerking and pulling at the calf, and having a
regular spree over turning him out.
" Now the case will proceed," said Dandy.
" You're guilty, prisoner," said the hyena.
" I'm not," said the wolf.
an Ktnyrotnyttt GtivtM 139
" You are."
" I'm not."
" We'll soon settle that," said the hyena, laughing
horribly, and licking his lips.
He was preparing to leap off the bench and have
a bout with the prisoner.
" I never saw such a set of idiots in my life,"
shrieked Dandy. " What will the boy think of you?
Why, we played Prisoner only the other day. Hold
your tongue, judge, and get back to your seat.
Counsel, there, examine the prisoner."
One of the donkeys jumped up, ran to the wolf,
and putting his hand, or rather his hoof, under the
wolf's leg, pulled out a sweet cake, that one of
the sheep had just placed there.
" You true donkey," shrieked Dandy. " I meant
you to ask questions, not to play policeman."
The wolf grinned.
" You're guilty, wolf," said the hyena, " I just
saw that cake taken from between your joints."
" Which the sheep put there," said the wolf.
" What matter how it got there, if it was there,"
said the hyena. " Somebody has to be punished."
" You're a pretty judge," said the wolf. " You've
got a twist in your morals, as well as in your
temper."
" Now, I'll give it to you for that," said the
hyena, and his laugh was something ghastly.
" Come on," said the wolf, and shaking off his
sheep policemen, he laid his nose on his paws and
looked at the hyena like a provoking dog.
The next instant, wolf and hyena were out of
the court-room, flying into the woods.
" Will they hurt each other ? " I asked Jumbo.
" Not a bit of it. This is only rough play. They
like to tease one another."
Dandy was roaring at the demoralised court.
" Another judge, there. Here, meek-faced Billy,
you step up. Condor, you be prisoner."
A big American condor flopped heavily up to the
sheep and lighted on the ground between them.
"Now, Billy, sweet Billy," said Dandy, " the
prisoner has stolen a sweet cake that has been found
under his wing. What shall be the penalty?"
" Death," said Billy, gently.
" Now, Billy, darling Billy," remonstrated Dandy,
" just open those lovely eyes a trifle wider. Would
you sentence that fine bird to death for merely steal-
ing a little cake one of those tiny cakes you are
so fond of? "
" Yeth," lisped Billy, gently.
" Stop lisping," said Dandy. " You never lisped
in life. You're putting on airs. Why would you
sentence that fine bird to a cruel and ignominious
end, Billy?"
" Cauth," said Billy, " he stealth my caketh."
&n Xmyvompttt (frivtun 141
" Now, Billy, be merciful ; remember how you
suffered when you died."
" I forget all about it," said Billy, " cauth I'm
havin' such a good time now."
" But the poor condor won't forget. It will hurt
him to die."
" It won't hurt me," lisped Billy, gently.
Dandy got mad. " Condor," he said, " you be
judge."
The animals fell on Billy, jollied him 'most to
death, pushed him in the prisoner's place, and put
the condor on the bench.
" Now, condor," said Dandy, " here is a little
dog who is very fond of cakes. He loves them
better than anything else on this Island. He likes to
steal over to the bakery, and see them coming fresh
and sweet-smelling from the oven. Probably there
was a panful cooling on a rock. Probably he
stretched out his little paw and concealed one under
his little white leg where wings ought to grow, for
he is such a good little dog. What is your sentence
on this little prisoner, this good, trembling little
prisoner?" for Billy was shivering, and shaking,
and rolling his big, beautiful eyes as if he expected
to be killed the next instant.
" Life," said the condor, mildly.
" Life ! " repeated Dandy. " That is, you would
not punish him ? "
H2 $Qt f & WUtXXlW
" I'd give him a pan full of cakes, then he
wouldn't steal any."
" Hurrah for the condor," shouted Dandy, " hur-
rah, hurrah, the prisoner is discharged," and he
sprang up and ran about. " The judge is a gentle-
man, the court is dissolved," and as if glad of an
excuse for a frolic, the animals ran hither and
thither like crazy creatures.
I pulled up Dandy, who was scurrying about the
beach with the best of them. " What about the
fishes, old man ? "
He stopped short. "Oh, yes, I forgot. Come on,
we'll make for the ancient Gray Rock."
CHAPTER XII.
FISH PHILOSOPHY
" Good gracious ! have they killed each other ? "
I said.
We were tripping along over the sand, and saw
upon our right the laughing hyena and the wolf,
lying with their heads crossed and bodies extended.
" Yes, with fatigue," said Dandy. " They're
dead tired. You don't understand these animals.
They're always poking fun at each other."
"Weren't they really angry?"
" Oh, just a little bit, perhaps," said Dandy, airily,
" but they'd soon get over it in the heat of a chase.
There is Gray Rock," and he pointed ahead of us to
a large gray surface that looked like an immense
whale stretched out on the water.
" Ah, what fine fun we have playing on that old
rock," he said. " We rub it with seaweed to make it
slippery, then we play games on it, and fall in the
water, and scramble out again. Come, let us go
to the end of it."
We had a gay time tiptoeing our way out to the
143
i 4 4 %*t*u putxaim
part of it that entered deep water. Only Dandy
and I went. All the other animals stayed behind,
and either went in bathing or lay down in the
shadow of the rock.
" Look away out there," said Dandy, suddenly,
" can you see the Triplets, and hear their children
playing ? "
I raised my head. Some distance beyond us were
three other gray rocks, these half-covered by sea-
lions, who were sunning themselves or plunging
about in the water.
" Don't their grunts sound happy ? " said Dandy.
" Now look down here, and see if it that isn't the
prettiest fish garden you ever saw."
I got flat on my face on the rock, and peered
down.
" Oh, glory," I said, " I wish I could take off
my clothes and have a tail and fins."
" Oho there," said Dandy, putting his muzzle
down to the water, " come up and talk, some of you."
I held my breath. There was a little paradise
below in the water; then came a flop, flop, and a
gray seal, so graceful in the water, so awkward out
of it, came hitching up on the rock beside us.
" Oh, get out," said Dandy, " you're only half
fish," and he looked again into that magnificent pool
full of fishes in full dress, and the loveliest seaweed,
and sponges, and bright-coloured anemones, and
little sea animals, whose names I didn't know.
iFtei) $DUossoflJ)3> 145
jaws out of the water, " we heard you had an Eastern
boy on the Island is it true? "
" Yes," said Dandy, " he's here, wants to inter-
view you says he'd like to be a fish."
" I'm a true blue Down- Easter," said the fish
" was caught, cut open, and my false body was
dried and sent to the West Indies, where I hope the
blackies enjoyed it. Excuse me, till I get a breath
of water," and he popped below.
Presently he reappeared. " What else does the
boy want to know ? "
" Speak to him," said Dandy.
" I want to know how you got here," I said.
" The monkeys can't bring you in the air-ships."
" Yes, they do part way. Then submarine
boats meet us. Look alive there, seals. Bring up a
boat for the earth boy to see. What part of the
East do you come from, boy?"
" I was born in Maine. I live in California now."
" I dare say you've eaten the false bodies of some
of my family," he said, as if that made a tie
between us.
" How is your paradise different from your
earthly life?" I asked.
" Oh, we don't eat each other here. No worry,
no care to get out of a bigger fish's way."
" What do you live on?"
146 $m*u aiarattte*
" Succulent grasses, and juicy seaweeds we 1
vast tangles of them. They're sweeter than flesh
food when you get used to them, and cleaner, too."
" And do the weeds like to be eaten ? "
" They've made no complaint yet, but I hear in
a greater ocean to which we shall one day go, there
will be no eating at all. Seems to me, we'll miss
lots of fun. I always enjoy a good meal, but I
suppose it will be all right."
" And do you just swim round this Island? "
" We don't go far away. Fishes like their home
as well as you do Here's the submarine boat;
what do you think of it? "
" Reminds me of a torpedo-boat," I said, looking
at the queer cigar-shaped thing coming up out of
the water. " And who manages this boat ? "
" Seals," said Dandy. " They can do wonderful
things with their flippers. Here, Snorter, tell the
boy the story of your life."
The gray seal, whose, fur I found had become
lighter with age, poured a long story into my ear,
all about life in a " rookery," and fights between
seals, and the clubbing of cruel men-hunters, and
all the time he was speaking I seemed to be swim-
ming in the good nature of his soft brown eyes.
It was so queer to sit there on that rock, listening
to him, with Dandy and Rag beside me, the great
blue ocean in front, the bright sun in the clear sky
" IT WAS A BIG ISLAND FROM THE NORTH
jptel) flpHofiiogljg 147
)verhead, the crowd of animals gambolling on the
md behind.
Hist," said some one, suddenly, " there's an
sland coming. Stop and let the boy observe it."
The cod, whose name I found was Yankee Tom,
ras speaking. He had been diving below in the
rater, and now with his mouth elevated, and his
ts sticking out with interest, he had cut in upon
the seal.
" How do you know ? " I asked.
" I feel a lower temperature it's an Arctic
island."
I stared far out to sea. Something white and
towering was coming something that looked as
if it were covered with glittering steeples of
churches. It soon drew near, for it was going very
fast. It was a big island from the north, Dandy told
me. Up in the middle of it was a huge ice
mountain, and on its drifted slopes we could see
dimly the forms of white polar bears. Monsters
they were. Dandy said.
" Look, look," he suddenly cried, " there is a
mother bear with young ones."
Sure enough, there was a fat old bear, making
her way down the mountain slopes with two little
rolls of white trotting beside her.
" You are favoured," said Dandy ; " strangers
rarely see a mother bear with very young ones.
148 $ot f # jlaraflist
They conceal themselves in the ice and snow, until
their cubs grow to quite a size."
" And there are other animals," I said, pointing to
the lower slopes. The island was not all ice and
snow. The part near the water was open and
brown. It appeared to be frozen ground, and on
this ground seals, walruses, and many Arctic birds
were disporting themselves.
" They are looking for lichens," said Dandy.
" They do not eat each other, any more than we
do."
" How is it this Arctic island comes into these
warm waters ? " I asked.
" To give the critters on it a change," said Yankee
Tom, smartly. " You don't want monotony, if you
are dead."
" It won't stay long," said Dandy. " The animals
are not very comfortable down here in their warm
coats."
" And see how their mountain is weeping,"
remarked Tom.
Rivers of water were indeed running down the
face of the mountain.
" How our birds are telegraphing," said Dandy
" just listen."
I looked behind me. Larks, robins, nightingales,
finches, and thrushes were flying away up, up into
the air, and as they flew they sang.
jFtep flUogoff&g 149
When they stopped, beautiful white birds sang
from the mountain of ice such pure, clear, cold
>ngs.
Now we'll get the news," said Dandy, with
itisfaction. " Lots of our animals will have friends
>n that island."
"Can you understand what they say?" I asked
Dandy.
" Yes, when I can hear, but the birds fly so high
and sing so fast, that I can't always make them out."
" There's a crested seal," said Dandy, quickly,
" lock quick, boy do you see the kind of helmet
on his head? "
I looked and wondered. The creature had a thing
>n his nose like a small bag, his colour was blue-
)lack, and he was marked with irregular whitish
spots.
I never knew there was such an animal," I
>aid.
" Some boys and some girls, too, would be the
>etter for a dip into natural history," said Yankee
Tom, dryly. " If I were a fond parent, a human
>arent, I'd give my children books of information,
rather than so many novels however, I'm only
a codfish, and I suppose my opinion isn't worth my
salt," and he dived below.
Dandy smiled. " You're a pretty cute codfish,
Tom. I guess your opinions are worth something."
Tom came steaming up again. " Say a good word
for the cod tribe, boy, when you go back to earth.
We're pretty numerous. "
"What shall I say?" I asked.
" Say ' kill me quick, and I'll love you,' " replied
the cod, with a shake of his tail.
" That message will apply to about every one you
meet here," said Dandy, bitterly. " ' Kill, but don't
torture,' might be written in flaming letters before
every human eye But, hello, the Arctics are sig-
nalling. Hello, brothers, how are you ? "
The beautiful white island had come nearer and
nearer while we were speaking, and now we could
have tossed a biscuit to it.
An ungainly old walrus, a regular sea-horse, was
down on the Arctic beach waving one of his fore
limbs wildly. Other walruses, seals, otters, and
a number of birds were beside him.
" How do you stand this heat ? " he bellowed.
" I'm 'most roasted am trying to fan myself."
" This isn't hot," roared Dandy, " it is just a nice,
mild day."
" It's awful," groaned the walrus. " I'd give
one of my tusks to be back home again. How's the
boy? We'd heard you'd got one on your Island,
and now we see him."
"He's all right," said Dandy, proudly. "Do
you want to borrow him for awhile? "
" N-o-o-o," said the walrus, doubtfully, " boys are
cubs of men that hunted us in life."
" You great simpleton/' called Dandy, " don't
you know that no one could kill you now ? "
" He might beat me," said the walrus, cautiously.
" Suppose he did, you mountain of fat, it would
do you good increase your circulation."
" I don't hear very well," said the walrus, in a
thick voice. " I have a good deal of flesh it takes
talk a good while to get inside of me. I think I'll
sit down awhile," and he subsided on the rocks. A
wiry looking Arctic fox took his place.
" Have a good look at him," said Dandy to me,
" for he is widely different from all other species."
I did take a good look at him, and not being up in #
foxes, didn't see that he was different from his
brothers, so I asked Dandy about it.
Dandy pointed out lots of things, a less pointed
muzzle, shorter and more rounded ears, a ruff of
long hairs round his cheeks, and so on. His colour,
I could see for myself, was a dull red and yellowish
white.
" This is his summer dress," said Dandy. " In
winter, he gets white, so that he won't be seen
among the snow-fields."
" What does he live on ? " I asked.
" In life he lived on birds. Now he eats seaweed.
Hello, brother," called Dandy, " did the hunters on
earth ever find out what you did to get a living in
winter when the birds had left the country ? "
The fox showed his white teeth. " No, brother
they never searched the crannies of the rocks,
where we stored our nice, sweet lemmings."
"What are lemmings?" I asked.
" Rodents," said Dandy, " first cousins to voles.
They are heavily built, have an obtusely snouted
head, very short tail, and tiny feet covered with
hair. Length, about five inches."
" I should like to see one," I said.
" Did you ever hear of lemming fever ? " asked
Dandy.
" No."
" Well, in Norway, where lemmings are the
most abundant of any rodents, they have a curious
custom. At certain intervals, thousands and thou-
sands, and sometimes millions of them descend from
their homes in the mountains, to the cultivated
plains. They dash across fields, swim rivers and
lakes, eat their way through fields of corn and grass,
and plunge into the sea, where they are drowned."
" Why do they do such a crazy thing? " I asked.
" Nobody knows. On their way to the sea, they
tumble into wells and brooks, and the water becomes
so polluted that the people get ' lemming ' fever
but excuse me, I must talk some more to the fox,"
and he called out, " Can you give me news of
Marco, the big sea-bear ? "
iFte!) ffDUosogHg 153
The fox could, and did, and they had a short
gossip about various Arctic animals, the island
meanwhile passing so speedily by, that the fox had
to walk smartly along its side to keep near us, for
our island, for some reason or other, was taking
things much more quietly.
I found that the scenery varied on the Arctic
island. Different kinds of trees appeared, and also
a few swamps, and ponds and lakes. There were
also rounded hills, some snowy, some brown and
frozen, and also vast fields of ice stretching far
inland.
The island was very thickly populated, and every
animal and every bird looked happy.
" They don't mind the cold," I said.
" Not a bit," replied Dandy. " Alas, they are
going there is the end of the island. Good-bye,
brothers."
" Good-bye, good-bye," came from the island, and
we regretfully saw it disappear.
After its glittering white pinnacles and attend-
ant icebergs had swept out of sight, Dandy turned
to Yankee Tom.
" Tom, can't you bring up some of your queer
fishes to show the boy? "
" Certainly," said Tom, and he dived below.
For a long time, I was pretty well amused. I
had never dreamed of such queer fishes. There were
154 $ot f & UfavaXim
the gurnards, ugly, bright-coloured things, with
enormous heads and fingerlike fins, which serve for
walking on the sea bottom, and as organs of touch ;
the climbing perch, that Yankee Tom went up a
small stream to get for me.
The creature actually climbed up on the rock, and
hitched itself along some stiff grasses that grew
on the further side of it. I could scarcely believe
my eyes. I didn't know that there were such fishes
in the world.
Dandy told me that a man called Daldorf wrote
that he once saw a climbing perch ascending a palm.
It suspended itself by its gill covers, and bending its
tail to the left, it fixed its anal fin in the cavities in
the bark, and by swelling out its body, managed to
climb five feet from the ground.
" Come now, Dandy," I said, " that's a fish story."
" Look in your natural history when you go
home," he said.
The ribbon-fish was an odd-looking thing. It
had a body like a silver belt. The unicorn, too, was
a queer coot, with his rosy fins and his business-
like horn running up on his back.
I think I laughed most at the odd little sea-horses.
Yankee Tom made one stand on his tail, and showed
me where the good little father carries his young
in a pouch, he looking after them rather than the
mother.
No, I didn't laugh most at him, either I am
forgetting. I laughed most at the globefishes that
Yankee Tom floated up for my inspection. They
looked like the globes from our schoolroom table.
" Mostly wind," said Tom, when I clapped my
hand to my mouth, " spit it out, boys."
Immediately there was a hissing sound, and the
fishes became quite small.
" Swallow air again," said Tom, and didn't they
grow big and begin to float back downward ?
" In your world this used to make them safe
from enemies," said Tom. " See how their bristling
spines stand out."
I played with the globefishes a good while, then
I had some fun with a spoon-beaked sturgeon, who
went round holding out his nose as if he wanted you
to put something in it.
However, he was eclipsed by the next comer
a hammer-headed shark from the Indian seas.
" What is he doing here? " I asked Yankee Tom.
" Formed a friendship for a baby American shark
who was kept in the same tank with him. When
they died, they both wanted to be brought here."
" I think we'd better be going," said Dandy.
" We'll come back another day."
" Oh, just wait a minute," I said. " I want
to see some salmon, and haddock, and herring, and
other common fish such as I've been used to all
156 afog's tyuvxatet
my life and some barracuda, too, from Cali-
fornia."
"All right," said Tom, and he went below for
about the fortieth time.
I had a good talk with some old acquaintances,
then after solemnly promising Yankee Tom to call
on him again, Dandy took me round by the eel
lagoon, and had an old electrician give me a shock.
It was a good one, I can tell you, and Dandy and
Rag had a fine time laughing, till I made them
step into the water. Dandy pretended he didn't care,
but Rag made a fearful face.
"That's nothing," said Dandy, airily. "These
eels are overrated. Some people used to say that
electric eels were formerly caught by driving
horses into the water to receive shocks from them,
but that's all nonsense. Let's get home now, so you
can rest before the entertainment this evening."
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FOX ESCORT
Night was coming on. I had just made such a
good meal of oranges, figs, dates, plums, a kind
of bread they made on the Island, sweet cakes, and
cocoanut milk. And other things, for I must not
forget to say that an air-ship had been sent to
San Francisco for some food for me.
To think of a special ship going all those miles
made me feel queer and shy, as if I didn't know what
to say, and upon my word when I saw what those
animals had brought to this lovely island, where it
was a forbidden thing, I didn't know where to look.
The food cargo was all pie and meat meat
of all things. " I'll eat the pie, Rag," I said, " but
I'll be jiggered if I touch anything that has grown
on an animal. Here, you take it."
He sniffed at it. " I can't, master, I've turned
against it. It smells fleshy and nasty."
"What will I do with it?" and I held up the
slices of under-done beef and well-cooked mutton.
" Throw it into the sea."
i57
158 $*Vu flarafttee
"And insult the fishes?"
" I'll dig a hole for you, master, and we'll bury
it."
We buried it deeply at dead of night, or rather
of dusk, for I gathered that it was about eight
o'clock. I hadn't a watch with me, and there wasn't
one on the Island, but the animals all seemed to
know the time, and not only the time, but the days
of the month and the year. Well, as I was saying,
Rag and I had had our supper. He would eat fruit
as quick as I would now.
We finished our meal, and then there weren't any
dishes to wash, for we had been sitting about on the
grass and eating the fruit a la nature. So we just
went on sitting by our lodge door, and looking off
at the last faint colouring of the sky before the blue
blackness came on.
Presently Dandy came trotting up, head in air
as usual, and licking his lips. " Have you dined,
Master Sam? " he said.
" Yes, Dandy, like a king."
"Any news, Dandy?" asked Rag, with such an
air of being at home that I could have roared at him.
However, I didn't make a sound, and Dandy went
on.
" Yes, the goat's Widow is on her way here."
" Oh, Kafoozelum ! " exclaimed Rag, " won't that
be a daisy of an interview. How's the goat taking
it?"
%%t $ov fEntovt 159
"He doesn't know it's to be a surprise."
" Water-works still going, then? " said Rag.
" Oh, yes, cascades, rivers, Niagaras of tears.
His eyes are a swamp, his head a marsh. But I
prophesy the old Widow will knock some sense into
him. It's a bad thing, Raggie, to have too much
sentiment."
" I believe you, my boy," said Rag.
I kept as quiet as a mouse. It was such fun to
hear the two scamps talking. It was like hearing
two men over their cigars, or some of my mother's
friends over tea.
" Have a chew, Rag? " said Dandy, and he took
a piece of gum out of his mouth.
" Thank you," said my animal, so Dandy went
shares.
Then they chewed and talked, and I listened.
" What do you think of this place, Rag? " asked
Dandy.
" A number one," said my beauty.
" It's fine after the hustle of life," said Dandy,
thoughtfully. " My ! what frights I used to have.
I'd be all of a quiver. Now here, I'm always happy,
and yet I'm not dull."
" It's queer that they let Master Sam come," said
Rag.
"Oh, once in a Hog's age they have a human
being. I think Joe's idea in bringing people, is that
160 ffioe's ffatattte*
they may be able to understand animals better,
and do more for them when they go back to earth."
" There's room for improvement on earth," said
Rag, grimly.
" You bet your paws there is. Did you ever think
how queer it is that there has to be so much
suffering? "
" I have since I came here," said Rag. " I didn't
on earth."
" Some people think we animals are smarter than
we really are," said Dandy.
" Yes, they do."
" Now on earth I didn't think as I do here. I just
knew. For instance, when I sat near any one I hap-
pened to be interested in, and that person formed
purposes in his or her mind, I knew it like a flash.
If my first master was going to tell the coachman
to give me a bath, I knew it as soon as he thought
it, or if old Mrs. Tibbetts was going to give me
a dose of medicine, I felt it as soon as the idea
entered her mind. Once there was a man robbed
and nearly beaten to death in a house next hers. I
felt there was something going on there, though
I didn't make a fuss as I would have done if it
had been in our own house."
" I know that feeling," said Rag, " and people
who like animals think that because we are smarter
in that way than they are, we must be smarter in
gTfre iFoy 3Bscort 161
everything. But we're not. We're not up to human
beings, Dandy."
" No, never will be, but we're a' help to them."
" Lots of people would get more fun out of life
if they would cultivate animals more," said Dandy,
after a long silence, during which he chewed gum
for all he was worth. " I don't know any better
cure for selfishness than a young dog. I'd give
every old maid a fine, healthy, mischievous, young
pup to bring up, to keep with her every minute of
the time, to drag round her stockings in the morn-
ing, and worry her laces, and chew her ribbons, and
give her something to think about during the day.
And I'd let him have colic at night, so he'd wake her
up to get medicine for him 'cause she hasn't any
children to worry her, see? "
" Good for you, Dandy," said Rag, with a laugh,
"and what would you give an old bachelor?"
" Oh, I'd give him a monkey and a parrot, and
when one wasn't pestering him the other would be
Hello, boy, what do you want ? "
I roused myself. A brown and white spaniel was
coming softly up to us.
" It's Jim," said Dandy. " Well, messenger of
the gods, you look as if you had something to say."
Jim was shy looking, but he had one of the best
faces I ever saw on a dog.
" And he's good all through," said Dandy, turn-
ing suddenly, " no make-believe about him."
162 3ot f u ffavattigi
" Do you know what I'm thinking of, Dandy ? "
I asked.
" No, Master Sam, I can't tell that, but your
thoughts were painted on your face just then."
" Good Jim," I said, fondling his long, silky ears.
He pressed his dear old head against me. " The
President says, Master Sam, that he hopes you will
excuse him this evening. He tried to come, but his
heart failed him. He is afraid he would be a wet
blanket on your fun."
" He is still grieving about Miss Laura," I said.
" Yes, Master Sam," said Jim, very gently, and
very respectfully. " If you will release me, I will
run back to him. He has asked the Fifteen Foxes
to be your escort."
" Now I call that mean," said Dandy; " I'm going
home."
" Come here, old fellow," I said. " You shall be
second escort."
" You forget," said Jim, mildly, " that the enter-
tainment is to be on the grounds of the Fifteen
Foxes. It would be impolite not to honour them.
Here they are now," he added, hastily.
" Where ? " I asked. " I don't see them."
" I smell them," said Jim. " You, dear earth boy,
know nothing of the power of smell ; that is, com-
paratively nothing. You tell him, Dandy. I must
really be going," and with a hasty lick of my hand,
he ran away.
gt)t jFay isgcott 163
" The glories of smell," said Dandy, enthusiasti-
cally, " oh, I could write a book as long as Joe's
on it. You poor mortals with your almost blunted
sense of smell, don't know the ecstasy of running
with your nose to the ground. That sweet and
odoriferous earth tells us news of friends and foes,
of tragedies, comedies in short, of everything in
heaven or earth that we are interested in."
" Prove it," I cried, " go off there," and I pointed
to the now gathering darkness. " Do something,
show something, to tell me that your nose is more
wonderful than my ears and eyes."
Dandy sprang up, ran about the grass a little,
then down to the beach, and disappeared. After
awhile, he came back, and lay down.
" Did you a few minutes ago, but since it
became dark, hear anything down there ? " and he
pointed toward the sea.
" Not a sound."
" I did," he said, " and you saw nothing? "
I reflected a few seconds. I had been lying on
my back on the grass, but on an incline, so that
I could look out at sea. Just as it was getting too
dark to see things clearly, I fancied I saw a thin
cloud come between me and the ocean, but I was
not sure, not sure enough to speak, so I said nothing.
" Well," said Dandy, " I was interested in talk-
ing, but still I heard some animal come softly down
to the shore, and I saw that it was one of the ele-
phants, but I didn't pay any attention to him. Now
I have just been down to investigate. It was the
Central Park elephant. He came up behind your
lodge, tramping very softly, so as not to disturb
you. From his footprints, and the smell, I should
say he had something he wished to communicate to
you. Probably he decided that he was too overcome
for a conversation, for he went down to the beach,
ploughed up and down there, threw up the sand,
and held a quiet kind of a commotion. That elephant
when he is deeply moved, doesn't make a sound.
When he is only partly moved he is apt to be noisy.
Now I should judge from his tracks, that he has
heard the best sort of news that could be told to
him, and that would be that Mike McGarvie is dead."
"Poor fellow!"
" Poor fellow ! the elephant is happy beyond
words. Mike's troubles are over. He is in the
World of the Blessed. Now you'll see self-restraint
and goodness on the part of Central Park. He will
be crazy to get with Mike. In just about a month,
that elephant will be ready for transportation."
" Dandy," I said, " you're pretty clever, if that
is true."
" There come the foxes," he said. " Look at their
illumination."
I could not see as far as he could, but presently
artie jf oy 3Bscort 165
there came bowing and smiling up to my lodge the
fifteen pretty little American kit foxes.
They were fifteen of the most gentlemanly foxes
I ever saw. All had dark gray backs, the tips of the
tails black, and the under parts white. This I
had observed when they were running races, for now
I couldn't tell, as it was getting dark. However, I
might have examined them if I had thought of it,
for upon my word they were all covered with fire-
flies.
" Hail, highly esteemed young man," said the
biggest fox, bowing before me.
" He thinks to flatter you by calling you young
man, when you are only a boy," said Dandy in my
ear.
The fox went on. " Owing to the clearness and
perspicuity of our vision, we are able to circum-
locute easily at night. You, young sir, we feared
might come to mischance by the way, therefore, hav-
ing no occult powers as has her feline majesty, we
felt constrained to implore the assistance of our tiny
but accommodating brethren of the lamp," and hav-
ing finished, the young fox looked at me with rather
a cunning air, as if he didn't know just how I'd
take the mixed firefly and fox escort.
Dandy was bowing low before me, his bright eyes
shining, his whole manner showing that he was
dying to make fun of the fox.
166 $*t*u ffarafrte*
" Your serene majesty, the boy," he said, " may
I acquaint you with the fact that although this fox
was born in the Northwestern States, he was
brought up in a yard within smell of Boston, and
that he thinks the universe is shaped like a bean."
"Oh, get out, Dandy," I said. a Tm a New
Englander, and you New Yorkers are so buried in
your own conceit, that you can't see over your own
State line."
The fox was delighted. He waved his fine bushy
tail, and immediately the other fourteen foxes came
forward and bowed profoundly, each with his fur
in a twinkle of light and distinction.
" Now the procession will form," said Velox,
grandly, and he, as the leader, placed himself by
my side. " Advance, guard," he said, " look well
to the circumjacent woods. Let no careless quad-
ruped interrupt the train."
Velox, Rag, Dandy, and I tramped on in state,
in the middle of our illuminated guard.
" By the way, Velox," said Dandy, " is there any
news ? "
" Yes," said the fox, " news of the most favour-
able kind for the Central Park elephant news of
the demise of Mike McGarvie."
" When did he hear ? " asked Dandy, eagerly.
" Within the space of two hours. The news was
communicated to the first flock of wireless tele-
graphers, by an earthly flight of carrier-pigeons."
Wtyt jFor IBgnitrt 167
" So this bird telegraphing goes on all the time/*
I remarked, half to myself.
Dandy thought I spoke to him, Velox was sure
I had addressed him, so they had a kind of a
squabble.
" Brother," said Velox at last, " we are arriving.
Let us have no unseemly disputes."
Dandy made a face at him; then both stopped
talking, for we had arrived.
CHAPTER XIV.
BLACK ART
We had come along through the darkness until
now. There was a dark pit of a valley before us,
Dandy said. I could see nothing, but he told me
that this valley was full of animals.
I could hear a low growling and rumbling, but all
the noises were subdued.
" Around the valley are pretty wooded hills," said
Dandy, " and the trees of those hills are now covered
with birds who have come to see the show. Here,
follow the foxes. Your seat will be away up in
front"
"So you have the entertainment out-of-doors,"
I whispered, " I should think that your magic Cat
would want a building."
Dandy laughed, then he said, " Wait and see."
The foxes were pressing up ahead, going round
the mass of animals rather than through them.
" Make way there," Velox kept calling, " make
way for the boy, the American boy. Remove your-
selves aside from his path, absquatulate, skedaddle,
168
Jjlacft art 169
I say," and then he would give a snap of his jaws,
and make a leap in the dark.
The fireflies held on like good fellows, shedding
quite a bit of light immediately around us. I don't
believe a single one lost his foothold on the fox fur,
and it was fun to see the illuminated little kits
bounding through the throng of their fellow beasts.
I tried to keep from snickering. It was just like
being late for a play, and stumbling down to the
orchestra seats, with the usher tripping before you,
and getting in everybody's way.
" Where is Miss Pussy ? " I asked Dandy.
" Up in front, on the slope of the hill, on a bare
spot a clearing. You'll see her soon enough,"
and he laughed again. " She always sits there till
she's ready to have the lights on. I think she likes
to hear us crowding and pushing in the dark."
Suddenly there was a tremendous voice heard.
It filled the valley, it must have gone far out to sea
" Has the boy come? "
" The boy is present," called Velox, in a would-be
mighty voice, that ended in a squeak.
" That's Pussy speaking," whispered Dandy, " a
pretty good pair of lungs for a lady, hasn't she
and all the time she knows you're here."
The tremendous voice roared out again. " Bring
the boy this way."
My escort conveyed me in the direction of the
voice.
170 ffioe's ffaraftise
" Put him in his seat," was the next order, " and
don't any of you get in with him."
I don't know how they found the seat, but they
did, and I felt Velox and Dandy gently pushing me
against something that felt like a throne.
" Now look out for an illumination," whispered
Dandy, " she's apt to do it quick."
" Turn on the lights," said the awful voice again.
" Animals, bow your heads, and look humble
before the boy."
I had been warned, yet my eyes had become so
used to the darkness that, when the lights were
turned on, I blinked helplessly.
After a long time, I winked myself into seeing.
Turned on there wasn't anything to turn on, no
gas, no electricity. There were magic lights sus-
pended in the air above our heads in soft coloured
globes. It was pretty, anyway, and I lifted my eyes
to the Cat.
There she sat same old Cat, same old, plain,
black animal, reposing on a green hillside, and look-
ing down at us. I squirmed round on my seat. I
must have a look at the audience.
Good gracious! Think of the farms of New
England, of the Southern States, of the Middle
West, the Pacific Coast. They were all represented,
well represented, with a generous sprinkling of wild
animals. And the birds there seemed to be mil-
SIftCft Vt 171
lions of them. Not a big animal, but had his back
covered. They were roosting, even on the antlers
of the stags. The giraffe had a whole row swarming
up and down his slippery neck, and when he swal-
lowed, or turned his head, they would fall down, and
fight, and scramble up again. They were on the
trees, too. I could see them dimly in the distance.
Every branch was black with them.
" Her Necromancy won't let all the animals and
birds come, ,, said Dandy. " Only a certain number
to each show."
I turned round. He was sitting quietly at my
feet. And I where was I ? Upon my word,
perched up on a big thing like a dentist's chair, and
feeling just about as foolish as if I were going to
have a tooth out.
There were folds upon folds of red cloth hanging
about me. I pushed them aside, and said, " Rag and
Dandy, come up here, and stop grinning at me. You
know I feel like an idiot."
" Excuse me, master," said Dandy, and he slunk
under my chair.
" Excuse me, too," said Rag, and he went under,
too, but stuck his head out, so that the red stuff fell
round his neck like a cloak.
" I'd go round ten corners to avoid Miss Pussy,"
he said. " I'll just stay where I am and keep out
of her notice."
i72 ffioe's jJarattisc
The Cat lay crouched beyond us, apparently en-
gaged in trying to lick a speck off her paw, then
presently she stopped, and the big voice went on.
" Animals, salute the boy."
They did salute, and for one minute the boy
wished he were dead. And all the time I was sus-
picious of the Cat that she was making fun of me.
I think I was prejudiced by the animals. The
Cat wasn't as black as they made her out to be.
Well, when the braying, and the rumbling, and the
roaring, and the squeaking, were all over and
while it lasted, it was like fifty Fourths of July rolled
into one the Cat began her actions.
" So you don't have any theatre here," I whispered
to Velox, who was cringing beside me, trying to
make himself small, so the Cat would not find fault
with him. " Somehow or other, I expected one."
He straightened himself up. " On earth," he
began, grandly, " when entertainments are in prog-
ress, one anticipates a building, but here the building
is a sequence of "
" When all the foxes stop their prosing," began
the awful voice again, " the entertainment will
begin."
The Cat had got the speck off her paw, and was
looking right at us. The fox crouched till he was
almost as small as she was. He had been the only
one in the crowd speaking.
JJlaett ^tt 173
" Theatre ! " called the Cat in her own rather
squeaky voice, " appear ! "
The awful voice had stopped, but there was power
even in her squeak.
Immediately a fine building surrounded us. I
stared, you may be sure. There was the roof, there
were the walls, where a minute before there had
only been blue sky and trees. There was also a stage
covered with red cloth, where the Cat sat by one
of the wings on a big, yellow stool.
I turned round again. What a huge building,
huger than the biggest cathedral I had ever seen!
I could scarcely see the end of it. And there were
some seats now, on which many of the smaller
animals stood. The birds were on the network of
rafters above us. I nodded and waved my hand to
many of the animals that I recognised, and I just
wish that some of the people who hate animals could
have seen how their faces lighted up. Lots that I
didn't speak to would grin, and bow, and pretend I
was noticing them.
"Look at the stage, Master Sam," whispered
Dandy, " look for your life."
I did look. There were about fifty black cats
whirling through the air in circles of flame. Then
the number increased till the stage was alive with
them, and then they disappeared.
For a minute there was silence, then the applause
i74 $ot f u jJaraTusc
broke out. Fancy about a thousand barn-yards, and
another thousand forests, and half a dozen menag-
eries roaring, " That's good go on."
The noise 'most finished me, and seeing it, a dear
little crested grebe flew to me with a tuft of soft,
downy feathers in her beak.
" Stuff that in your ears," she said, " and the noise
will be deadened."
I was just thanking her, when the stage suddenly
became black and still, and the awful voice thundered
out : " Let the boy lead the applause."
That fixed them. Not a mouse squeaked now,
unless I squeaked first. By the way, I forgot to say
that the rat was on one of my shoulders, and Bella
on the other. She had been quick to spy me out,
and to come to me, but she was keeping pretty quiet,
through fear of the Cat.
After awhile, the stage lighted up again, and
we had a candy tree. The animals made about as
much fuss over this as boys and girls do over a
Christmas tree.
It was like this a green tree sprang up in the
middle of the stage, loaded with lemon drops, choco-
lates, caramels, Turkish delight, big lumps of sugar,
and lots of other sweet things.
A beautiful princess came out from behind the
scenes, and picking the candy and lumps of sugar,
threw them to us.
lilacfe &vt 175
There was no scrambling, no pulling, but all the
animals got some, even the birds had their share.
"What did you get, boys?" I asked, looking
down at Dandy and Rag.
" Cocoanut cakes," they said.
" Well, look here," I replied, " I've got a fist full
of crystallised violets, and they are real violets. My
teeth go right into them, and I taste them. This
isn't magic."
Dandy shook his head, but I noticed that he gob-
bled up all of his candy.
"If I feel sick afterward," he said, "it's real
candy, if I don't, it isn't; for I've eaten enough to
upset ten dogs. Wonder what we're going to have
next."
" Would the boy like to see his home ? " squeaked
Pussy.
I nodded, and bless my heart if Market Street
wasn't before me. I could see the people going up
and down the wide pavements, the crowds coming
from the ferries, the electric cars going straight, and
the cable-cars whirling round on the turntables, the
little one-horse Sutter Street car wagging along by
itself. I could see the blue sky overhead, the tall
buildings on either side, I could smell the flowers
on the sidewalk by the Chronicle Building. I almost
called out to a child running across the street, " Look
out for that car." But the policeman at the fountain
176 ffioe'g ffarafttee
corner gave him a clip with his hand and helped him
along, then he took hold of two old women and
helped them across.
" I'm homesick," I muttered to Rag, " I want
to go home."
In an instant the picture flashed away, and we
had some soldiers marching across the stage. I
don't mean to say that these things were like moving
pictures. Everything looked real and alive.
Well, that Cat went on and on, and thinking it
over, I'm puzzled to know what she didn't show us.
There's too much to tell. She seemed to get in
everything in air, and earth, and sea. There were
magic balloons flying through the air, full of fairies
that laughed, and sang, and flung down roses at
us. There were flying fishes, too, and dancing fishes,
that flopped all over the stage on their tails, and held
fans in their fins, and languished at us, and made
eyes and especially mouths, till we nearly died
laughing.
Then there were queer animals, such as I had
never seen before, with extra supplies of legs, and
tails, and even heads. One eight-headed, eight-
legged monkey nearly finished us. He danced a set
of lancers with himself, he did tricks, and cut up
didos till the building was in one solid roar of
laughter.
Finally, when we were all sore from laughing, the
iililtlt art 177
whole thing was over just like a flash. The lights
nearly all went out, just enough were left for us to
see to get home by, and we were left staring at each
.other.
I gave a blank look round. The building was
gone, there was a " whish ! whish ! " in the air of
tired bird wings setting out for home, and a tramp
and rumble from animals doing the same thing.
Just one little glimmer of light shone over the
hillside. There was nothing there but the black Cat,
looking cross and tired, and a faded white mouse
crawling round where the back of the stage had been.
" Bet your life she's been working that mouse to
death to-night," said Dandy. " She does the show
part, and the mouse the real."
"Why doesn't the mouse run away?" I asked.
" Hasn't spirit enough. She's nothing but a
slave."
" Come, say good night to our hostess," I re-
marked, staring up at Pussy, whom I could just see.
" Thank you," said Dandy, " I haven't any man-
ners just now. Good night," and he ran away.
"Come, Rag," I said.
He slunk after me, looking like a fool, while Bella
called to the rat in a voice so husky from laughing
that she sounded as if her throat were full of bread
crumbs, " Come, Davy, it's time for bed."
She flew off, and he ran after her, while I made
my way to Miss Pussy.
178 ffio^a ffarafrts*
"That was a fine show," I said; "I'm much
obliged."
She got up and stretched herself. " I didn't care
a fig about those animals. I only wanted to please
you."
I tried to think what to say to her. " Don't you
think it would be better for you to try to like those
animals more? You would probably be happier."
" No," she said, " I want my princess and my
Egyptian home."
" How much longer do you have to stay here? "
" I don't know," she said, and she dropped her
head down on the damp grass, and looked miserable.
" Will you let your mouse come and make me a
little visit?" I said.
" Oh, yes, if she likes. Minerva, come here."
The little dragged-out mouse came running to her.
" Go with this young gentleman," said the Cat.
" He kindly wishes to give you a holiday. Don't
gabble and tell secrets."
" Very well, mistress," said the mouse, submis-
sively. Then she turned her pink eyes on me. I
don't suppose a mouse was ever so glad before to
get a little outing.
" Come up, mousie, you look tired/' I said, and I
slipped her into my shirt pocket, where she cuddled
down and went to sleep like a shot.
" Well, I must be going," I said, looking off to
Uiadt art 179
the spot where my fifteen illuminated foxes were
patiently waiting for me. " Good night, Pussy."
" Good night," she said, " but I'll see you again,
as I did last night."
" When did you see me last night ? " I asked.
" I crawled up on your roof, and made a hole to
look down at you. When you are asleep, you look
something like my princess."
I felt bad. "Are you all like this?" I asked.
"All longing for us human beings?"
" For some of you," she said, " the kind ones.
Yes, we are like that. Once let an animal associate
with a human being, and it is spoiled for animal
society alone. It wants to see something of its old
master or mistress."
" And human beings are often so hateful to ani-
mals," I said. " It's enough to make one mad.
Well, I'm off, Pussy."
" Pleasant dreams, boy," she said, and I think I
heard her add under her breath, " dear boy."
Rag and I plodded along beside the foxes, all of
us yawning and sleepy.
We had got nearly home when I felt a breath on
my forehead stronger than the breath of the wind.
I knew it was the bird that you feel, but do not
hear, and, looking up, I saw a small screech-owl
hovering over my head.
" Mr. Boy," it said, " Her Necromancy told me
i8o 3ot f u ffarafttae
to tell you that the Widow will arrive to-morrow
morning at eleven."
"All right," I said; "thank you."
He just flicked my forehead with his velvety
wings, and flew away.
When I got into my lodge, the foxes politely
thanked the fireflies, who flew home, while the young
kits turned tail in an opposite direction.
You may be sure I thanked the foxes before they
disappeared, and then I made for my bed. On the
way I stumbled over a chimpanzee, a lamb, ten dogs,
but the cats, among whom was the Angora, were
too clever to be caught napping, and crept out of my
way.
Dandy was under the bed, and snoring enough
to lift it into the air.
" Stop that, old fellow," I said, pushing him, " or
you'll go out of this."
" Oh, excuse me," he said, rousing himself; then
he went on worse than before, but I hadn't the heart
to turn him out.
There were some birds up aloft, for I could hear
them rustling, and some old scientist's pet snakes had
playfully festooned themselves round my pillow. I
gave them a cuff to make them scuttle away, then
tumbled on to my poppy leaves.
Rag showed his teeth at the snakes, and jumped
Bladt &trt 181
up beside me. " There's a lot more animals outside,"
he said, " I smell them."
"All right," I said, drowsily, "let them stay.
The door and windows are open, so we shall have
plenty of air."
Then we slept.
CHAPTER XV.
THE TIGER IN THE MARSH
When we got up in the morning, I just doubled
up laughing.
The sight reminded me of stories of those old
kings and queens who used to dress and undress,
and have their meals, with a crowd round them.
I decided to wait and have my plunge in the
breakers when there weren't so many spectators,
so called for breakfast.
I forgot to say, that the mouse had slept in one of
my fists. I never saw such a chummy, affectionate
little mite. It wanted to be petted all the time.
" Rag," I said, " isn't there some cheese left from
that Joe had brought for me in the air-ship from
San Francisco? "
Rag said there was, and I wish you could have
seen the mouse eat the crumbs he unearthed.
" I like you," she said, in her little, thin voice,
" I would like to live with you."
" Perhaps we will meet again some day, mousie."
" Yes," she said, and didn't her little, pink eyes
182
gpe grtfler in tyt ffiarsp 183
run out over the ocean just as the bigger animals'
eyes went. " In the better Paradise," she said, " I
will be your little mouse."
" You don't like the Cat," I observed.
" Oh, yes," she said, cautiously, " but when she
has an industrious fit, I have to work very hard."
"What kind of work do you do, mousie?"
i" I was told not to gabble," she said, timidly.
" All right, just clean your whiskers, and that will
keep you out of trouble Hello, Dandy, what
have we got for breakfast? "
" Cocoanut milk, fruit, and bread."
" Good let us have it."
Rag called a monkey. The monkey tribe was the
working tribe, on account of their being so handy
with their paws, and having so many of them about,
I began to feel quite lordly, like a person with an
army of servants.
The first monkey called other monkeys, and soon
my breakfast was spread on the grass outside, where
I ate and drank the glorious view at the same time
with my food.
" The most of the animals have gone," said
Dandy.
" The most," I replied, looking round upon the
few hundreds left. " How many were there? "
" How many, Dandy ? " said Rag, turning to him.
" About ten thousand, I should say," replied
i8 4 3ot f & ffaratrtee
Dandy, " not counting birds, slept within sight of
your roof last night. ,,
I would have been flattered, but I was too sur-
prised to have room for anything else. " Why, I
should think the place would be laid low after an
army like that," I said, " there isn't even a shrub
broken."
" The animals on this Island have to learn to be
tidy," said Dandy, " that is part of our training.
If one breaks a branch, or upturns a stone, it must
be carried away."
" Then that is why the whole place is so parklike,"
I said. " Do you put your rubbish in the sea? "
" Oh, no, that would spoil the fish gardens. There
is a deep pit in the middle of the Island, where we
cast what we do not bury. Then a large band of
dogs goes round the Island to remove unsightly
objects. It keeps them occupied, and the Island
neat."
" Do all the animals work ? "
" Every one. Not a bird nor a beast, but what
has something to do."
" Well, now, what could an eagle do ? "
" An eagle can break off dead twigs from the tops
of high trees," replied Dandy, " and carry them to
the pit. The eagles are our park commissioners."
" Well, what can rabbits do ? "
" They can keep clean the little runs through the
arfte fffger in tfie jWarsfr 185
underbrush. You must remember that all these
animals have to spend much of their time in look-
ing for food, and in keeping their homes in order."
" It seems queer for you to eat, and drink, and
build homes in Paradise."
" It is very homelike. It is just what we have
been used to on earth, and many of us are very
fresh from it. You must remember that we are
being drafted away all the time to the next world
the World of the Blessed, which is a less material
place than this."
" But you are happy on this Island? "
" Happy as the day is long, so happy that I often
wonder how I could be happier; but come, if you
have finished your breakfast, let us walk along
toward the Hill of Arrival. I wouldn't miss the
Widow for a barrel of sweet cakes."
The animals fell in behind us, and we went mostly
like Noah's procession two by two.
Well, on the way, a melancholy thing for me
happened, and I feel half ashamed to tell it, but this
is a faithful chronicle, so here it is.
In going to the Hill, we had to pass a marsh. It
was a lovely marsh a regular Paradise marsh, not
stagnant and slimy, but soft, and velvety, and
smooth-looking, with bright green water-plants, and
shrubs with glossy leaves.
As we were going by, I admired it, and Dandy
smiled, and then sighed and said, "Poor tiger!"
i86 ffiors jJaratrfsr
" Is there an animal there ? " I asked.
" Yes, a tiger we call him the sensitive one.
Really, he's absurd. You have only to point your
finger at him, and he slinks."
"What's the matter with him?"
" He was a very fierce tiger in life, and was badly
used hot irons and that sort of thing, to make
him tame. It took all the spirit out of him, and
then he has an unfortunate name."
"What is it?"
" Tammany Tarn, for short. Now I don't call
that an ugly name, do you ? "
" W 7 hy, no, it's a pretty sounding name."
"Just what I say, but there's some ugly story
attached to it on earth, and the bird telegraphers
sang to our birds that it was a disgrace to be called
by such a name. That finished the tiger. Some of
the mischievous monkeys teased him, and he ran
away from every one. No one teases him any more,
now that we know how seriously he takes the busi-
ness of his name, but he has got so thin-skinned,
that you have only to think a mischievous thought,
or imagine a wink, and he rushes into the depths of
this swamp. We've all tried to coax him out, but he
won't come, and I'm afraid he's half starved, for
none of the things he likes grow in that swamp.
Why " and Dandy stopped as if struck by a
sudden thought. " I daresay you might wheedle him
out."
I was greatly interested. Of course I had not
known Dandy in life, but in reading about him, I
had been impressed by the fact that he was a selfish
dog. Now he was acting generously.
" Done," I said, " I'll help you if I can."
" Of course he's heard that you're here," went
on Dandy ; " the birds have sung it to him, and of
course he's anxious to see you. Now I'll tell you
what I'll do. You stand back a little, and I'll go
to the edge of the swamp and call him. Back,
brothers."
The animals all fell behind with me, and Dandy
trotted ahead.
" Hello, old man," he called out over the sluggish
water, " how are you this morning?"
There was no response.
" We've got a stranger here," continued Dandy,
" a boy from earth, and he wants to see you. Come
on, don't be impolite."
Suddenly Dandy scratched the ground with his
paw in a vexed way, and came to me. " There now,
I've done it, asking him not to be impolite. I
shouldn't have said that. You'd really think he was
made up wrong side out, he's so sensitive. It hurts
him to be breathed on."
" Suppose I go call him ? " I said.
"He hasn't a name," replied Dandy. "We
daren't call him Tammany, for that sends him into
the depths of the swamp for days."
188 3M% ggygrtig
" Can you see him now ? "
" No, but I can just tell that the bulrushes away
over in that corner are trembling. That's where
he is."
" Give him a new name/' I said.
" Good scheme you choose one."
I think I mentioned a hundred names in the next
five minutes. There were so many animals on the
Island, that all the names were used up.
" I'll tell you what," I said, " we'll give him a
double treble Christian name like the old Pilgrim
ones, such as Leave- Your-Sins Barebones. Suppose
we call the tiger I'11-Be-Jiggered-If-I-Do-It-Again,
and Jigger for short."
"Jiggered, if he does what?"
" Goes into the swamp."
" Just the thing," said Dandy, " and so original.
Let me tell him. You're my last card, and I won't
play you till the others are out."
He stepped forward again, " Hello, boy, listen
to your new name that the earth-boy has given you
Jigger. Isn't that a fine one ? No other like it.
Now, Jigger, boy, come out, and show yourself
worthy your new name."
The bulrushes quivered a little more, but still
Jigger never budged.
" I give up," said Dandy, in disgust, " you try."
" Rag," I said, " old fellow, go and bring him
artie artgetr in tyt jWarst) 189
out. He's shy, and you're the only one that doesn't
know how shy he is, so maybe he'll come with you."
My plucky dog sprang forward, and leaping,
wading, half swimming, and sometimes wholly
swimming, reached the tuft of bulrushes.
Soon we all saw him turn toward us, accompanied
by a large, striped animal with hanging head.
Dandy looked round on the other animals. " Now,
look here, fellows," he said, " you pigs, dogs, goats,
calves, sheep, you lion, and you young panther, keep
your mouths shut, unless you can say something
pleasant. If any one dares to lisp ' Tammany,' he'll
get a thrashing."
" Would he scuttle just for his name? " I asked.
" Like lightning. He thinks it's the most awful
word in the language. Look, here he comes. That
Rag is a beaut."
" Yes, isn't he; you and he must be friends when
I am gone."
" So you've made up your mind to leave him,"
said Dandy, with a twinkle in his eye.
"Don't I know I've got to," I said, fiercely.
" Don't bother me."
I wish you could have seen that picture. Rag's
dear, old, honest, white face, and the tiger's cowed,
sneaky one. Poor wretch, he looked thin.
" Well, Jigger, old fellow," said Dandy, heartily,
when the tiger dragged his last leg ashore, and
I9Q %*t'% WUVUltiM
stood wet and dripping and hang-doggy, " I'm glad
to see you! Come up here. Come, brothers, stop
staring, and help clean him."
The tiger looked overwhelmed. He had not go
enough to clean himself, but every animal that could
get a lick at him took off some of the mud, and at
last he stood clean and decent before us.
A chimpanzee ran like the wind, and got a loaf
of the bread they made on the Island. The tiger
ate it ravenously, then, twice the beast he was
before, ran his tongue over his chops, and looked
about him in a way that in an earthly tiger would
have suggested, " What next? "
" Let's move on," said Dandy, who didn't want
too much attention paid to the tiger, lest he should
become embarrassed.
We walked on slowly, for the tiger seemed tired,
and as I watched him dragging his limbs over the
grass, a low-down cur of a thought came sneaking
into my mind.
Suppose any one said Tammany would he
really run? Dandy said he would. I thought how
much I would like to see those velvety limbs spinning
ever the ground. He was dragging them along so
loosely now.
" Tarn," I said, in a dead-and-alive sort of way.
" What did you remark ? " asked Dandy, sharply..
" I was going to say that tam-o'-shanters are
very becoming caps to girls."
THEN I SAW HIM RUN
Qttft ffiger in fyt jmarsfj 191
("Oh!" said Dandy.
We walked along, and the thought crept back.
Tamma," I said, with a twist of my lips.
Dandy caught on to me. " What are you
ying? " he asked, half angrily.
The little imp inside of me slipped down to my
uoots. This dog was better than I was.
" I merely remarked that Tammas was Scotch for
Thomas," I said, shamefacedly; then I patted the
tiger's head. " Good boy, Jigger."
He looked up, gratefully. He was pleased that
I had given him a new name.
I began to throw bouquets to myself. What a
lovely kind of a boy I was ! What a guardian angel
to animals! How they loved me how I loved
them!
Those bouquets were my finish. An evil spirit
tossed them to me, and words beginning with T
just waltzed into my mind.
I was most crazy, and at last, to keep my mouth
occupied, I began whistling, " Tramp, tramp, tramp,
the boys are marching."
It didn't do a bit of good. Something awful came
over me. If I died for it, I must see the tiger run.
I stopped short, I dug my heels in the grass, and
just blazed out " Tammany ! "
The tiger stopped, too, gave me one dreadful look,
and then then I saw him run.
192 $ot f * jJaratHsc
It was lovely while it lasted, but it didn't last long.
I never before saw a big, wild beast skedaddle from
fright. But when it was over, my quarter of an
hour came.
Splash he went into the marsh. We could see
him panting, rushing, swimming, and leaping to
his haunt, and then then, I felt mean.
And no one said a word to me, not a beast nor a
bird. They just left me to myself.
And what did I do big boy in baseball suit,
big ninny that ought to have known better I sat
down on a green hillock, and hid my face in my
hands.
I could have howled, and I was dead homesick. I
always am, when I'm in trouble, and I wanted my
mother as much as a baby would have done.
The animals gathered round me. Not one bore
a grudge, not even Dandy, who was the smartest
there, and who had tried to steer me clear of the
mischief. They licked my hands, there was a whole
procession of noses touching against my arms and
back, and animals pushing each other to get near me.
" Never mind," said Dandy, " he's been out once,
he'll come again. We'll coax him out, when you're
gone."
" That's the worst of it," I blubbered. " I've done
a mean thing, and you've all been so square with me.
You'll remember it against me. I can't wipe it out."
arfre gCiget in tyt matrgft 193
" Never mind," said Dandy again, " you're only
an earth -boy. By and by you'll be a heavenly
boy, and then you won't want to do mean things.
I used to love to be bad when I was on earth. I
would just have revelled in a trick like that. Come
on now, or you'll be late for the Widow."
I got up ; there was no use crying over spilt milk,
but I vowed it was the last mean trick I would play
any one on the Island. I would keep my record clean
after this.
" Animals," I said, " I'm ashamed of myself.
I'm meaner than the meanest thing that lives. Do
your best to get that tiger out after I'm gone, and
tell him I'll never forgive myself for having hurt
his feelings, and I hope I'll have a chance to tell
him so some day when I have become more of a
gentleman."
" Good boy," said Dandy, " now forward march,
animals."
Soon we came up to the goat, running and bleat-
ing, and not having a single idea of what was in
store for him.
I went up to him, but his eyes were so bleary that
he could not see me, and he was making such a
racket with his mourning, that he could not hear, so
I went on.
" Run," said Dandy, " there's an air-ship."
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WIDOW COMES
We could see an air-ship away in "the distance
the Hill of Arrival was also in the distance, but we
ran about half as fast as the poor tiger had run, and
managed to get there just as the monkeys were
throwing out the anchor.
It was the air-ship that we were expecting, and
Soko stuck his head out. He had been chosen to
go to Maine on this special trip, and he only had one
passenger the Widow.
That was enough for him. He looked ten years
older than when he had started such a haggard
face. The Widow McDoodle was no handful, ]
assure you.
Well, she looked out over Soko's shoulder. Then
she gave him a slap that made him jump.
" Out of the way, ye dirty beast, and where in the
land of light and liberty have ye brought me ? "
" Step forward," said Dandy, giving me a push,
" the President isn't here."
I did step forward, and having no cap to take
194
&fy affiitroto eotnts 195
off, for the lovely climate made one unnecessary, I
made the lady my best bow, and tried not to grin.
If it hadn't been for my late painful experience
with the tiger, which had sobered me, I would have
grinned, for the Widow was the funniest, dirtiest
old woman I ever saw. Ugly-tempered, too, and
yet with a queer streak in her that made you laugh,
ortunately she wasn't too old to laugh at.
" And is it a boy? " she said. " And what is he
in' among all these dirty beasts? "
I looked round me. There wasn't an animal in
ht that wasn't as clean as a whistle. The calves
re as white as milk, and as red as clover. The
were spick and span from bathing and licking
ch other. The horses looked as if each had just
ad a groom at him, the sheep as if they had just
taken their wool out of very clean curl-papers, but
the lady the old woman!
Well, she was a sight! She still had on the red
wrapper that had been the cause of the goat's ruin.
It might have been clean then. It was sloppy, and
spotty, and wrinkled, and torn now. Her old carpet
slippers were just falling off her feet, and her hair
hung in tousled rings about her face.
" Mrs. McDoodle," I said, with another bow, " my
mother tells me not to argue with ladies. I will just
say briefly that these are very decent animals, and
that you have been brought here by my request."
196 ffioi's apr>fg*
" By your request I like your impidence, and
what was I monkeyed from my quiet home for, to
come to this heathenish place ? Where is it, anyway
such goin's on flyin' over the tops of houses
and trees, and me afraid of fallin' out."
" You will be taken back safely," I said, when
she held up for a minute. " You are here for a
purpose. You remember a goat you once had,
called "
" Remember him ? and how could I forget him,
pushin' me down the well. Oh, it's worlds I'd give
for a sight of him."
There was something queer in her voice, but I
thought it best to lose no time talking to her. If
she was mad with the goat it would do him good.
" Oh, the sweet old lady," bleated a sheep near
me, " she is going to forgive her dear pet, and
make him happy."
We all moved down the hill and across the sands,
the Widow and I leading. Her face was delicious.
She would look behind at the animals, then ahead
at the lovely scenery, then she'd stare at me, till
I had hard work to keep from bursting out laughing
in her face.
" There he is at last, the poor goat," I said, sol-
emnly, " just look at him."
He was so used to the comings and goings of
animals that he paid no attention to us. There
actie EEtfSoto gowts 197
was nearly always a group staring sympathetically
at him, and always a bird or two perched on the
palms looking at him.
But there was a transformation scene when the
old woman caught sight of him.
" Is that me goat? " she asked, and her wrinkled
old face went knobby and queer.
" Yes," I said, " there he is, and he's dying of
grief to think he pushed you down the well."
"Could ye give me a club?" she said, eagerly,
a good, stout club? "
The animals began to catch on.
" I don't like the way her mouth is working,"
said Dandy, behind me.
" Let her alone," I said ; " ask a monkey to run
up among the trees and get a good switch."
An orang-outang brought back a beautiful willow
switch, limber and lively.
" Now let me at him," said the Widow, snatching
it, " now just let me learn a lesson to a low-down,
sneaky, snivellin', cowardly "
She went on till the words flew so fast that we
couldn't make them out.
She got there, though. She ran over the sands like
a young girl. She crept up to the weeping goat, she
fetched him one crack, she fetched him another, till
he had to dry up and turn round.
" That feels like my dear old mistress," he said,
198 $ot f u ffaratttee
touchingly, " my dear old mistress. Surely she has
not come here."
" Surely she has," said the Widow, and she
danced, and flew, and circled round him, lighting
again and again with her switch, but never on the
same spot.
" Oh, mistress," howled the goat at last, " you
hurt horribly. Do stop, till I tell you how sorry I
am about that well affair."
" I'll well you," she cried, giving him another
rap, " I'll well you, and sink you, and drown you
you dirty, murderin', unclean, heathen beast ! "
" She's not a woman, she's a machine," observed
Dandy. " What was her profession in life ? She
gives beautiful clips."
" She is a washerwoman," said Soko, who was
grinning behind us, " she had some very clean clothes
hanging in a very dirty back yard. Her fists are
like hammers. She pounded me all the way over
New England and the Middle West. Don't you
think it's time she let up, Master Sam ? "
" No, let her run a little longer," I said. " See,
the goat is getting disgusted. Look at his old beard
wagging. In ten shakes of a lamb's tail, he'll butt
her again."
" Law me ! " exclaimed Dandy, " you'll kill him.
If he butts her once more, remorse will finish him."
" You let me alone about that goat," I said. " In
gflj)e g&ittoto Comes 199
some ways I'm not half as smart as you animals,
but I have a feeling that I can run this goat affair
successfully."
" But isn't it time to call her off ? " said Dandy,
anxiously. " Look at the hair flying."
" I guess the goat's back must be pretty sore,"
said Soko, but so moderately, that I saw he wasn't
as much inclined to interfere as Dandy was.
The old woman had given him an awful time
on his voyage through the air, and he had an idea
I was planning some sort of discipline for her.
" Mrs. McDoodle," I said, running up to her,
" will you not stop now, and forgive your goat ? He
has been punished enough."
" Forgive him ! " she yelled, and hit out like a
prize-fighter.
I got a cut with the end of the switch, and retired
to rub my cheek-bone.
The goat had crouched down in a heap. " Oh,
you silly thing," I roared, " you've no spirit, run
away ! "
He raised his head, looked round as if he had
caught sight of a new idea dangling in the air before
him. The Widow closed his eyes with a crack.
" Unkind lady ! " cried the goat, suddenly, " I give
you up." Then he started to run.
The Widow got in his way. He planted his head
before her, butted her aside very gently, and started
again.
200 3ot f & jJavatHsc
She took after him, beating and screaming, and
every time she caught up, he would push her over
on the sand. He was very polite, very gentlemanly,
but very positive. Even a good goat will be mean
when he makes up his mind to be so.
" Give him a cheer, animals," I said, " this is a
turning-point in his career."
The roars, and shrieks, and calls made the Widow
wild. She could not catch the goat any more. He
was frisking along the beach, tossing up his head,
kicking out his hoofs, and acting like a life sentence
prisoner out on a holiday.
Now these actions made the Widow so mad at
losing him, that she charged us with her switch.
Didn't we scatter ! She caught a few slow-going
animals, and the way they drew in their tails and
ran was a circumstance. " Reminds me of earth
again, and my old master," said a horse, galloping
by me.
" Never saw a switch before in Paradise," grum-
bled a dog, limping after the horse. " She caught
my fore paw sure enough. Nasty thing, I wish
you would send her home."
Dandy, Soko, Rag, and I stopped in a little grove,
and looked back at her.
The Widow McDoodle had the beach and the
beautiful sea all to herself. She thrashed round for
some time, then she sat down on the sand.
" Better get her into the air-ship, Soko," I said,
" she's served her time."
" Oh,' me, the animals ! " laughed Rag, " just look
at them."
As far as we could see, they were peeping. Every
rock, and tree, and shrub had its concealed noses,
and tails, and legs, and bodies, but observing eyes ;
and the birds on the trees were snickering, and
telling each other to keep quiet. The Widow was
as good as a circus to them.
" We can't do anything with these earthly people
when they don't want to mind us," said Soko. " I'll
go see Joe, and ask him if we can't get the Cat to
hypnotise her into the air-ship, for I give you my
word, I don't feel like being beaten all the way back
to earth again."
" Come on, boys," I said to the dogs, " I want to
interview *he goat. Bet you anything, his views
of life have changed."
CHAPTER XVII.
A CHANGED GOAT
I was right. He was a changed goat. We found
him in a little green spot where many of the smaller
birds went to drink and bathe.
There was a tiny stream running down a hill,
leaping from one pool to another, till it formed a
big, beauty one, and by it were beds of ferns and
soft, green mossy places.
The goat was lolling like a lord on one of these
beds of moss. A crow had just brought him a sweet
cake in his beak, and the goat was alternately eating
it, and giggling and talking to the little birds who
perched on the ground, and in the shrubs around
him.
He was perfectly silly, but there was never a tear
in his eye.
" Oh, I'm so happy," he was gurgling in his throat
as we came up.
" Isn't your back sore? " piped a robin. " Mine
would be after all that larruping."
" My back is sore, birdie," giggled the goat, " but
A CROW HAD JUST BROUGHT HIM A SWEET CAKE "
g (gftangett &oat 203
my heart is light. Oh, what a sweet thing is peace
of mind. I gaze into this lovely water mirror before
me. I see a shattered ideal."
" Why, what beautiful talk," said a lark, senti-
mentally. " I had no idea you could be so poetical,
Mr. Goat."
" What is life? " the goat went on with a smile
that met around the back of his neck. " Life, sweet
birdie, is a comedy."
" Well, I should think so," called Dandy.
The goat partly raised himself from his reclining
position. " Ah, my friends, are you there ? "
" Yes, and have been for several months," replied
Dandy, " but you haven't thought it worth while
to cultivate us."
"Ah," called the goat, "the scales have fallen from
my eyes. I was blinded, deluded, and all for a faith-
less woman. I loved that Widow on earth. I ideal-
ised her in Paradise. When I saw that vulgar red
whirlwind, I thought, ' Can this be my glorified mis-
tress ? ' My soul revolted, yet I submitted to her
chastisement. Now, thank fortune, I am released.
Now I shall be happy. Come, let us tread a meas-
ure," and getting up, he began to skip gaily about
the moss.
" Jerry, you're an idiot," remarked Dandy.
" Then, if this be folly," cried the goat, treading
his measure alone, since no one would tread it with
204 %M*U jJavatHSC
him, " who would be wise ? Oh, how sweet are the
pleasures of tranquillity. I long for no one. Now
I am perfectly happy. I even think I could sing,"
and as he ran up and down by the pool, he began in
a tea-kettle voice,
" Once I was grieving,
Now I am gay.
Once I was sorry,
All the long day."
11 Now I am happy,
By this sweet pool,
Now I'll rejoice me "
" Now, I'm a fool," added Dandy, loudly. " I'll
wait and talk to you when you have more sense," and
he ran away.
I was very curious about the goat. " Sit down
and tell me exactly how you feel," I said, going up
to him.
He squatted on the turf. " Earth-boy, I feel
as if I'd had a load of turnips on my brain, and
some one had suddenly rolled them off."
" But what made you feel that way? come now,
don't be idiotic."
He turned his bleary, bloodshot eyes on me, and
now his expression was serious.
" I tell you, boy, I bowed down and worshipped
that Widow, but I made sure she'd forgive me. I
thought she'd be as tender as a spongy carrot after
my death."
"Oh, you thought that would touch her?"
" Yes, I thought that Death, the great softener,
would touch even her flinty heart, and that she would
say, ' Well, I was too hard on him. I ought to
have forgiven him.' "
" But it was a serious offence to push an old
woman down a well."
" It was awful, abominable, but look at the worse
things human beings dc to each other, and to animals
on earth. She ought to have forgiven me, specially
when I died of a broken heart and poor feed."
" Well, do you feel as if you could ever love
her again? "
The goat shook his beard thoughtfully. " I feel
exactly as if I had lost my old woman. I have
been thinking of her all these months as a sweet
old thing sitting by her fire, sorrowing because she
would not forgive me. That old woman has been
put to flight by this old woman. Perhaps if this
one forgives me, and I meet her, in another and a
better Paradise, we may be friends again, but I
doubt it. I feel as if I'd like a change now, a new
owner. I guess I'll be your goat."
" Thank you," I said, hastily, " but I'm going to
have quite a following of animals." Then, for my
curiosity wasn't satisfied, I went on, " Don't you
206 ffiors ffarattte*
want to look at her again? She's going back to
earth pretty soon."
"Has she got her switch ? " asked the goat,
anxiously.
" Yes, clutched tight in her hand."
" Then I guess I'll just stay here with her souve-
nir," he said. " I'm glad she's going back to earth.
I hope she'll have a lovely journey, and now I think
I'll sing a little more. Wouldn't you like to hear
me? " and he got up and began to gambol again.
" No, I wouldn't," I said, and I made off as fast
as I could, but the first part of his song floated after
me.
" It is a gay and pleasant thing,
Late along the fruitful Spring,
To roam the meadows fresh and gay,
Eating grass and drinking hay."
" How can you drink hay ? " I bawled back at him.
" You can't," he said, stopping and laughing like
an idiot, " but how in time can I make rhyme, if
you don't let me use words? Words were made
before boys, anyway," and the old simpleton went
on plunging and yowling.
" If you meet a little kid
Dancing o'er the bounteous grid,
Ask him to come play with you,
He'll delight to frisk in dew."
a eflangetr ggoat 207
" Oh, let up," I called back, " let u-u-u-p."
But he went on.
" If a boy should come along,
Greet him with a dance and song.
Greet him gaily, let him go,
'Specially if he's pretty slow."
" Well, I call that gratitude," I said to Rag, who
was the only animal left with me, the others being all
taken up with spying on the old woman.
" He doesn't know that you were the chief one in
having the Widow brought here, and I guess tears
have kind of washed away his underpinnings," said
Rag, soberly.
" Rag, if ever you make doggerel, I'll kill you,"
I said.
The old dog winked. " I guess I couldn't,
master. My brain goes slow, and my body goes
faster."
" You old imp ! " I said, and I began to chase him.
He ran, and I ran after him, and neither of us
paid much attention to the way we were going, till
we landed in one of the prettiest spots on the Island.
CHAPTER XVIII.
joe's home
It was Joe's home, and it was a lovely place. We
were at the foot of quite a smart hill, and up at the
top of the hill was a green lodge something like
mine, only larger.
Old Joe was sitting at the door of his lodge, look-
ing out over the sea. The morning sun shone on
his old face. He was simply fine I can't describe
him. The doggy part seemed noble and grand, and
then there was the look of a human being about
him.
I didn't feel like speaking, and just stood staring
up at him.
At last he saw me, and the dreamy look went
out of his eyes. " Aren't you coming up, boy? "
" Yes, Joe I'm sorry you've been having
trouble."
" It's over now," he said, and he turned his old
face up, till it looked yellow and shining as the
sun.
" Is Miss Laura dead ? " I asked, for I knew
208
$ot f n ffiomc 209
enough now to be sure that while suffering gave the
thoughtful animals pain, death pleased them.
" Yes/' he said, " she is dead. I have just
heard," and following the glance he gave, I could
see a dove as white as snow up in the yellow sun-
light.
" Then she is happy," I said, in a low voice.
" Yes, boy."
" And you want to go to her ? "
He didn't say anything for a long time; then he
replied : " As soon as it pleases the Master of all
things to let me go."
" This is a pleasant place to leave," I said, and
I looked round me. Strawberry plants, blackberry
and currant bushes, and all kinds of New England
things grew right up the hill to Joe's door, and
behind the lodge I caught glimpses of a real pine
wood.
There would be lots of little white wild flowers
in there, such as we used to find in the woods back
East, and what a fine place for squirrels and rabbits !
" A pleasant place," murmured Joe, " but nothing
to the place we are going to."
I fell into a brown study. Sometimes, in talking
to these dead animals, I felt dreadfully alive.
Joe was very absent-minded, but after a long
time he went on, in a low voice, " I am thinking
about her all the time. Think how blessed to have
iio ffoe'a jJavaatsc
all the pain over. She was so merciful. She suf-
fered with the tiniest fly that broke its wing."
I couldn't speak for a minute. A week ago I
would not have understood him. Now, Rag's death
flashed upon me. I was beginning to take hold of
these things.
" All right, Joe," I said, and I threw my arm
round him, " I understand, old dog."
Just then, Joe's fat little mother came sniffing up
to me. " Good morning," she said. " I am glad
that at last you have called on us. Don't you want
to look round and see where the family sleeps ? "
I smiled at her, and leaving old Joe sitting gazing
out over the sea, she took me round the place.
First we went through the front door into a long,
low room, where my head almost touched the roof.
The lodge was built like mine, only more substan-
tially green branches twisted together for walls
and roof, and little flowers growing on the walls in
some places where earth had been put in nooks and
crannies.
All round the floor were raised boxlike sleeping
places.
I turned to Jess. She was looking over her
shoulder at Joe.
"He's watching," she said, gravely, "watching
for messengers from the World of the Blessed. He
thinks Miss Laura will be sure to ask for him. He
may be sent for at any time."
3tot f # ffiontc 2^1
" Don't talk about it," I said. " I feel all broken
up, when you speak about Joe's going. Tell me
who sleeps in all these cunning little bedrooms."
" Bedrooms," laughed Jess, showing her little,
white teeth at me. " That's a very grand name for
these cubby-holes. But Joe will have a separate nest
for every member of our large family. Miss Laura
taught him that. Even I don't have my pups to sleep
in my nest, because I am no longer young and
I'm pretty stout," she added, apologetically, " and
like plenty of room. I never had enough to eat in
life, and my besetting sin in Paradise is to stuff
myself. This is where my pups sleep," and walking
into another room, she pointed to a fresh bed of hay
in a cunning, green bower.
" Where are the pups ? " I asked.
" Off on a bay-leaf chase."
" Like a paper chase ? "
" Yes. You know pups must have fun, so a
monkey goes ahead and scatters bay leaves. The
pup that gathers most leaves gets a prize. Some-
times they have a plain chase when they follow
the track of some animal the bloodhounds teach
them that."
" But how can they tell the monkey's bay leaves
from those dropped by the tree ? "
" Oh, by the smell," she said, with a surprised
air. " Every one the monkey touches, smells of
him."
2i2 3ot f $ jJaraOfsc
I didn't say anything. I didn't feel up to a dis-
cussion on scent.
" This is where Malta sleeps/' said Jess, showing
another little compartment, " this one lined with
feathers. Dropped feathers, of course," she said;
" no bird is killed here Davy and Bella sleep
together. Where are you, Bella? Here is your
dear boy."
" Coming, Mother, coming," cried Bella, and she
appeared from somewhere, strutting on the ground.
She reminded me of parrots on earth who so often
prefer the floor, where they are so ungraceful, to
flying on the backs of chairs and sofas, where they
look so well. Perhaps being kept in captivity causes
them to partly lose the use of their wings.
Well, Bella came and got on my shoulder, and
played with my nose, and bit my ear, and pretended
she was going to hurt me.
" Mind the Widow, boy," she said, " the Widow
with the big, big switch. She'd clout Bella's back
if she could, but Bella is smart. She keeps out of
the way. Ha, ha, ha ! " and she burst into a screech.
" I hope the Widow won't get at my pups with
her switch," said Jess, anxiously.
Good Jess I thought of the cruel way in which
her pups were killed on earth by the miserable
Jenkins, and how she took them to her nest in the
straw, and tried to bring them back to life.
$*t'u ffiomt 213
" What a different life you lead here," I said. " I
suppose you're as happy as the day is long."
" Oh, so happy, boy," she said, " so happy. I
lie here on the top of this lovely hill, and look away
toward earth, and think of the animals suffering
as I did. Sometimes I call out to them only of
course they can't hear me ' Oh, animals, be pa-
tient, the Island of Brotherly Love is a long way
off, but sometime you will get to it.' "
I stooped down, and patted her little brown head.
She winked away the tears in her eyes ; then she
said, " Come see the sweet-smelling place old Toby
has. He was Jenkins's horse, you know."
She trotted away through more rooms, all with
their green nests of different sizes, and going
through the house, led the way to a big, thatched
bower outside.
On the way she stopped, and said, softly, " When
you go back to earth you may know of some mother
dog who is going to lose her pups. Please ask the
men who are going to kill them, or give them away,
to take them from her very gently, for it hurts a dog
to lose her young ones. Not as much as a woman,
of course, when they steal her children from her,
but it is the same kind of pain."
" I'll remember, Jess," I said, " and if ever I have
a dog, and she has pups, I'll let her keep them if
there are fifty thousand."
2i4 $**'& flaratttee
She laughed heartily. " Well, you see, that
wouldn't do. Some animals have to be killed, but
there's a kind way of killing, and an evil way."
" Jess," I said, " I see where Joe gets his good-
ness."
She shook her little head, " Not from me, not
from me now look at Toby's home," and she
entered the bower. " He isn't at home. He has
gone on a picnic. He is old, and he never had
much fun in life you know he used to be a cab-
horse before Jenkins got him so Joe encourages
him to have just as good a time as he can here. He
associates mostly with thoroughbred horses. That
was his ambition in life, and whatever your ambition
in life may be, it is gratified in Paradise, if it is a
lawful one. He has all the company he likes, too.
See the six stalls Joe had the monkeys make and
he keeps them full of his friends all the time. He'll
come home to-night as tired as can be, and he'll
probably have six friends with him, and they'll sleep
like colts till morning."
" Does he do any work ? " I asked.
" Oh, yes he helps draw the bread and cakes
from the bakeries. The monkeys rigged him a kind
of rough sled."
I walked into the thatched stable or bower, for
it was as dainty as a girl's summer-house. " Why
this is sweet-scented grass, isn't it? " I said, sniffing
at the woven partitions between the stalls.
" Yes," said Jess, in her little, humble way. " Joe
wants Toby to have everything of the best Toby
and the cows."
" I suppose you animals who were so badly treated
by Jenkins have a peculiar feeling toward each
other," I remarked.
" Oh, yes, trouble binds together," said Jess,
gently.
" And why are you so meek about your good luck
now? " I asked. " You speak as if you were almost
doing wrong to have such nice things."
" I've never got over my old earth habit," she
replied, in her little mousie way. " Joe talks to me
about it, but I always felt I had no right to live
when I was alive, and now I'm dead, I feel as if
I had no right to enjoy anything."
" You had all the spirit taken out of you," I said.
" I'd like to kill everybody that abuses an animal."
There was a step behind us, and turning round
I saw that old Joe was standing in the stable door.
The light was behind him, and his face was bent on
me so earnestly, so very earnestly.
" Boy," he said, " I want to have some talks with
you before you go back to earth. Every American
boy is a King. When you reach manhood, you
enter your inheritance. If the boy understands the
principles of good government, he will rule wisely;
if he does not, he will be deposed and another will
reign in his stead."
^6 ffiors girggtge
" What is my kingdom, Joe? " I asked.
"Yourself."
"Myself!"
" Yes and if you are your own ruler, your
kingdom is a city with walls. If you have not firm-
ness enough to control your own spirit, your city
is broken down and without walls another ruler
enters."
I laughed. " That means self-government, Joe, so
I'm not fit to be an American King yet. I'd like
to be a Turk. I want to cut off the heads of people
that don't please me."
Joe looked thoughtful. " There's something about
boys I don't understand. Even in the best of
them, there is a sanguinary streak."
"What does sanguinary mean, Joe?"
" Bloody," he said, reluctantly.
" I never faint when I see blood," I remarked,
proudly. " Mother does."
" Keep it down," said Joe, energetically.
" Keep what down ? "
" Your savagery, your fierceness, your desire to
rule. No good will come of it, boy. Cultivate a
meek and quiet spirit."
Jess was following us, and just here she re-
marked, timidly, " I've heard America called ' Sweet
land of liberty/ "
" I'd give them liberty," I said, for I still felt
cranky. " I'd give them liberty, especially liberty
to hang the people that aren't good to animals. "
Joe smiled. " Boy, I think you would do better
on another line of argument. Let the question of
kindness to animals alone. I'll fall back upon first
principles once upon a time a King stepped from
his throne. He saw a beetle in his path. He put
out his foot. He was just about to crush it, when
the beetle cried with a loud voice, ' Justice ! '
" ' Justice ! ' said the King, drawing back his foot.
f You mean mercy.'
" ' I mean justice, brother,' said the beetle.
" ' Brother ! ' repeated the King, holding up his
head, proudly. ' You, the meanest of things created,
dare to address me thus ! '
" ' Who created you, brother ? ' asked the beetle.
" The Master of All Things. I am his noblest
work/
" ' Did he tell you so ? ' inquired the beetle.
" The King said nothing.
" ' I am his noblest work/ continued the beetle.
1 Look at my wonderful jointed body, my beautiful
sheath wings.'
" ' Impertinent animal/ said the King, angrily.
I tell you I am highest in the scale of being/
" ' And I can soar a mile above your head/ said
the beetle.
" ' Now I am going to kill you/ said the King.
2i8 ffoi's Igarattte*
" ' Very well, brother/ replied the beetle. ' There
will be one more sin upon your head.'
" ' One more sin,' repeated the King, in a rage.
1 My courtiers tell me that I am a divinity.'
" ' The King the murderer has liars for servants,'
said the beetle.
" The King's rage ceased ; his head fell on his
breast. He pondered deeply for a long time. Then
he looked intently at the beetle, who was cleaning
his wings. * Tell me, beetle, by what right do
you make these monstrous assertions ? '
" ' Tell me, brother,' said the beetle, kindly, ' by
what right you question them ? '
" ' By what right ! ' blustered the King. ' By the
divine right of Kings.'
" ' But, brother, we are all Kings,' said the beetle.
" ' All Kings ! ' thundered the frightened mon-
arch, ' this is some secret sedition kill him, some
one.'
" But none of his courtiers would silence the talk-
ing beetle, who went on cleaning his wings.
" ' Beetle,' said the King, in a wheedling voice,
' if you will furnish me with news of this conspiracy,
I will give you a province.'
" Very well,' said the beetle, shaking the last
remnant of dust from himself. ' I will confess. It
is the conspiracy of brotherhood. Every created
thing has a right to live, and to do as he likes, pro-
3*vu J%omt 219
vided he does not interfere with the rights of any
other created thing/
" ' Why, that takes me in ! ' cried the King, in
I astonishment.
" ' Yes, sire,' replied the beetle, ' you ought to be
head of the brotherhood.'
" ' I will be head,' burst out the King. * Pass on,
; brother, you are nobler than I.'
" ' Not so, brother King. You go first. I will
follow.'
" The King went on his way. ' Severe punishment
to him who interferes with the rights of my brother
behind me,' he cried."
" What a fuss about a beetle," cackled Bella, when
Joe finished. " Nasty things I hate 'em. They
tickle Bella's claws."
" I know a story," said Rag.
I looked down at him. He was sitting at my
feet, his eyes dancing with mischief.
" Go on, old boy," I said. " Let's have it."
" Once there was a Queen," said Rag, in a queer,
solemn voice, " and she was going out for a walk.
Just as she left her palace, a gray parrot with red
tail feathers brushed her with its wings. ' Awkward
creature,' cried the Queen, ' let all gray parrots with
red tail feathers all over my dominions be put to
death.' "
" Oh, the nasty Queen ! " screamed Bella ; " oh,
220 ffiors j3avagisc
the cruel, hateful Queen, to kill all her sisters, the
little, teenty, weenty, sweet and lovely gray parrots.
Where are your ears, Rag? Let Bella get at your
soft, white ears. She'll nip them ; she'll make them
tingle," and she chased Rag round the hill.
I watched them for awhile, grinning from ear
to ear at the way Rag was coming out. Soon he
would be as sharp a dog as Dandy. Then I turned
to Joe. " Look here, old fellow, do you think ani-
mals have souls ? "
His dear old face grew troubled. " I am puzzled
about many things, boy, but I do not think animals
have souls as you understand them, though there
is something very beautiful and wonderful wrapped
up in that loose word * instinct/ We are more
material than you are. We have not your capacity
for worship. We have only a blind and dumb
idolatry for our owners we shall. learn more in
progressive stages, but though I do not know, I
feel that we, the lower order of animals, will never
keep pace with man. He has in him a divine spark
that is wanting in our slower, duller fire."
" But you are better than some of us, Joe. You
are not so revengeful. You don't hate Jenkins, do
you?"
" Oh, no, no I often think of him. I wish
earnestly he could be in a happy place like this.
There was a soft spot in him, but he was poor and
ffioe'g &omt 221
dirty, and of bad parentage. Things were mostly
against him."
" Rag," I said, calling to him, as he lay panting
near us, " do you hate Hillington for having killed
you?"
" I never thought about it," said Rag, good-
humouredly. " I just took things as they came."
Bella had made friends with him, and was perched
on his back. Now she leaned over and squawked
kindly in his ear, " I'd have nipped him, I'd have
made him squeal. Maybe Bella will get her claws
in him yet."
" Here, Joe," I said, " is a creature that doesn't
like anybody."
" She is like some human beings," said Joe.
" She doesn't mean more than half she says."
Jess heard me, and called, anxiously, " Bella, won't
you try to be more gentle? I would like all our
family to go together to the World of the Blessed."
" I'll never get there, Mother," said Bella, mourn-
fully, " never get there. I'm too bad ! " and
screaming, " Too bad, too bad ! " she flew away into
a tree, and cried and chattered to herself.
" Master Sam," said Joe, earnestly, " have you
forgiven Hillington? "
" No, Joe," I said, " I haven't."
"Won't you do so?"
"And take half the pleasure out of life? No,
222 goe'g jJaratKoc
Joe I just dream of the sweet black eye I'll give
him, first time I catch him alone."
Joe sighed. " Master Sam, there's no real pleas-
ure in revenge."
" Isn't there, Joe that's all you know about it.
It's glorious it makes you feel warm all over,
and comfortable, as if you had eaten ten Christmas
dinners I just wish I had Hillington here."
" In theory, you believe in all the virtues, but in
practice, you prefer to leave out a few," said Joe,
kindly.
" Yes, sir, talk is all very fine, but who lives up
to the tallness of his tongue?"
" Some boys do," said Joe.
" Oh, yes, the Morris boys in your book, but they
were extra good. I'm just a common, medium, bad
sort of a boy. I don't do things some fellows will
do, but I'm no saint, my friend."
He licked my hand. " You've a kind heart toward
animals, Master Sam, wouldn't you like to see
them at work ? You've only seen them playing since
you came."
"Just down to the ground, Joe. When shall
we go ? "
" Now, if you like. The bakeries are running
busily. Ragtime, you will come?"
My old beauty got up, stretched himself, and came
toward us.
CHAPTER XIX.
ON THE WAY TO THE BAKERIES
" We have some distance to travel," said Joe,
" and I think you would better ride. Where is
Jumbo? Barry, will you ask him to come? "
A beautiful, yellow canary, who had been sitting
on a rose-bush, eyeing us with a very knowing look,
flew away.
"That is Mrs. Montgomery's bird," said Jess.
" You remember he was burned to death with her
in the hotel fire. He always stays with us. The
animals in my son's book keep together," she added,
proudly.
Ragtime winked at me. " That was a great book,"
he said, mischievously.
Jess drew a long breath, and began to talk about
Joe's story. She was for all the world like a woman
running over the charms of her darling child.
I gave Rag a push. " See here, old fellow, you
stop making fun."
" Tweet, tweet ! " piped Barry, coming back,
223
224 ffioe'g jiavatHsc
" such good luck. Jumbo was just coming to call
on President Joe."
I ran to the front of the hill the part over-
looking the sea. Away down below, there was the
big elephant trundling along like a good-natured old
mountain.
You wouldn't think an elephant could act pleased,
but he can, and old Jumbo did make a fuss over me.
" How am I to get up ? " I asked, after he had
mounted the hill, and I stood looking at his table-
land of a back. " I have often ridden on elephants'
backs in parks, but there was always a ladder."
" I'll be your ladder," said Jumbo, with a rolling
laugh, and stretching out his trunk, he swung me
gently up.
" Joe, you come, too," I said, " and Rag."
Dear old Joe smiled, and didn't Jumbo swing him
up, and Rag, too.
"Bella, Bella," I called, "I hate to leave you
moping. Come along."
" I'm bad, too bad," she shrieked, wildly, " bad,
too bad!"
" Come along, old girl," I said. " Joe will tell
you how to be good."
" Can Davy come, too ? " she called.
" Yes, hurry up."
She flew joyfully from the tree, screaming,
"Davy, Davy, where's Bella's good rat? Come,
Davy, Davy, sweet Davy, precious Davy ! "
" Her love for that rat ought to help her along
the upward way," I said to Joe.
" It does," he replied, gravely. " Not one particle
of love is lost. All counts up for us in the day of
reckoning."
" Here comes Davy," said Rag, " a little behind
time, as usual."
" Pick him up, Jumbo," squeaked Bella, " don't
hurt him. Bella will fly up," and she lighted on
my shoulder.
"Won't you come, too, madam?" said Rag,
politely, to Jess.
" Oh, I couldn't," she said, anxiously. " My pups
will be coming home, and will want their mother.
Good-bye, have a pleasant time."
"Good-bye, Mother," called Bella. "Bye, bye,
take good care of everything. Such a housekeeper !
Maybe Bella will bring you some fresh cakes."
Bella was in great feather, and as we plodded
along, she screamed a greeting to every bird and
beast we met.
That was a great ride. First Jumbo took us down
the hill, going very carefully, so we wouldn't fall
off ; then he marched along under the trees, keeping
within sight of the shore, so we could enjoy the
view of the sea and sky. Sometimes he took us
close under the branches, so we could pick fruit from
the trees. We pulled oranges and apples that were
226 3*t f u ffiatratttse
clean, and not black and sooty as they so often are
in California groves. Plums, too, and pears, and
cherries, and many other American fruits. Some-
times he broke off for us limbs that were out of
reach, and would politely hand them up to us.
"Jumbo," said Joe, presently, "we will shorten
the distance, if we cross the desert by the Cat's
house."
" Could we go by the swans' lake, too ? " I
asked. " I want to see them again."
" Certainly," said Joe, and Jumbo rumbled below,
" All right ! " and immediately turned his back to
the sea.
We had great fun going under some low-growing
branches. Jumbo stepped carefully, and told us
when to duck our heads, and lie flat on his back, but
still we had adventures. Bella was brushed from
my shoulder, but, of course, having wings, didn't
care. I was brushed from the place of honour, and
not having wings, did care, but the way that big,
unwieldy-looking elephant flung his trunk behind,
and broke my fall, was a caution.
Davy fell out of my pocket, and Bella screamed,
" Oh, la, la, if you hurt my darling rat, I'll nip
you ! " Then she had to mourn again about being
bad.
Joe didn't fall off, and looked as sweet as a peach,
when I joked him about being dignified.
TURNED HIS BACK TO THE SEA
| n tyt Wlap to ttie IS aft exits 227
" I don't believe you could act silly, Joe, to save
ur life," I said.
" I used to feel silly when I was a pup," he
>lied.
I Don't you ever feel silly now ? "
" I'm afraid not," he said, in a voice almost as
meek as his mother's, " but often I am very happy,
and I just get by myself and laugh hard."
" And sometimes you laugh at the pups," said
Bella, sticking her beak into our conversation.
" You know you do. You can't help it. They're
so funny. Such tricks. Oh, dear, dear such a
merry, merry bunch," and she went off into a cack-
ling laugh.
Soon she stopped abruptly. " Sometimes I wish
they'd grow up, but they've got six thousand years
of puphood yet, haven't they, Joe? "
" I don't know, Bella," he replied, gravely.
"Well, the black crow Wildwing told me, that
Saucy Bill Sparrow told him, that Jenny Wren told
her, that you said that "
" I don't know anything about the divisions of
eternity, Bella," said Joe, still more gravely. " Don't
spread that gossip."
" Why, I never gossip," said Bella, in an injured
voice, "but those sparrows they gabble all the
time."
" Joe," I said, " how is it that your brothers are
228 ffioe's j3araatsc
pups, and you are an old dog? You were all born
at the same time."
" But they were put immediately out of the world,
boy, and I continued for some years in it. Earthly
experience counts for much after death."
" Here we are at the Swan Lake," interrupted
Bella. " Oh, ain't they sweet? "
" Aren't they, Bella," squeaked Davy, " ain't isn't
proper."
I stared at the little fellow. He rarely opened his
mouth, and just now Bella closed it by promptly
boxing his ears. He pulled his head back into
my pocket, and she raged at him. " Such impudence,
correcting your betters. Ain't it impudence, boy ;
ain't it ? Ain't he a saucy rat, oh, ain't he, ain't he? 1
" Aren't he," I heard Davy squeaking inside oi
my pocket, " aren't he, aren't he."
Bella heard him, but could not get at him. " Oh,
my, my ! " she sneered, " what a rat, what a won-
der- ful, won-der-ful rat! A fine grammar rat, an
English composition rat, an American scholar rat!
A torturing rat just because a lady slipped on a
word. A lady that rarely slips. Oh, she'll give it
to you, Davy, you'll catch it, my lad. Put him out,
Master Sam, dear Master Sam, put him on a tree
branch. Leave him alone with Bella. Let her
tickle him with her beak."
" Oh, shut up, Bella," I said, " look at those well-
behaved swans."
<n tije lUatj to fyt HuUttitti 229
the lake, a few were sunning themselves on the banks,
d a pair of black, Australian swans were making a
t such an odd-looking affair, mostly of rushes.
I called out to the swans, and they came sailing
ward us, arching and bending their flower-stalk
s.
" Oh, let me down," I said to Jumbo, " I must
eak to them. I don't know why it is, but those
swans remind me of home more than anything else
on the Island."
They really reminded me of mother, only I didn't
like to say so.
While I was stroking Duke's neck, she said in
a sweet, whistling voice, " Do you know anything
about loons, dear boy ? "
" No," I said, " except that they are some kind of
little bears."
The animals all tried not to laugh, but they could
not help it. Jumbo roared. Even old Joe smiled.
Rag was the only one that kept a straight face, for
he didn't know any better than I did.
" He is thinking of coons," said the gentle swan,
turning her eyes on the other animals. " Loons are
birds, dear boy Great Northern Divers, they are
called one of them is teaching her young one over
there. It is very interesting; perhaps you would
like to see her."
230 3Eo*g j3avatusc
" Yes," I said, " I would."
She gave a shrill cry, and immediately a queer,
solitary looking bird, like a big duck, came swim-
ming along with a little, dark gray creature beside
her.
" Will you put your little one through some of
his exercises here? " asked the swan.
The loon didn't say anything. She was friendly,
but offish.
" They are not used to associating with human
beings on earth," whispered the swan, as if to excuse
her.
The loon, who seemed to be a very businesslike
bird, had begun to show off. " If some one would
play hunter, I would do better," she said, suddenly
turning round.
" I'll be hunter," said the swan, and she startec
off such a graceful beauty in the water, such
waddler when she struck the shore !
" Shoo bang go ! " she cried, suddenly stickinj
her head out between some pussy-willows.
The old loon had been parading round the lake
with her young one on her back. At the noif
the swan made, she dived like a flash.
"Where's the little one?" I asked.
Rag was chuckling. " Good play the bit of
down opened its bill, and held on to its mother's
tail."
" Did it really? " I asked Joe.
He nodded.
The swan was looking out from the willows.
After a time, she drew her head in, and then the
loon came up in the lake ever so far from us.
" That was fine," I called to the swan. " Get her
to do it again." .
The swan gave a cry one thing I had learned
on the Island was that every creature had a language
of its own. The animals could all talk to me, and
I could understand them, but they could also talk
to each other, when I could mostly not understand
them, but I knew that every little squeak, and chatter,
and twitter meant something.
Well, the loon came back, and the young one with
her. This time he didn't ride on her back. He went
off by himself, pretending he was looking for food,
but really keeping his beady eyes on his parent.
" Piff, piff ! " whistled the swan again from the
willows.
The mother loon gave a deep, odd cry, the young
chick scuttled to her, got on her back, that was
being quickly lowered in the water, and as she dis-
appeared into the lake, wasn't chickie downie
holding on with all his might to one of her tail
feathers.
" And that's how she drags him across the lake? "
I said.
232 ffiors Darntusc
" Poor little loonie, she makes him practise every-
day," said Bella. " He gets quite tired out, and
what is she practising for? There's no one here
to hurt her baby."
" She's a good mother," observed Davy.
Bella made a bite at him. " Why, you're getting
to be quite a talker ! "
Jumbo had slipped me to the ground, and Bella
and Davy had come with me.
" Dear Davy," said Bella, " come out with Bella."
He ran out of my pocket so suddenly that she
never thought of nipping him. " Good boy," she
said, after awhile, " Bella loves Davy, but he
mustn't talk too much."
" I think we'd better go now," I said, patting
Jumbo's trunk. " I know Joe is in a hurry. Joe,
if I live to get home, I'm going to study about
animals. Why, it's just like a story-book to see
the differences between them."
" Many boys and girls will study natural history
when they won't study anything else," said Joe.
" Numbers of children used to come to see me in
Central Park," said Jumbo, " and then would go
home and read about my family, and come back
and tell me. I found out that I had some very dis-
tinguished relatives, who are no longer upon earth."
" Tell us about them, Jumbo," said Bella, " you
talk so pretty."
n fyt gffiag to tlie liaftcvics 133
Jumbo smiled, and began a short story about
animals who used to live on the earth before man
was created. As soon as he stopped, Bella began to
tease for more.
When he put his foot down and wouldn't say
another word, she turned to Joe, " You tell the
boy about George Washington's mouse, and Abra-
ham Lincoln's cat."
By this time we were jogging along toward the
desert. There were no trees now, no shrubs nor
pretty flowers, nothing but sand. We passed the
little pyramid of the Cat's house, looking shut up
and lonely under its clump of doom-palms. I forgot
to say that the mouse had run home after having her
breakfast with me. She never would stay long away
from the Cat.
Well, Joe told us a fine story about Washington
and a mouse.
" It happened at Valley Forge," he said. " Ameri-
can boys and girls learn all about that dreadful
winter in their histories. You know what untold
misery Washington and his soldiers suffered, and
you will also remember that the general had two
wretched houses, one to sleep in, the other to eat in.
A little wood-mouse crept in from the snow and
frost outside, and made himself a home in the dining-
house. A soldier caught him stealing their miserable
rations, and set a trap for him. The mouse went in,
234 ffioe's 3ftarattise
and finding himself trapped, made a desperate
attempt at liberty.
" Washington happened to come into the comfort-
less room, and heard him gnawing. He looked
down at him, and said, Poor prisoner, you are cold
and hungry so am I. You are panting for
liberty so am I. Go ' and opening the trap-
door, he set the prisoner free.
" Some nights afterward, Washington was asleep.
His wife spent the winter with him. Ah, she was
a brave, good woman! The mouse says he often
used to watch her from his hole, and admire her
for making shirts with her tired fingers, and doing
many other kind deeds for the soldiers. Well, as
I was saying, Washington was asleep. His wife
had shortly before been called out to receive a gift
of fresh bread, and sweet, new cheese. Her hus-
band had refused his meagre supper, and with a
beaming face she placed these new articles of diet
by his pillow, then hurried away to pay a last visit
to a dying soldier.
" The mouse was as hungry as Washington, and
here was no trap. As soon as the devoted Martha
Washington left the room, he crept up to the bread
and cheese. He smelt them, he was just about to
eat them, when the thought flashed into his mind,
' Here is the man who was kind to me I cannot
rob him.' Then he scampered away as fast as
bis feet would carry him."
<n tfre WLus to tfie iiaftnics 235
M Bravo, mousie," I cried, but Bella said, shrilly,
" Don't believe a word of that story, not the mouse
part. I believe the Washington part. Fancy a
mouse loving anything better than his stomach ! "
" I believe it," and the little white animal in my
pocket rose up on his hind feet, " mice are first
cousins to rats."
" You believe it," shrieked Bella, " you believe it!
Oh, my, my ! oh, my, my ! "
" Mice are first cousins to rats," repeated Davy.
Bella suddenly became calm, and said, in a whee-
dling voice, " Not to white rats, Davy, not to pretty,
glossy, white rats with pink eyes like my Davy.
This was just a common gray mouse, Davy, just a
common mouse."
Bella was smart. Davy, after a lifetime and part
of a death-time bondage to her, was beginning to
assert himself, and if she didn't look out, she'd lose
her hold on him.
Now she began petting him, and stroking him
with her beak, till soon Davy looked as meek as ever-
" Now for your story about Lincoln," I said to
Joe, when Bella had quieted down, " but first, Joe,
tell me where is this Washington mouse? I should
like to see him."
Joe smiled. " Oh, he has gone long ago to the
World of the Blessed. These stories are handed
down."
" I'll warrant you that mouse is somewhere near
Washington," said Jumbo, in his deep voice.
" I am sure he is," said Joe. " He loved Wash-
ington. I expect that good man is surrounded by
the animals whom he cared for on earth in his beau-
tiful country home. I know the mouse said when
he was here that there was only one man for him
in the World of the Blessed, and that man was
George Washington. I am sure that neither Wash-
ington nor Lincoln would be surprised to hear of
the Island of Brotherly Love, for they were both
good to all created things. Lincoln said that he
believed in a future life for animals."
" Do tell me about his cat," I said.
" Well, she was a black cat, another type from
our friend under the doom-palms, a very gentle
affectionate cat, and she lived for a long time in
Lincoln's family when he was in Springfield, Illi-
nois. She. says that he was a wonderful man, for he
never forgot to be kind at home, even in the midst
of his stormy political campaigns, when he was
battling for the life of the nation no matter how
tired he was when he came into the house, he would
always stroke her when she sprang to his knee, and
sometimes he would whisper strong and stirring
words in her ear, such as ' Union ' or * Disunion,'
' Half-Slavery,' ' Half-Freedom.'
" On earth she did not know what such words
<n fyt Wl%$ to tyt W&Utvttu ni
meant, but after she came here, she said that if
she had had more intelligence, she would have known
that war was coming before any one else knew it.
Because she was black and homely, she used to
remind Lincoln of the coloured people, and he would
look at her and groan, with such sentences as, ' The
black children suffer in bondage, the light ones live
in sin. There is a sore in the side of the nation.
She is bowed down but the nation shall not die.' "
" He always wound up with that, she said, ' The
nation shall not die.' Then he would push her
aside, and walk the floor, and his face was gnarled
and twisted, and he looked like some big tree in a
storm."
Joe stopped, but I begged for more stories.
" I could tell you a book of stories about these
two good men," he said, " stories from the animal's
point of view that have never been published, but
I have not time now. We are going to be inter-
rupted. Later on, we will talk some more."
Joe was looking ahead at a queer-looking, brown-
ish-gray, horned animal all alone out on the desert.
He was gamboling toward us in a peculiar way,
and Rag, who was straining his eyes, said, " Ton
my word, that creature's legs are in the air about
as often as they are on the ground."
CHAPTER XX.
BREAD AND SWEET CAKES
" I believe it's the goat," said Rag.
It was the goat, alone, and as happy as a lark.
" Old tearfulness," said Joe, and his face was a
picture of astonishment.
" Hasn't any one told you about the Widow ? " I
asked.
" No, Soko called to see me, but I was busy talk-
ing to the dove, and Jess sent him away."
I told him of the Widow McDoodle's actions, and
he laughed heartily. " We must send her back to
earth. Soko is probably watching her Good
morning, Jerry, you look happy."
By this time we had come up to the goat, or he
had skipped up to us. He was acting like an idiot,
now on his head, now on his hoofs, now on his back.
" Jerry," said Joe, " stand still, and talk to me."
" Hold your tongue, dear President," said the
goat. " I must listen to myself awhile yet. I
haven't heard myself do anything but cry for the
last twelve months oh, I'm making such lovely
238
poetry, such sweet poetry. It just melts in your
mouth."
Jumbo had stopped short, and Joe just sat still on
his back, and stared down at the goat, as indeed
we all did.
" Here beginneth," said the goat, and diddling
round us, and occasionally touching up Jumbo with
his stumps of horns, he began :
" Oh, the great load of turnips has rolled from my brain,
I can think, I can laugh, I can move without pain.
I'm the happiest goat that ever was born,
I've come to the harbour, I've weathered the storm."
" Now, what do you think of that, President
Joe?" he asked, when a few seconds of .silence
followed his recitation.
Joe gave him a kind smile. " Jerry, if that style
of poetry "
" Poetry," muttered Rag, " it's goatry."
" If it pleases you, it pleases me," finished Joe. " I
love to see my friends happy. Now you won't cry
any more, will you, and make us all miserable? "
The goat shook his beard and kicked out behind.
" Tears, silly tears,
They don't do any good,
You might weep for a thousand years,
No one would care a rood."
240 ffiors jJavatHsc
"What's a rood?" interrupted Rag, but Jerry
was rattling on.
" Then let us all rejoice,
And go our ways with glee.
Let's give the go-by to earth's prose,
And take its poetry.
" Now I shall do some work,
And never stop to cry.
I'm going to be a better goat,
If you'll all help me try."
" Isn't that lovely ? " he ejaculated himself, before
any one else had time to say a word. " These rhymes
just fly out of me. I don't know what I'm made
of. I'm so taken up with the beauty and wonder
of my literary ability, that I don't know what to do.
Oh, how I pity animals that can't compose ! " and
he threw a melting glance at us all, including the
President.
" Jumbo," said Joe, dryly, " I think we'd better
be moving on."
" And leave him alone to his wonder and glory,"
said Rag.
Jumbo started off en his dignified walk, and the
goat for a time ran below, serenading us.
" I think I'll go find me a nice little cave,
One having a view of both forest and wave.
I'll eat there, and sleep there, and work other times,
And if nothing is doing, I'll make me some rhymes."
" Oh, what a goat," cackled Bella, " what a perse-
vering, poetical, polydoodle goat. We've got a
laureate now, President Joe. When this ride is
over, Bella will weave some leaves for a garland."
The goat, with a waggish glance at her pert head,
took her up.
i
I'll wear a green wreath on my precious, gray head,
Not being a beauty, I'll have honour instead ;
The ladies will pet me, the gents will be mad,
And I shall for ever be more and more glad."
" Ha, ha, ha," laughed Bella, " the poet clown, the
poet clown ! "
" Jerry," I said, looking over Jumbo's head, " if
you don't get out, I'll throw something at you."
He immediately struck into a side path in the
forest, where he executed a kind of clog dance. We
could hear his hoofs rattling on a big, flat rock as
he marked time.
" Oh, he's got a little temper has our Master Sam,
The cunning little temper of a gentle little lamb.
But we like him all the better for his pettish little tricks,
And I guess that when he leaves us, we'll be in a fix."
" Well, I never saw such a change as that," I
said, with a groan. " Who would dream that that
was the melancholy goat of yesterday ! "
" Look, Master Sam," said Joe, " we're coming
to the grain fields."
242 ffioe's ffatattigg
I did look. Away ahead, down the forest path,
was something shining and waving in the sun.
" Heads of wheat," said Bella, " aren't they
graceful ? "
I nodded and kept my eyes fixed ahead. As we
drew near the great field of wheat, I saw that there
were dozens and hundreds of gray and brown spots
moving along the ground by the roots of the wheat.
"Those are animals," I said, "aren't they, Joe?
What are they doing? They seem to be busy about
something."
" They are our cutters," he said. " Wait till you
get nearer, and you will see them biting the stalks
in two. You were wondering what the animals
found to do on the Island. Many of the rodents
work hard at this grain cutting."
"Well, well," I said, "what a task!"
" The monkeys sow the seed," said Joe, " the
rodents cut the grain, and the bears gather it."
"Bears!" I said.
" Jumbo, pause for a minute," said Joe.
The old elephant stopped, and I stood up on his
back. The field before us was covered with a fine
crop of wheat. I say field, but there was no fence
round it. There was not one on the Island, except
that in the corral where the elephant was confined.
I just opened my eyes, to see the industrious little
animals at work, and working so steadily that they
d(
mtan nun Stent eafrts s 43
never stopped to look at us. There was a long row
of them rabbits, beavers, jerboas, rats, mice, squir-
rels, marmots, gophers, etc., and their little, sharp,
chisel-like teeth were cutting down the wheat in
fine style.
I slipped off Jumbo's back. Then just for a min-
ute, I was frightened, and wished I was back again.
Two enormous bears had reared up from under
some trees at the edge of the forest, and stood near
us, towering away up in the air with their paws
stretched out like arms.
"California grizzlies," said Joe; "they assist
the rodents."
" Joe," I gasped, " for goodness' sake, how much
do they weigh ? "
The old dog measured them with his eye. " About
ixteen hundred pounds apiece, I should say come,
ilvertip and Kern, show the boy how you gather
up the grain."
The two big fellows had evidently been having a
nap, for they yawned and stretched their hairy
limbs before they set to work. They gathered up
the wheat in huge armfuls, then stalked away
with it.
" Let us follow them," said Joe. " We'd better
go on foot, we can see better, but you follow us,
Jumbo, we may want you again."
I was delighted. We trod along in single file
244 3fo*'a flatattise
through a path made by the animals in the middle
of the field. As we passed the rodents, I stopped
and patted a rabbit. He tossed his head, and gave
the snorting noise rabbits make when impatient.
He didn't want to be disturbed.
The bears led us through the field to a large,
hard, flat piece of ground, where they flung their
loads down.
At sight of the bears, a number of horses and
oxen came running down a hill near by, and didn't
they begin dancing and jumping, and running
over the wheat.
" Thrashing," said Joe.
" Why, you ought to have machinery," I said.
" We are not clever enough to manage it ; then
this gives the animals something to do. Machinery
would run them out of employment* Look at that
old truck-horse, how gaily he thrashes beside his
friend Fleetfoot!"
The truck-horse, whose name was Bonus, stopped
work when he saw me, and came over to rub his
nose up and down my flannel shirt front.
"Isn't this great?" he said. "I an old
broken-down horse am able to thrash like a colt.
I just love to work. I'd like to introduce you to
a friend of mine, Palo Alto, a magnificent racer
from California. He was worth no end of money,
but he never puts on airs."
" Why, I've heard of him, Bonus," I said. " I've
seen his grave."
" With his false body in it. Well, he's not too
proud to thrash grain on the Island of Brotherly
Love. He enjoys it. Then we have races some-
times on holidays, and when work is over we have
a fine feed and a sleep, and then a good run to call
on the horses on the other side of the Island. They
have another big bakery over there."
" Well, well, well," I said. " I never expected to
see anything like this."
" I must go back to my work," said Bonus. " We
make good bread, and the animals all have such
splendid appetites, that it keeps us busy. Good-
bye."
" Good-bye, old fellow."
For a long time we stood watching the oxen and
horses trample out the grain, and laughing at Bella's
antics. She had perched on old Bonus's back, and
cackling, " Faster, faster, faster," and spreading her
wings, almost made the old horse crazy.
At last I took pity on him, and made her leave
the poor old fellow, who stood with drooping head
and downcast manner.
Joe gave some kind of a signal as we drew off, and
suddenly all the thrashers stopped short, and stood
aside, while an army of monkeys ran in, cleared
away the straw, and with baskets threw the unwin-
246 $ot f # ^nxuXHm
nowed wheat into the air. When the chaff blew
away, they filled their baskets with the winnowed
wheat, and ran off.
" Let us follow them," said Joe, " and see the
bears grinding."
Away in the distance, I had been hearing a noise
like giants playing ninepins. Now we saw them.
The army of monkeys ran ahead. I saw them
flinging down their baskets of wheat, jabbering and
shouting at more bears, who were the giants. These
bears held in their paws rocks like millstones, and
as soon as the monkeys danced out of the way, they
began to spin their stones over an enormous rock
floor where the grain lay.
When we got near, the bears didn't seem so huge.
They reminded me of big, clumsy boys playing at
marbles.
I was fascinated. Their strength was immense,
and they acted as if throwing a millstone was a nice
little bit of amusement.
There was a ring of monkeys round them all the
time, and whenever the bears stopped for a rest, the
monkeys would run in with their baskets, fill them
with the ground wheat, and dart off again.
" They are going to the bakery," said Joe, and
he moved off after them.
I kept looking over my shoulder, as we left. The
bears were grinding again, and the big stones were
iivcatt antr Stout Cafrcs 247
rolling and smashing together. Beyond them, I
could see the horses and cattle going on with their
steady tramp, tramp, and away off, at the edge of
the forest, was the waving wheat-field, where I knew
the rows of little gnawers were at work. It was a
busy scene, and the blood just tingled in the tips
I of my fingers. I felt that I, too, would like to get
to work.
" Don't you think that my brothers make pretty
good baskets? " asked Joe, pointing to one near us.
I examined it. " Well, Joe, you animals beat
everything."
" Do you smell the cakes and the nice fresh
bread? " asked Bella, from my shoulder, as she ele-
vated her beak, and sniffed the air.
" Davy would like a cake," said a voice from
my pocket.
" Davy shall have a cake," said Bella, firmly,
" even if his dear parrot has to fight for it."
When Joe said bakery, I expected to see a build-
ing. Then I thought how foolish I was. In this
lovely climate, that was neither too hot nor too cold,
they did not need the protection of a building. All
that they did need, was a shelter to keep off the
rain, and that they had in a great, wide canopy of
woven leaves.
Under this big green roof, scores of monkeys
were running about.
248 3ot f # HaraSfsr
" What are they doing? " I asked Joe.
" Mixing bread and cakes. They don't use yeast
as bakers on earth do. They just take water."
" Hello, Soko," I said, as the old ape strolled to
meet us. "I thought you were with the Widow."
He grinned at me. " I am taking a rest, and
watching my relatives work. I got Her Necromancy
to go and hypnotise the Widow, and sent a lion
with her to watch the fierce woman while she slept.
He was dreadfully afraid of her switch, but I told
him to roar gently if she ran at him, and of course
Her Necromancy would settle her, before she could
give him a cut."
" Ha, ha," laughed Bella, " I'd giggle if Miss
Pussy wasn't a match for the Widow."
For an instant Soko looked startled; then he
grew calm again, and shrugging his big shoulders,
said, " She is a terrible woman. She gave one of
my nephews such a cut that he can't use his hand for
picking spices to-day."
"A terrible woman," repeated Bella. "She'd
have caught this poor parrot, if Bella hadn't had
wings."
"Do you spice your bread, Joe?" I inquired.
" No, only the cakes," and he went on giving me
more information about bread-making, but my eyes
got ahead of my ears, and I could not listen.
There was a regular monkey parliament going on
ffreaft anfr Stotet (Talus 249
under the trees. They were just chewing the air
for all they were worth. Such jabbering and chat-
tering, such rushing and hurrying, such a wagging
of floury heads and floury paws.
" This is all whole wheat," said Joe. " We ani-
mals are more sensible than human beings, who
mostly discard the best part of the flour. ,,
" Where did you get the pots and pans, or what-
ever they are ? " I asked, looking at the big things
in which the monkeys were mixing their dough.
" They are all wooden. We fell trees, and make
them."
" Have you axes and hatchets ? "
" We have very little that we cannot make our-
selves. The beavers from the swamp near my house
cut down the trees, and partly hollow these big,
wooden bowls. The monkeys then take them, and
use shell and stone knives. It is slow work, but
they get done in time."
Joe and I walked on past the workers. They
were all glad to see us, and every one would stop his
work to thrust out a floury paw. They mostly
worked in threes. One monkey would bring a bowl
of the ground wheat, and would empty it into
another bowl. A second monkey would begin to
pour water on it from a gourd, while a third monkey
would mix it.
They worked gaily and easily. They were not
as intense as the gnawers out in the field.
250 $Qt f $ ffiatatttee
" And how do you bake, Joe? " I asked.
" Come and see," he said, and passing by all the
monkeys with their bowls of dough, we came to
a place where there was an abrupt drop in the plain.
"Oh, my!" I said.
" Down below us was a kind of rocky basin, with
pools of water and jets of steam.
" Geysers ? " I asked.
" Yes," replied Joe, " we have plenty of hot
water there all the time, and fiery hot caves from the
heat. Just come down. There is a safe path, but
don't step to one side."
Rag, Bella, Davy, and I followed him, Rag and
I on our own feet, Bella and Davy on my shoulders.
This was very interesting. A few big monkeys
were tiptoeing along the path ahead of us. Some
carried big, round lumps of dough on slabs of wood,
some had trays of small cakes, such as Billy loved.
" Wait a minute, boys," Joe called to the monkeys,
" till we come up to you. I want Master Sam to
see where you put the bread to cook."
A big ape stopped at the mouth of a cave.
"You don't let the little monkeys come down
here? " I said, as we came up to him.
" No," he replied, gravely, " one day a hoolock
fell in, and was terribly scalded."
"But he didn't die?"
" Oh, no, but we had a hard time to pull him
out, and he had to suffer."
" AN ARMY OF PIGS AND BOARS "
ffnafr anft 5U)cct (Tattcs 251
" Then one can suffer in Paradise?"
" Yes, in this Paradise, when one is foolish
see," and he rolled aside a rock from the mouth of
a small-sized cave. " Put your hand in."
I put it in, but I didn't keep it there long.
" Come, Kula and Ranja," he said, and the other
apes slipped their loaves and cakes into the hot cave.
The old ape put back the rock. " They will be
baked in twenty minutes. Will you wait and have
some? "
" Thank you, yes," I said. " What are you smil-
ing at, Joe? "
" I want to show you our plough-boys," the dear
old fellow said; "just step round the corner."
We edged our way round among the rocks, and
went up a few steps cut in the side of the hill.
Up above us was another field, this one, however,
without grain in it, but newly ploughed.
" Come a little further," said Joe; then he began
to smile again.
I stepped up beside him; then I held my breath.
Out there in the sunshine, working up and down
the hill, grubbing, snorting, pushing, and rooting,
was an army of pigs and boars. One big fellow
seemed to be boss, and kept moving around, prod-
ding this one with his snout, grunting something
in the ear of another one, and keeping things moving
generally.
252 3Meg ffatratttee
" Do you mean to say that your ploughing is all
done this way ? " I asked Joe.
" Yes, boy, by pigs, and moles, and earthworms.
The latter work as hard here as they do on earth at
turning the soil over and over."
" Well, I never," I said, " you beat the Chinese
for steady work."
" Now you will not think again of us as idle,"
said Joe.
" Never, old fellow," I replied, slapping him on
the shoulder. " Here, pig, pig "
I wanted to speak to one or two, but didn't the
whole crowd turn? I saw their quivering snouts
uplifted, the black earth clinging to them, their
anxious, piggy, little eyes fastened on me. They
wanted to pass the time of day with the earth-boy,
but upon my word there were too many of them,
and I turned and ran.
" I'm afraid you've offended them," said Joe,
coming after me. " They're very clean pigs when
they're dressed up. Of course they are in working
garb now."
" Let them come call on me," I said, " when they
are in dress suits, and we'll have a chat."
Joe's old muzzle was working. " Your cakes are
coming out of the oven," he said, " I smell them."
CHAPTER XXL
THE WIDOW AGAIN
The cakes were too hot to touch, but we all
gathered round them and sniffed. Then we formed
a procession back to the mixing-place.
" Please give me some of the nice, fresh cakes
for Jess, the President's mother," called Bella, anx-
iously. " Here, you young crested sapajou, bring
some fresh leaves and wrap a dozen in them," and
she nipped the black tail of a young fellow, who
was sitting watching us, with his eyes twinkling in
the funny monkey way.
He ran and got the leaves, then Bella coolly asked
me to put the package in my shirt front.
We all ate just as many cakes as we could manage,
tnd I also took a piece of nice hot bread.
" No butter, Joe, I suppose."
" We never miss it," he said, " the flour is so
sweet."
" Do you ever milk your cows, Joe? "
" No, the calves get the milk. They ought to
have it. It makes them strong and well."
*53
254 ffior's ffaratrtet
I thought of the little calves on earth crying for
their mothers. " Joe/' I said, " I wish every animal
in North America could drop down dead and come
here."
" It would be a great embarrassment to human
beings if they should," said Joe. " Better let them
live, and have them kindly treated."
" But will people ever treat them kindly? "
" You mustn't think of that, dear boy. Just go
on trying to do all you can to make the world better.
Every little helps, even though there is a great deal
to be done. And animals are much better off than
they used to be. Think of the state of affairs not
a hundred years ago, when a kind-hearted noble-
man, speaking on the rights of animals, in the House
of Lords in England, was saluted with cries of
insult and derision."
" England, oh, yes, I know that country," said
a young ape near us, grinning over a cake that he
was munching. " That is the country where ladies
and gentlemen dress themselves up, and riding on
big horses, chase a tiny hare or a fox to death.
That is a lovely country, a beautiful country. I'd
like to be a fox there, or a hare," and he took
another bite, and grinned horribly.
" England is a fine country," said Joe, severely,
" and much is done for animals there."
" And birdth," lisped a blue pigeon, perched on
griifr gzatnroto again 255
a heap of baskets near us. " I know an Englith-
American pheathant. She tellth vewy thanguinary
thtorieth."
" Good gracious! What's that? " I asked Joe.
" She means bloody tales," said Soko, abruptly.
I Go on, pigeon."
" The Englith pheathant thays that birdth are
raithed in parkth till they are vewy tame. Then
they are thooed up in the air."
" Thooed," I repeated, " do talk straight, pidgie."
" Shooed, she means," said Soko.
" Thooed up in the air," continued the pigeon,
"and gentlemen thoot them bang, bang, bang!
That ith fine thport, cauth the birdth are tho tame,
they don't want to fly away."
" The English are very fond of sport," said Joe,
apologetically. " They are very brave."
" The pheathant thays," went on the pigeon, " that
thome Americanth do thethe naughty thingth, too,
and they chathe wabbits with dogth in courthing
parkth. The wabbits are vewy much fwightened,
and they wun, and the dogth pull them to piethes."
Joe sighed. " Well, Americans are mostly de-
scended from English people. They have their bad
ways, as well as their good ones."
" I wish I were king of the whole world," I said,
angrily.
" It is a sad thing for us, and a good thing for
256 3*t f # j3avaaisc
yourself, that you are not, dear boy," said Joe.
" Well, I was going to tell you some of the other
erroneous ideas prevailing with regard to animals.
It has been said that the life of a brute has no moral
purpose."
"Moral purpose! I like that," muttered Soko.
The young monkeys were all laughing. I didn't
see the joke, but when they went on choking, and
spluttering, and thumping each other on the back,
and winking, and cutting up generally, I asked Joe
what it was all about.
" Jocko," he said, to one little fellow, who looked
as if he had been led through life at the end of an
organ-grinder's rope, as indeed he had, " tell the boy
what amuses you."
The little monkey became grave, and stepping up
to the President, bowed politely, and touched his
head, as if he had a cap there.
" Please, Mr. President," he said, " we're brought
up on morals. The old monkeys are always watch-
ing us, and tweaking us, and saying, ' Attend to your
morals,' and ' Don't steal the cakes,' and 'Don't loaf,'
and ' Don't run away,' and ' Don't tease the other
animals.' We're jam full of morals, and it sounds
funny to say we haven't got any."
Joe smiled. " Were you an honest little monkey
in life, Jocko? Did you ever steal any of your
master's pennies ? "
fffte g&ttroto &gain 257
" Never, Mr. President, and I knew, too, that
they would buy juicy fruit. I liked my master,
and I wouldn't steal from him."
" That will do," said Joe. " Mr. Sam "
"Call me brother," I interrupted. "You all
call each other that."
Joe's face beamed. " Well, then, brother Sam, I
was going to tell you of a kind-hearted cardinal, who
used to let busy little fleas bite him, because he said
that he would have heaven to reward him for his
sufferings, while the poor flea had nothing but the
enjoyment of his present life."
"What a shabby flea, what a hateful flea!"
squawked Bella. " Why didn't he tell the good
cardinal about the Island of Brotherly Love ? "
" He was a European flea," said Soko, " an
aristocratic flea, and more reserved in his ways than
we animals who are brought up in America."
" Some of us might imitate European animals in
that respect," observed Joe. " A good many of us
have very little repose of manner."
Bella giggled, and turning to Joe, I asked, " What
do fleas eat here? You don't let them bite you, I
suppose? "
" They don't want to," replied Joe. " I offered
a bite of myself to a homesick one just arrived
from earth the other day, but he said I didn't taste
nice. He'd lost his relish for his former diet. But
258 ffioi'g jjavatnst
it cured his homesickness, and he took to a vege-
table diet at once. Brother Sam, here is a doctrine
once propounded on earth by a man called Des-
cartes. He said that the lower animals were devoid
of consciousness and feeling "
A groan rose from the animals around us.
" Why, he was worse than the cardinal," said
one sharp-faced monkey. " He didn't give us any
life at all neither in the world nor out of it."
" Another Frenchman called Voltaire made fun
of him," continued Joe. " He suggested that the
animals' exquisite organs of feeling had been given
to them, just in order that they might not feel."
" Joe," said Soko, " that mischievous theory of
want of sensation is at the root of much of the
ill-treatment of animals."
" Exactly," said Joe. " Animals are animated
machines to many good-natured persons. A child
bumps his head against a chair. ' Naughty chair,
strike it,' says the mother. The same child squeezes
the cat half to death. The cat scratches. ' Naughty
cat,' says the mother, ' strike it.' "
Soko replied to him. I heard long words " ex-
perimental torture, analytical methods, scientists and
naturalists, humanitarianism, emancipation, freedom
of choice," and not understanding half of what the
two clever old fellows were saying, I turned away.
I was very ignorant, and my creed was short
fffje ggattttoto again 259
" There's an animal, treat him well. If a boy kicks
him, lick the boy."
" Turn a few handsprings, will you ? " I said
to a brace of squirrel monkeys.
Off they went, in among the cakes and the dough
bowls and the heaps of baskets. It was great fun.
We all gathered round, and cheered, and laughed, till
a sad event took place. My brace of imps rolled into
a bowl of dough. Such a sight as they were ! They
skedaddled, and two old apes caught up sticks and
went after them.
" Don't wallop them," I screamed, " it was my
fault."
" He's my adopted child, that golden brown
fellow," called back one of the apes. " I have to
cuff him a bit, for I want to make a good monkey
of him."
In the twinkling of an eye, they were all out of
sight over the hill, and looking round for some new
thing, I discovered the big American condor that
had taken part in the game of Prisoner the day
before.
He was away up in the air over us, but when
I called, " Hello, old fellow, come down," he
brought his huge old body down to the ground, and
ate a sweet cake.
" You are big," I said, lolling up against his dark
side, " I should like to have a ride on your back."
s6q ffoe's jJatafrfsc
" Come up in the air with me," he said, with a
good-natured, hissing laugh. " I believe I could
carry you."
" Joe," I called out, " may I go for a ride on
the condor's back?"
" Well, he's pretty big," said the dear old fellow,
leaving Soko, and coming toward me, "but I
scarcely think he could carry you, nor would I
allow you to go with him."
" I want to make a tour of the Island," I said.
" I am sure there are many wonderful things I
have not seen."
" You shall, boy, you shall," said Joe, " but I am
afraid you might slip from the back of the condor.
We must have something more safe for you. How
would you like an ostrich? "
" Finely ; I once rode in a little ostrich cart."
" I tell you what you'd better do," said Soko,
strolling up. " Let us have some races. The animal
that beats shall have the honour of carrying the
boy round the Island. Birds not in it. We mustn'
trust him up in the air, except in an air-ship."
" Good," cried Joe. " You are fertile in plans,
Soko. Will you kindly arrange details of the race."
" Certainly, Mr. President," said Soko, with a
smile, and he at once moved off in a dignified way.
Joe looked affectionately after him. " There goes
the animal that will be made President when I am
gone."
'
I" How do you know, Joe? "
" I feel it. No one has said a word, but he is best
ted for the position."
" It will be great, to have some races," I said.
" We have some swift runners here," replied Joe.
We must send word round the Island, and gather
em all in."
" Joe, you must not leave before I do," I said,
sharply.
" I must go when I am sent for, dear boy, but
although I wish it to be soon, yet, for your sake, I
am willing to wait."
" Good Joe and I am keeping you from home
all this time. Let us go now."
"I am glad to be here, brother. I like to go
round the Island every little while."
" How nice and respectful the animals are with
you, Joe. Friendly, but not familiar."
" They are like human beings. They like to
choose one of their own number to put over them-
selves, and in doing him honour, they honour them-
selves Bella, will you fly away and see where
Jumbo is? "
Bella flew off, but soon came back. " He is behind
the bakery stuffing himself with cakes. Dear me,
I'd be quite worn out if I had a trunk, and a chest
of drawers, and a wardrobe, and a few extra rooms
to fill with food. It keeps me busy to supply my
own little stomach."
262 $m>u jJaraOfsc
" Don't be vulgar, Bella," said Davy, properly.
"Vulgar!" she screamed. "You horrid little
rat, I vulgar ? I, the queen of the Island, the
belle, the beauty, the dainty, delicate Bella? Oh,
just come off that boy's shoulder for one minute,
for a second, Davy, for half a second. Come now
for one quarter "
" Bella, hush up," I said, " you are vulgar when
you scream."
" I sha'n't go home with you," she said, in a
passion. " I'll not travel with such a low-down,
correcting, uncomfortable rat, such a mock-modest
rat, and with such a conceited, confusing boy. Good-
bye, animals, Bella's going."
" Good riddance ! " I said, wickedly, and she
steamed away.
Our ride back was quiet. We heard the goat sing-
ing somewhere in the forest.
" A hunk of bread, a brook of drink, and me
Running, and prancing, and singing diddle-dee,
Oh, this is glorious ! Oh, this is bliss !
How could a goat poetic find this Island aught amiss ? "
However, he did not come near us, and we wen
thankful. Jumbo put Joe down near his home, thei
carried me on to my own quarters.
" I will let you know about the races as soon
we can arrange for them," were Joe's last words.
" It's a great mark of kindness in Joe to let yc
fffre saauroto again ^
have races," remarked Jumbo, as we jogged along
home.
" Why ? He doesn't think that there is any
harm in them, does he? "
" Not the way we run them on this Island. But
he is descended from the Puritan dogs, and you
know that they growl at some things that other
animals swallow whole."
" Jumbo," I said, when I reached my cabin,
" don't go home. I like you. Can't you stay right
here while I'm on the Island?"
His huge old frame just shook with pleasure.
" I'd love to, dear boy. I come every night when
you're asleep, but there's a good deal of me. Won't
I be in your way? "
" No, Jumbo, lie right down under the trees. Be
my elephant till I go."
" I'll be your elephant in the World of the
Blessed, Master Sam," he said.
" Ah, now, Jumbo, you'll be looking for the young
New Yorkers. You'll have no eyes for me."
" I knew some fine children there," he said,
gravely.
. " Tell me about them, Jumbo," and as he folded
his legs and lay down, I sat astride his head, rubbing
his old ears and listening to tales of the boys and
girls of the Empire State.
While he talked and I listened, I at the same time
264 $ot f u jiavatrfsc
kept one eye on Rag and two or three monkeys,
who were bustling about straightening my rooms
out, and looking up something for dinner.
By and by Rag came and told me the meal was
ready.
" I don't want anything," I said, " I'm chock
full of cakes. Go on, Jumbo."
The old fellow prosed on, till my fiddling with
his ears put him to sleep. Then I fell asleep, too,
and only waked up when something went,
" Squawk ! Squawk ! " in my ear.
My eyes flew open with a jerk, and for an instant
all was blue before me. Then my surroundings took
on their natural colour, and the blue narrowed down
to a jay, who hopped to my knee and looked fear-
lessly up into my face.
" I am from the President," he said. "I am
directed to tell you, first of all, that the latest report
from the wireless telegraphers is that your mother
is well and not anxious."
" Good," I cried out.
" She is still watching by your false body," con-
tinued the jay, " and she believes what the doctor
tells her, that you will soon wake out of your sleep.
Therefore, the President says, you can stay on
without fear of causing her undue anxiety."
" Good again," I said, " and I wish you'd just get
a ' Thank you ' to those bird telegraphers for being
so attentive with messages from home."
" Very well," squawked the jay in his funny voice;
then he went on, " And I was also going to have
a little talk with you about the races."
" Splendid," I was just saying, when I stopped
and listened.
All the animals and birds about me were pricking
up their ears. I didn't hear anything for a few
seconds, then I caught on to a murmur in the forest,
louder than its usual murmur, and presently a sound
of animals running, and birds flying.
" What's up? " I said, and the jay, lifting up his
nutmeg-grater voice, screamed suddenly to a cardi-
nal-bird, coming like a streak of flame out of the
forest, " Brother, what's up? "
" It's the Widow," wailed the cardinal-bird, in his
rich, rolling note.
Just then the magnificent racer Palo Alto trotted
up to my cabin.
" Master Sam," he said, " the Widow has broken
loose again, and her face is turned this way. Don't
you think you'd better get on my back? I'm the
best runner on the Island, and I'd die before I'd let
her catch me."
" Thank you, I believe I will," I said, and I
sprang up from the ground.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE RESCUE OF THE CAT
" Can you ride ? " asked Palo Alto, anxiously.
" I was brought up in a stable where a whip was
never used, and if the Widow shakes that switch at
me, I'll be apt to get nervous and run pretty fast."
" Well, rather," I said, swinging myself up on his
bare back. " I've got one of the finest ponies in
San Francisco."
" You're all right," said Palo Alto, looking over
his shoulder. " Now shall we start ? "
" Beg pardon, Bluejay," I said to the bird. " You
were going to talk to me some more. Just keep me
in sight, and after this excitement, we'll finish
talking."
" Yes, sir," said the jay, harshly, and off we
started, Palo Alto packing me on his back, and Rag
and Jumbo running beside us.
" Jumbo," I said, " you're not afraid of the
Widow?"
" No, Master Sam. I'll curl up my trunk, and
266
fffl* iUsntc of tt)t eat 267
if it amuses her she can beat me all she likes. I
won't feel it."
" She stuck a pin into Soko this morning," chat-
tered the jay, " a long pin that she took out of that
grimy old bonnet of hers."
Jumbo looked anxious. " I'll have to trunk her,
then, if she comes near me."
" How would you do it, old fellow ? " I asked.
" Oh, just take her gently round the waist, and
wave her up and down in the air. That always has
a quieting effect. No creature likes to be lifted off
its legs. It makes a bird crazy to clasp it by the
wings. I won't hurt the Widow, Master Sam."
" I'm not afraid of you, Jumbo," I said. " Blue-
jay, who is to take her back to earth? "
" Soko," said the jay, glibly, " great, strong Soko.
He's been getting his wife to massage his arms. Joe
won't trust the Widow with any one but Soko. You
see she is a mortal and precious, though she is so
bad there she is, boys."
Palo Alto stopped so suddenly that I almost lost
my seat.
It was a funny sight. The Widow, worn out by
her labours early in the morning, had had a beauti-
ful nap, but it was over now, and she was on deck
with her switch.
Her deck was a kind of cubby-hole between two
sand-hills, with green shrubs growing up behind it,
268 $ot f & Davafrtee
making it look something like a nice, little flowery
cave.
She kept sticking her head in and out this cubby-
hole every other minute, staring up and down the
beach, and shaking her switch at a little black thing
lying on the sand before her.
Away as far as we could see, was a half-circle of
animals, all frightened to go near, yet all so inter-
ested that they could not keep away. They acted
just like people on earth who hang about a place
where anything horrible or funny has happened.
The trees were black with birds, and presently a
white gull swooped down to us.
" Hello, Master Sam. I'm a San Francisco bird.
Don't you remember you used to feed me going over
to Oakland in the ferry-boats ? "
" Did I, old fellow ? Weil, I'm glad to see you/'
I said.
He perched on Palo Alto's back for a minute.
"Isn't this dreadful?"
"Isn't what dreadful?" I asked.
" The Widow hush, speak low, or she will
hear you. Palo Alto, really I think you ought to
skirt those palms, and take the boy round to the
other animals. If the Widow made a rush, she
might close round him here."
I began to laugh. " You are all mighty afraid of
her. Why don't you circle round her, and take her
switch away ? "
fffje liescuc of tfre <at 269
" You see she is a human being," said the gull,
hoarsely, " and we're all afraid of hurting her."
" Then why don't you get the Cat to hypnotise
her ? You were speaking of it some of you."
" The Cat," exclaimed the gull, " we did get her,
but the Widow has hypnotised the Cat."
I was struck all of a heap. Hypnotised the Cat
that clever Cat " Why, that isn't Pussy lying in
that lump on the sand? " I cried.
" That is Pussy," said the gull, mournfully. " We
are all talking of a rescue, but what can we do when
the Widow is mounting guard like a soldier?"
" How did she do it ? " I gasped.
" Well," said the gull, sadly, " when we sent for
Her Necromancy, she came. She looked fixedly at
the Widow. She waved her paw once no good
twice no good ; then up to twenty times. The
Widow just stared at her, then she began to move
her switch. Poor Pussy fixed her eyes on it, and
was lost. She fell in a heap, and has been lying
there ever since."
I was dumfounded, and before I could get my
breath, we heard a pitiful, little voice at our feet.
" Oh, please, some one rescue my mistress, my dear
mistress."
I looked down, and there was the mouse. " Lift
her up here, gull," I said, then I tried to comfort
her.
270 ffiot's jJavattfsc
" Brace up, mousie," I said, but she only shook
her head. Her pink eyes were full of tears. "I
I'm so unhappy," she said. " I'm afraid my dear
mistress is suffering. She liked you, Master Sam.
Oh, please drive the Widow away, so I can get
to the body of my dear mistress."
" I'll get Pussy, or I'll die in the attempt," I said.
" Come, mousie, I'll be a knight like those of old,
and you shall be my token," and I slipped her in my
shirt front. Then I said, " Palo Alto, have you
got the nerve to rush by the Widow and attract her
attention, while Gull here seizes the Cat in his
talons?"
All the animals and birds within reach of my
voice began to snicker.
" Oh, botheration, I forgot," I said, " gulls are
web-footed. Here, you golden eagle, come out of
that tree, you have talons fast enough. Can you seize
Pussy without hurting her ? "
" Yes," he whimpered, " if I go easy, but I've got
seven little ones all depending on me, and if that
dreadful woman gives me a crack across the eyes
with her switch, I won't be able to find food for
my nestlings."
" Oh, you .old coward," I said, " I'll feed your
young ones. Come on California to the rescue !
Here, jay, you fly away and flap your wings in the
Widow's face, and yell murder in her ear as we go
by. Courage, Palo Alto ! "
art)* Mtutut of vi&t @at 271
The dandy racer was trembling all over, and I
must say I was kind of frightened myself. There
was something so whirlwindy and earthquaky
about the Widow, and her arm was like a steam-
hammer.
" One to make ready," I whispered. " Jumbo,
trumpet for all you are worth, and rattle her when
we get near, and just break off a limb of that gum-
tree. I'll shake it in her face as we dash by Palo
Alto, your goal is the semicircle of animals yonder.
Now two to prepare, three and we dare "
We were off I soon dropped my gum-tree
branch, and held both hands tangled up in Palo
Alto's mane. His feet just seemed to gently scratch
the earth, his back was alive. His old chest heaved
when we got near the Widow, and his eyes stared.
She was the only cool thing about. The sun was
beaming, the breakers thundering, the animals roar-
ing. They all appreciated what we were trying to
do for Miss Pussy.
Well, that Widow was a caution. She rattled the
jay so, by leaping up in the air and cutting at him
with her switch, that he only gave one feeble squawk
and scuttled away.
The eagle did better. He lighted beside Pussy,
and just as we steamed up to the Widow, he tried to
raise the unconscious Cat. She was, however,
heavier than he thought, and the Widow came down
on him like a thousand of bricks.
272 ffiors jJaxntriot
He gave one noisy yell, and mounted in the air.
"Palo Alto," I said, " stop ! wheel ! "
The beauty did as I told him. " Can you face
that music again? " I asked, just throwing the words
at him.
" Yes," he breathed, " if you do it quick."
" Come on, then," I shouted. " Here, eagle,
snatch the Widow's bonnet, and we'll see to Pussy."
The eagle, who was circling round in the air, did
as I told him. He lighted on the bonnet and tugged
at it, with the Widow whipping his legs, while Palo
Alto and I dashed up to the Cat.
" Seize her in your teeth," I said; " very gently,
boy now, fly for it."
He did fly oh, this was fun ! much better
fun than the tiger-in-the-marsh affair.
He held Pussy just as gently as he could with his
powerful teeth, and, in the twinkling of an eye, he
had laid her down on the wet sand in the midst oi
the crowd of animals.
They all pressed round her. " Stand back ! give
her air ! " I cried. " Bring some fresh water, som<
one."
Jumbo squirted a little from his trunk on her.
" Now, Pussy, wake up," I said ; " wake up. One
mortal put you to sleep, another says for you to
rouse yourself. Wake, I say," and I shook her
gently.
A very aristocratic-looking macaw flew to my
PALO ALTO AND I DASHED UP TO THE CAT
fffte lUscuc of ttie eat 273
loulder. " When my dear mistress on earth used
have hysterics," he said, " nothing would bring
ler to but for the doctor to say, ' Well, there is no
lelp for it, we must cut off all her beautiful hair,
id put ice on her head.' "
I looked at him. Then I said, addressing the
limals, " You see that there is no help for it, we
lust shave Pussy. Give me some of your stone
lives."
" There, you see she does not move," I went on
to the macaw. " This is genuine. Our friend, the
Widow, has hypnotised her. Here, you, orang-
outang, take her very carefully, and put her on the
bed in my cabin. She will come to in time."
"Must I stay and watch her?" he asked, anx-
iously.
" No, come back and see the fun. Mousie here
will stay with her mistress. I will soon be home.
You'll go, won't you, mousie?"
" Indeed I will," she exclaimed, her little face in
a smile as broad as she could make it. " Oh, I am
so glad to get my dear mistress, my darling mis-
tress. Let me on your shoulder, orang-outang?"
" Go through the woods to avoid the Widow,"
I called after the big ape.
" No fear of my not doing that," he cried, look-
ing over his shoulder, and off he went with big
strides, yet sometimes glancing behind, for a cry
had been raised, " The President ! the President ! "
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ROUT OF THE ANIMALS
Dear old Joe was indeed coming, his face all in
a wrinkle.
After him trotted Jess, the pups, Malta/ Toby,
Brisk, Jenkins's former cows, with Fleetfoot, carry-
ing Davy and Bella on his back.
" This bringing of mortals to the Island is a com-
plicated business; I must stop it," said Joe, anx-
iously. Then he addressed the crowd : " Brothers,
I have no power to subdue the Widow, except that
of brute force. We must gently crowd her to the
air-ship. Is it ready ? "
" Yes, sir," exclaimed a hundred voices. " It is
over behind the Hill of Arrival."
" Bring it round the Point," said Joe, " and have
it all ready for starting. We will get the Widow
in, and then it must leave immediately for earth.
Where is Soko?"
" With the air-ship, sir."
" Let him remain with it. Jumbo, you marshal
the elephants in front of those blue gums. Central
274
ffflg aftottt of fyt animal 275
Park, you go with them. Bengal, you and the pan-
thers, zebras, leopards, hyenas, and other wild ani-
mals, except the bears, station yourselves directly
behind the Widow. Close in on her, and try to drive
her gently toward the apes and monkeys, who will
surround her in an inner ring, and always gently,
mind you, urge her toward the air-ship. I want
the bears to be in the front row of this inner circle,
>ecause they have weight, but mind, bears, do not
)t aggressive. Be kind but persistent, and, no mat-
ter how provoking the Widow is, you are on no
account to hug her."
Joe broke off, and thought deeply for a few
minutes. Then he asked : " Has the Widow eaten
anything to-day ? "
" No, sir," said a hyena, showing his teeth,
* that's why she's so cross."
Joe sighed. " And I dare say she's tired, as well
is hungry. Jumbo, how would it do for you to seize
ler by your trunk and lift her to your back ? "
" I'd do it, sir, in a minute," said Jumbo, anx-
ously, " if she wouldn't stick a pin in my trunk. If
;he did, I might get crazy, and step on her."
" Did you know Mike McGarvie was dead ? "
whispered the Central Park elephant, putting his
lead down to mine.
I Yes," I whispered back.
" I'm not going to take any part in this," he said,
276 $ot f # 33avaai$r
with a glance toward the Widow. " Maybe the
Widow is some relation to Mike. Good-bye, boy,
I'm thinking of my keeper all the time," and he
tramped off to the woods.
" Let all the birds gently swoop down over our
guest, and drive her on," old Joe was continuing
in his deep voice, " and the farm animals, the
horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, calves, and so on,
will march round that belt of trees, get between her
and the woods, and, seconding the wild beasts, will
firmly press down this way toward the air-ship.
There is no need of closing retreat to the sea. She
would not want to wet her feet."
Joe had spoken, but there were a great many
details to arrange. Who were to lead the various
divisions, and who was to decide upon cases where
animals did not wish to be separated.
" You've classed me with the wild animals, sir,"
said old Gray skull, coming up to Joe, " and little
Billy with the domestic ones, but we're not used
to being separated. I'd like to have little Billy with
me. If the Widow got at him, I'd like to be near."
" Well, Grayskull," said Joe, kindly, " you and
Billy run with the goats."
" If little Billy could go with me, sir, Stars-and-
Stripes says she would take him on her back, while
I ran alongside and told her which way to go. Her
back's better than mine."
2Ti)t Mont of tfje Ultimate 277
" I should think it is," I said, and I looked at
old smirking Stars-and-Stripes, an enormous
leopard, with a back like a sofa.
" Very well," said Joe, and it was as good as a
play to see Stars-and-Stripes start off, little Billy
with his soulful eyes balancing himself on her back.
The apes and monkeys didn't like their leader.
" Oh, yes, Ponto's a good ape," they said to Joe,
" but he's apt to get rattled. We'd rather have
Bunker Hill."
Ponto stood looking on with a silly smile. " Yes,
Joe," he said, " I'm easy shaken. I'd rather have
Bunker Hill."
Bunker Hill, who appeared to be as solemn and
steady as the monument, came near, and at a word
from Joe, walked off with his detachment.
" Poor soldiers, going off to war without any
arms," I said. " The Widow has the only weapon
on the beach."
Joe looked more worried. " Jess, you stay with
me," he said. " Now let us go up on that sand-hill
and watch the affair."
I tried not to laugh, for Joe was dead serious.
However, at last I had to get behind him and
snicker. The walk of his soldiers was the funniest
thing. There was no " Up, guards, and at her ! "
about them. They were all beaten before they
began. Well, first the wild animals ranged into
line. It didn't take long to rout them.
278 ffioe'a Daratrfsc
The Widow just charged up the sand-banks with
her bonnet-pin and her switch; then there was
nothing but squeals and tails. You see, they were
handicapped. They couldn't hurt her. However,
they could form again, and when she descended to
her shrub cave, the lions, and panthers, and wolves,
and tigers, and poor little Billy tumbling from the
leopard's back, and limping beside Grayskull, formed
in another row, but this time further back among
the tree-trunks, where Joe had intended them to go.
The elephants never budged. They stood lika
rocks, but then the Widow took no notice of them,
beyond throwing a few stones and trying to hit
their small eyes, a thing she couldn't have done in
a hundred years, for I never saw a girl or a woman
yet that could throw a stone straight. They just
shut their eyes, and curled up their trunks, and they
were in a fortress.
Well, the fun began when the monkeys came tip-]
toeing down the beach. Some were on their hind
legs, some on their fore legs. Old Bunker Hill |
marched in front with a banana skin hanging out of
his mouth. I don't know what his idea was in
chewing it, unless it was to terrify the Widow. It
certainly didn't improve his looks.
Behind his troop of monkeys, little and big,
marched the farmyard battalions such an army of
them. A red bull was leading them, and was
I
fftj* ffiottt of fyt animals 279
making awful sounds away down in his throat to
give himself courage. A dark cloud of birds hovered
over the monkeys and farm animals. When Bunker
Hill came within a few rods of the Widow, who
was saying nothing, but just resting easily on her
switch and bonnet-pin, he stopped and put up his
paw.
It must have been an agreed signal, for the most
awful uproar burst forth. It deafened us where
we stood, and the Widow was much nearer.
However, she was plucky. She just stood out,
settled the dirty cuffs of her wrapper, fixed her bon-
net, and waved her stick.
Then they tried their gently crowding business.
For a few minutes we saw nothing but dust, and
feet going round and round, with a red wrapper in
the middle.
" Fm afraid it's the Widow that's doing the
crowding, Joe," I said.
" Oh, I hope my pups are in the rear," said Jess,
in distress. " If she hurts one of those pups, I shall
want to bite her."
"Don't be afraid, Mother," said Joe. "Look
there," and he pointed to six specks in the far
distance, scuttling in and out the breakers, and
making a wild dash for home.
"Oh, I'm so thankful," said Jess, "so thankful.
My darling pups, I must run after them, and see if
they are hurt."
28o %*t*u ffiaratttse
" Mother, there are other pups in the skirmish,"
said Joe; "some who have not a mother."
She did not hear him.
" Joe," I said, " we've been beaten."
" I fear we have," he replied, with a troubled air.
" The monkeys are retreating."
At that instant, my friend, the jay, flew over our
heads.
" Oh, it's fearful," he screamed, excitedly. " That
lady seems to have as many legs and arms as a
centipede. Bunker Hill's face is laid open, Ponto's
wrist is dislocated, and no end of sheep have their
eyes closed. They got frightened and tried to run
home, but instead they ran right up to the Widow.
The ram Portland has his fleece covered with red
spots. Whenever the Widow has nothing else to do,
she runs her bonnet-pin into him as if he were a
pincushion, and he trots round and round her as
if she were a fence post. I tried to show him a way
out, but he couldn't understand. Oh, it's fearful ! "
and he flew away.
" Blue jay is a great exaggerator," muttered Joe.
" The wild beasts are out of it, though," I said.
" They are breaking, breaking. The farm animals
can't get away. Law me, she's after the goats
poor goats ! "
" Apes and monkeys," cried Joe, loudly, and he
ran to meet a flying group coming toward us, " run
I flfte lUrot of tfle animals 281
the desert, scour the wood. Find the goat, and
.ng him here."
" He won't come, sir," said a big chimpanzee,
lose eyes were half starting from his head.
" Force him to come," said Joe. " Quick, quick,
lun't you see how your brothers the farm animals
are being hurt? "
The apes ran away, thankful to turn their backs
on the rout.
Other fleeing animals kept arriving. A hyena,
with his lips curled back over his teeth, said : " It's
no use, sir, she's bewitched. Poor Billy is laid out,
his back is 'most broken. The wolf is up among the
japonicas licking him."
" Go back," said Joe, " gather your brothers, try
to surround the farm animals and press them away.
The Widow is simply torturing them. As soon as
you accomplish this, I will try to entice her here by
means of the goat."
The hyena turned and went back, but not as fast
as he had come.
Presently we saw him rallying the dispersing wild
animals, who formed a wedge, and with lowered
heads slipped in between the Widow and the unfortu-
nate domestic creatures. We saw the hyena take the
ram by the ear, and pull him out of the crowd, then
pell-mell, higgledy-piggledy, hurly-burly, the animals
came galloping in a disordered mass down the beach.
282 ffioi's ffarattise
" She's a regular Napoleon," said Joe, " just loot
at her."
As cool as a cucumber, she was sitting down, tak-j
ing off her carpet slippers, and shaking the sand oull
of them. Then she fanned herself with her apron,!
and stared out at sea.
Joe looked round on the panting, heaving crowd!
" Did any one tell her that we wished to put her in
an air-ship to take her home? "
" Yes, sir," said a shout of voices, " and she said
she'd air us, and ship us, and wreck us, till there
wasn't anything left."
"Where is Bunker Hill?" asked Joe.
" Gone home, sir. His face doesn't look pretty.
He says he believes in letting women have their
own way."
Joe sighed. " Well, lie down, all of you, and rest
yourselves. We may have to make another attack."
He walked up and down restlessly, until there was
a great bawling heard in the distance.
The apes were dragging the goat along, and he
didn't want to come.
" Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy, sirs," we heard him
cry.
" My heart it beats, it stops, it stirs,
My mistress will my flesh annoy.
My liberty's my only joy."
ffpe iftottt of tfft ^nitnalg 283
" Come on," we heard the apes say, " and stop that
back scratching. It's no good the President wants
you."
" The President wants me! " the simpleton called,
" The humblest beast,
That on this Island makes a feast.
You surely are mistaken friends,
You wish to serve some low-down ends."
" No, we don't," said the apes. " Come on," and
they dragged him to the President.
The goat fell on his knees before Joe.
" Oh, hide me, hide me, hide me, sire,
I fear my mistress' dreadful ire.
She'll pick my flesh from off my bones,
She'll throw my remnants on those stones."
" Yes, she'll hide you," said Rag, " you needn't
bother the President."
The goat was crying.
" Jerry, I thought your tears were over," said Joe,
sternly.
" I-I-JTm just like human beings, Mr. President,"
blubbered the goat. " I-I cry for things I haven't
got, and when I get them, I cry because I have. Let
me run back to the desert, the sweet desert. It's
very lovely and lonely there."
" Jerry," said Joe, " you once liked your mistress.
Now do her a kindness. You needn't let her catch
284 ffioe'g jlaraOtsc
you, but just go over there a little way. Show your-
self, and such is her attachment for you, that I have
no doubt she will come running this way, so that
we can coax her into the air-ship. By the way,
has it come round the Point ? "
" Yes, sir," said the golden eagle, who was sitting
on Jumbo's back, " it's close by, behind the mag-
nolias."
" I didn't want her to see Soko till the last mo-
ment," said Joe, " for, unfortunately, she has taken
a prejudice against him. Now, Jerry, start."
" I won't," said the goat.
" Come, that's treachery to the State," said a rhi-
noceros, prodding him with his horn.
" Hold your tongue," said Jerry.
" Seize him, apes," said Joe, " walk him down the
beach toward the Widow. If she sallies out, don't
loose him, but guide him this way."
The apes and the goat began their cake-walk, and
in spite of the solemnity of the occasion, we all
burst into a roar of laughter.
Such cross-legging it, such nipping and pinching,
such cries from the goat, and butts, such beautiful
butts there was an ape bowled over on his back
all the time.
There were four apes, and they had a great time
to find holding places. There wasn't much of a tail,
there wasn't much of a beard, for it had got thin
fff)g ffiottt of tfie Animate 285
from wagging and crying, his ears didn't amount to
much, his horns were small and broken, and he had
a poor, wiry crop of hair. However, the apes man-
aged to hang on, and after a time the Widow began
to prick up her ears.
Then she hailed them. " Hello, is that me goat
you're bringin' to me, me own sweet goat that loves
me so. Just bring him, just let me love him. Oh,
me beautiful, friendly goat," and she rose and
clutched her switch and her bonnet-pin.
The goat's struggles were awful, and one time,
he had all the four apes down on the sand.
However, they were good wrestlers, and they
hauled him further. When they got quite near the
Widow, and saw that she was crouched for a spring,
they suddenly turned his head, and started off toward
us.
The Widow gave chase, and they let her come
near enough to give the poor goat one clout. Then
they let him run.
There was an awful consternation among the
animals, and Joe was afraid there would be a
stampede, and they would get hurt.
" Turn tail, everybody," he said. " Turn your
heads from her. A few cuts behind won't hurt you.
I I'll confront her."
This was noble in the President, and a low roar of
I applause went round.
286 3*t*u flarafttse
Then the goat came dashing in, pressed among the
animals, and hid himself in the thickest of them,
between the knees of a giraffe with a rampart of
elephants behind him,
Joe stood right out in front of the crush, and Rag
and I stood beside him.
" Madam," he said, when the red cyclone hauled
up in front of us, " what do you wish ? "
" I'd thank ye for me goat, ye low-down, impident
beggar of a dog/' she said, shaking the switch at
him.
"Very well, madam, go get him/' said Joe,
politely stepping aside.
The Widow drew back. She didn't want to get
into that press of animals.
" Bring him out," she said, waving her switch,
" bring him out, or I'll be the death of some of yees."
It was fun to see the animals trying to look at
her. They had all done as Joe said, and turned their
backs to her, but they were dying to see what was
going on, and couldn't help turning and twisting
their heads and shoulders.
" Madam," began Joe, but he got no further.
That dreadful woman was clipping him over the
legs with her switch.
I was sorry for Joe. Only that morning he had
been thinking such deep thoughts about the World
of the Blessed, and now he was being cut over the
legs just like a common dog.
-
Jje mottt of tyt animals 287
He was very forgiving about it. " Madam," he
said, " we wish you well. You do not understand us.
I should like to see you eat and drink something.
You act so disturbed that I think you must be
hungry."
" I'll drink you, I'll eat you," she screamed, and
she sprang at the whole three of us.
" Run, Joe," I said, " we can't strike her, as she
is a woman."
The old dog didn't lose his head, and trying to get
round the crowd of animals, headed for the air-ship,
toping that she would follow us.
Unfortunately, the others didn't understand him.
Like crazy creatures, they broke for shelter, and
x>lted toward the woods.
The Widow had a beautiful time. She was right
imong us. On account of numbers, no one could
[run very fast, and she could skip here, there, and
everywhere, pinning and switching, touching up a
lion, a donkey, a sheep, a calf, a fox, a wolf, a horse,
Iw a slow-going cow. Some of the animals vowed
:hat she rode for some distance on the back of a
iger, but I didn't see that.
I couldn't see much that was going on, for some
pi those blessed animals, in spite of their fright, re-
nembered me, and kept a close guard round me,
lind when we got a little free from the crowd, a
mung Indian pony told me to spring on his back.
288 ffioe'g jJataOfst
I did so, then I had time to look round. I just
roared. Everywhere were animals with tails be-
tween their legs. Joe was riding off royally on the
back of a lion into the depths of the wood. Our
party followed him, and soon we were having a
council of war in the depths of the forest.
It was a lovely place. I stooped down and took
a drink from a little brook where there were rows
of thirsty animals.
Joe sat on a bed of ferns. He panted for awhile,
then he looked up at some crows who had followed
us. " Go find out where she is now."
The crows flew away. Presently they came back
screaming, " She's caught him."
"Him?" said Joe.
" Yes, the goat she's taken off her apron, she's
tied him to the string, she's dragging him toward
that place on the beach where she was sitting. He's
pleading for mercy, and she's grinning."
Joe got up, stopped panting, and looked desperate.
"Oh, this is awful!"
" Can't you do something ? " I said, impatiently.
He stretched out his paw. " Be quiet a minute,
please. I am thinking. Is there nothing that would
terrify that woman? "
Suddenly he flung up his head. His face was calm
and resolved. " Crows," he said, quickly, " I did
not see a mouse in the late contest, did you ? "
Not one, sir," they all croaked, hoarsely.
Fly to the other side of the Island, to Mouse-
ville. Tell every mouse there to come to me as
speedily as possible. Tell them it is a case of
life and death to come all, and leave only the
young ones and the very old ones at home. Fly
now!
The crows set off without a sound. They were
on business and would not chatter.
" What are you going to do now, Joe? " I asked,
curiously.
" To prove whether she is a woman or a witch.
If she is a real woman, she will be afraid of a mouse."
"Afraid of a mouse, Joe, when she wouldn't run
from a lion? "
" You will see, my dear boy," said the good old
fellow. " In the course of a long life, I remarked
something that always struck me with surprise.
There were good and bad women in the world.
They didn't look alike, or think alike, or act alike.
They had only one thing in common. Every single
woman I ever saw would run from a mouse."
" That's funny," I said. " I know my mother is
afraid of them, but I didn't know other women
were."
" Just wait, my dear boy, you will see," and he
sank back on the ferns.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE CAPTAIN OF THE MOUSE BRIGADE
"Poor goat!" I said, "I wonder how he is
getting on? "
A carrier-pigeon obligingly went to find out.
" He is down on his knees to the Widow," he said,
when he flew back, " and she is telling him how
she is going to torture him when she gets rested."
" Why doesn't he run away? "
" She has him tied to a rock."
" Poor goat ! " I said again.
" She must not be allowed to torture him," said
Joe, firmly. " Pigeon, you watch her. Call some
of your brothers, and if she starts up to beat him,
you must fly in her face and confuse her."
The pigeon shuddered. " She'll likely catch some
of us, still, we're ready to help But I don't think
she'll begin yet, for she's pretty well tired out
and she's extravagant, too, in her language. She's
telling the goat that she's going to push him in a well
of boiling oil. Now, we haven't any such well on
this Island, so how could she do it ? "
290
Captain of tip* Jftottse fftrigaft* 291
" She is a woman of great imagination," said
Joe, but he looked uneasy, and turned his head
toward Mouseville.
" In plain words, a story-teller," said Rag.
We all had a nice little rest before the mice came,
but they weren't long in arriving. Such business-
like little animals! I was delighted with them.
The crows did their work well, for the first mice
arrived on their backs. They flew low, and the
mice held on their feathers with their tiny, sharp
teeth.
" Now, Mr. President," said the first mouse to
arrive, " what is your will? "
I looked at him. He was just a common gray
little fellow, but he was standing up to the President
like an elephant.
" Captain," said Joe, " I want you to speed our
parting guest. You have heard of her."
" The Widow, yes," said the mouse, briskly, " but
we mice are busy people, you know. We have to
do our work first, then play afterwards."
" Don't work too hard, Captain," said Joe. " You
are getting very intense. Well, I want you to sur-
round the Widow and urge her toward the air-ship
by Point Expectation. Don't run up on her dress,
or annoy her. Just firmly close round her, and head
her toward the boat. You think she will mind you ? "
" Oh, bless you, Mr. President, yes," said the
292 3ot f * jlaratnsc
mouse. " We can do anything with women. I don't
need to wait for the rest of my connection to arrive,
I can start with what I have," and he gazed round on
the few hundreds of mice that had dropped in by
dozens on the backs of larger animals or of birds
of different kinds.
" Very well," said Joe, " shall I command, or will
you?" "
" I'll do it myself," said the mouse, sharply.
" Here, tame mice, you white fellows, form on this
side, single file. Halt ! "
A thin, white line immediately drew out before
him.
" Spotted half-breeds to the left," said the Cap-
tain. "Halt!"
The spotted line drew out, and then came the turn
of the gray mousies.
" Gray mice, follow me," said the little Captain,
" here, dog, you be Widow."
This to Rag, who looked rattled, and was aboi
to slink among the ferns with his tail between hi
legs.
"Stand still," squealed the Captain. " No^
gentlemen," and he addressed the mice, " this whil
dog is the Widow. Surround her in good styk
urge her toward that bay yonder. Steady, march !
Rag acted like a simpleton, and shivered, as tl
circle of tiny creatures, all with eyes shining, hea<
(Eaytaln of tyt ffiousc flvfgaac 293
lowered, and a fixed purpose in their eyes, closed
round him.
Then, not thinking of what he was doing, he
slowly advanced.
" That will do," said the Captain. " Break ranks,
follow me, snake fashion, not a head showing, not
a tail raised."
Sure enough, they went off like little snakes
through the moss and ferns.
Joe heaved a great sigh. " They'll accomplish
their mission. I wish I had thought of them before.
Now let us go watch the Widow. Don't show your-
selves, brothers. She might charge us. I want the
mice to stalk her."
We crept like another band of mice down through
I the forest to the edge of the beach. There were some
thick clumps of shrubs here, and we posted ourselves
among them Joe, Rag, I, Dandy, who had just
joined us, the Indian pony, and some foxes, wolves,
panthers, and monkeys.
The most of the farm animals had gone home.
They were tired of being chased. Only the sharper
ones remained with the wild animals, who were all
intensely interested.
The Widow sat with her hands crossed over her
knees, only turning once in awhile to threaten the
goat, who was the silliest picture of distress that 1
ever saw.
294 3ot f & jJaratrisc
The Widow remained for some time, now looking
at the goat, now at the sea, till suddenly she gave a
shriek, and drew in her feet.
" What is the matter, mistress ? " asked the goat,
cringing to her.
" Matter it's a mouse,'' she said, " as sure as
I'm a living sinner. Yow there's another ! " and
she skipped on to her feet.
Joe's face was radiant. " Poor woman, we'll get
her home now, and we shall be happy, and she will
be happy. Good little mice ! "
" Rats ! Murder ! Help ! " screamed the Widow,
and now she was dancing up and down on the sand,
holding the old red wrapper tight about her.
" Poor thing," said Joe, " I'm sorry to have her
disturbed, but it won't last long boys, boys "
This was to Rag and Dandy, who were almost
killing themselves laughing.
" In whatsoever clime we be,
Mirth springs from some one's misery ! "
said Jce, under his breath.
" Oh, law me, I'm dead ! I'm killed ! I'm mur-
dered before me own eyes " yelled the WidoT
" Help ! help ! " and didn't she throw one arm roun<
Jerry's neck?
He looked like a ninny. He wasn't afraid of the
mice, and he didn't know how to help her. I guej
eafftain of fyt Mount ff rigatte 295
he didn't want to, for we suddenly heard him roar,
Untie that apron string."
" Oh, my ! oh, me ! oh, my, oh, me ! " gasped the
Widow, and her fingers trembled like leaves, but
still she managed to untie the knots that she had
made.
" Well, I'm blest if that goat isn't deserting her,"
said Dandy.
He was he was running down the beach, shak-
ing his head, and leaping for joy.
Nov/ the Widow was undone. She was carrying
on a dreadful dance, and the mice were closing in
on her. We could see them now. Their little heads
were all up, and their tails were slipping about like
tiny snakes.
"March, lady!" cried the little Captain mouse.
" Don't dance, march ! "
" Tell her to drop her switch," called Joe, standing
up and showing himself, " likewise her bonnet-pin."
The poor Widow, even in the height of her dis-
tress, had held on to her instruments of torture, but
now she dropped them pretty quick.
u March, lady," said the mouse again, and he
went closer. " Ouch ! " she cried with a leap and a
spring, and she went tearing up the beach with all
the mice scuttling behind her.
They were splendid little soldiers, and as brave
as lions. Though there was danger of their getting
296 ffiors j3aram$t
stepped on in her wild springs, they formed a half-
moon around her, and urged her on till they got close
up to the air-ship.
We kept abreast of them under the trees, until they
got to Point Expectation. Then, headed by Joe, we
ran down to the beach.
The Widow had taken no pains to learn anything
about the Island, still she had an idea that Joe had
most authority, so when she saw him coming she
screamed, " Call them off the dirty-smelling
beasts ! "
Dandy curled his lip. " Smelling ! Just look at
the clean little things. Not one of them would touch
her ragged, untidy dress. Go home and put your-
self into your tubs, Mrs. Washerwoman."
" Brothers," called the little mouse Captain,
" wash yourselves."
In a trice, every small mouse was on his hind legs.
His fore legs went like lightning over his face, ears,
and back, and his little tongue licked so fast that
I could not see it. Last of all, each tiny fellow took
his tail under his arm, or his leg, and polished that
off.
" Now my army is clean," said the mouse Captain,
dryly, " if it wasn't clean before."
The Widow wasn't paying any attention to him.
" I want to go home," she was shrieking. " I hate
this nasty place. When does the next steamer call
here, ye scalpeens ? "
THEY FORMED A HALF-MOON AROUND HER, AND URGED HER ON "
" Madam, here is your air-ship," said Joe, run-
ning forward. " Captain, this way, please."
" And I'm not going up in the air again in no
clothes basket," screamed the Widow, " I sha'n't go
one step," but even as she spoke, she had to go
forward, for the Captain of the Mouse Brigade, in
obedience to Joe's orders, was urging her on.
" Have you got any stones in your pockets ? "
asked Joe.
" None of your business, you unclean beast," she
shrieked.
Captain Mouse approached her.
" Oh, keep your distance, keep your distance,"
she begged, " yes, here they be, I'll heave them out,"
and she threw out about a dozen good-sized stones.
" Step into the ship," said Joe.
At that instant, Soko, grinning at her antics, stuck
his head out of the car.
She fell back when she saw him. " I'm not goin'
with that dowdy reptile."
" Captain," said Joe.
The Widow went into the wicker car.
" Now, fly, sweet birds," called Soko, to Dulce and
her mate, as they sat watching from a rubber-tree.
Soko loved the swans, and always wanted them
beside the air-ship.
The beauties spread their wings. Soko's young
ape helped pull in the anchor, and they were off.
298 3ot f u iJarairfsc
" Keep in the car," we heard Soko roar, " keep in
the car, or you will fall into the water."
The Widow was fighting him. We could see her
body half out of the car.
" Back, back to the Island," ordered Soko, then
a rope came flying out, and we all clutched it.
Soko had the washerwoman by the arm when
they came down, and he was breathing hard and
fast. " I can do nothing with her, sir," he said
to Joe. " You must let me have some mice."
" Will you go, Captain ? " asked Joe.
" Yes, sir," said the plucky little fellow, " and I'll
take one of my sons. He's got an eye like a needle.
Come, Corporal," and he jumped into the car.
" Murder ! " bawled the Widow, crouching in a
corner.
" Now, madam," said Soko, rubbing his arm,
" every time you spring at me, I'll set a mouse on
you. I won't molest you if you are good, but if
you make any more of those cat springs, you know
what to expect."
The Widow looked thoughtful, and didn't say
anything.
Captain Mouse was sitting on his hind legs nib-
bling a morsel of cake he had found in the car.
" She looks hungry," he said. " Give her something
to eat."
" I sha'n't eat," piped the Widow, " ye'd poison
me."
Captain of tfrt JjjUmge iUigatte 299
" Wouldn't do anything of the sort," said the
Captain. " Give her a cake, Soko. If you don't
eat it, madam, I'll run over your ankles and tickle
you."
She screeched, and held out her hand for the
cake, and our last view of the Widow, was of a
woman eating and drinking, and having a good time
looking at the scenery.
" I'm glad she is afraid of the mice," said Joe,
in satisfaction. " I was afraid she was a witch, and
CHAPTER XXV.
TRANSPORTING THE ANARCHIST
Joe went home, and Rag, Dandy, Jumbo, Bluejay,
and some other of my particular friends among the
animals went with me to my cabin.
For awhile, we all sat on the grass, talking about
the Widow and the mice, then at supper-time we
had a lovely meal together, eating cakes and drinking
brook water that the monkeys brought to us in
gourds.
I could never get enough of those Island cakes.
They weren't rich enough to hurt any one, and yet
they were rich enough to make you feel glad that
you were eating cake all the time.
I must not forget to say that we had some honey,
too. Honey sent to me by some bees across the
Island. It was made from wild thyme and orange-
blossoms, and it was good, I can tell you.
Well, as we all sat there talking, and the dusk
came on, a long trail of animals passed by. I
think whenever it was possible they took a turn
round my way, to say good night to me.
300
They nearly all had something to say about the
races. Now that the Widow was gone, they were to
be our next excitement.
" By the way, Bluejay," I said, " you were going
to tell me about them, and we were interrupted."
" Well, I was only going to talk things over," he
said, " and mention probable entries. I have nothing
official to say. Soko was to attend to all that. I
don't know who will take his place now that he
has gone to the earth."
" The jay is a great gossip," said Dandy in my
ear.
He and Rag were lying beside each other on the
bank just above my head. I was so glad the two
dogs had got to be like brothers. Now, Rag would
not miss me so much when I went.
" Let's go over the list," said Bluejay. " First,
there are the regular racing horses. I can tell you
we have some here that made records on earth, and
they can run even faster in this world."
" Don't forget the dogs, Jay," said Dandy, " the
coursing dogs."
" Oh, yes, the greyhounds," said the Jay, care-
lessly. " They will want to enter, I suppose, but,
of course, they are not big, and noble, and swift,
like horses."
" Nor calm, and conservative, and reposeful in
manner, and quiet, and conscientious, like bluejays,"
said Dandy, ironically.
302 3?oe*s ffaratttee
The Jay went on quickly, " Then there are
zebras, and deer, and ostriches."
" Wait a minute, Bluejay," I said, " little Steal-
Away wants to speak to me," and I held up my hand
to a small owl, with big, beautiful eyes that had
perched near me.
She flew to my wrist. " Master Sam," she whis-
pered, " they are going to ship the Anarchist this
evening. Don't you want to see him go ? "
Steal-Away had a queer, ghostly little voice, and
she kept looking over her shoulder, as if she ex-
pected some one to pounce on her.
I sprang up. " Boys, let's go to see the An-
archist."
The dogs sprang, too, and Jumbo, who was lying
down, began to get up.
" Are you going on the word of that young night
gossip ? " said the Jay, angrily.
" Brother," said the owl, mildly, " you'd better
go home. Every jay has his day, and every owl
has his prowl."
" Good for you, owlie," I said, patting her.
" You're equal to the goat. Go home, friend jay,
while you can still see to fly."
" May I come back in the morning? " he asked.
" Yes, brother, come to breakfast," I said.
" Good night, friends," he chattered, and in quite
good humour flew away, but had the misfortune to
bump his head against a tree branch, whereupon the
owl laughed, softly.
" Brothers," I said, " is it true that I can see and
hear better here than on earth, or do I only imagine
it?"
" It is true," rumbled Jumbo. " Our senses,
blunted on earth by toil, and care, and worry, and
the dreadful noises of civilisation, are all quickened
here now don't you want to come up on my back,
dear boy? Your young limbs must be tired of
scampering away from that Widow."
" All right, Jumbo," I said, and he put his trunk
round me, and swung me up.
" Master Sam," said Dandy, as he ran along by
my side, " do you know we always take away bad
animals by night ? "
"Do you," I said, "and why?"
" It makes such a scandal and such a commotion
in the daytime," said Dandy, " and some of the ani-
mals fuss so the ladies especially. Would you
believe it, Master Sam, this Anarchist elephant has
been as ugly right straight along as he was the day
you came, yet some of the animals have been petting
him, and sending him fruit and flowers and cake."
" To that old brute," I said, " that wanted to kill
Joe?"
"Yes, to that brute and do you know," and
he lowered his voice, " Jay says Jess sent something.
I won't say it's true, but the news has gone round."
304 3fo*'g 33araa(sc
" I don't believe she is so silly," I replied.
" No, she is not," said a deep voice near us.
It was Joe speaking, and Dandy slunk behind
Jumbo.
"Jess is sorry for the elephant," Joe went on, "but
she believes in the wholesome effect of discipline.
When the elephant comes back from the Isle of
Probation, my mother will be as kind to him as
any one. Just now she is too much grieved and
shocked at his wish to take my life, to do anything
for him."
"But isn't that the highest nobility, Joe?" I
said, " to do good to your enemies ? "
" Yes, brother," replied Joe (I noticed, that al-
though I had requested many animals to call me
brother, Joe was the only one who would do it).
" Love your enemies is a sublime commandment, but
when your enemy has gone crazy, and can't dis-
tinguish love from hatred, you must try first of all
to get some sense into his maddened brain. If we
loved the Anarchist too hard just now, we'd let him
loose on this Island, where he would probably blind
and confuse all the young animals by his peculiar
logic, and attempt to murder half the old ones. No,
I think we are doing right to transport him for
awhile, but he will be carefully watched, and at the
first sign of repentance, back he comes."
"What is the Isle of Probation like?" I asked
Joe.
" Very like this, only smaller, and with only a
few animals on it, and they have no President and
no government. They roam from one place to
another. They never work. They rage and idle
and fight each other. When this elephant arrives,
they will gather round him, and listen to all he has
to say, probably make a fuss over him. Each ani-
mal will relate his grievance, and for awhile he will
be lionised. In a short time, they will likely all turn
against him, and give him a terrible thrashing."
" But they can't kill him? "
" Oh, no, but they can make him suffer. Imagine
being wounded and miserable it is worse than
death."
" How will you know when he wants to come
back?"
" By our bird telegraphy. We always have a
lookout of birds on the Isle of Probation."
"Are there ever any bird Anarchists?"
" Very seldom ; birds, as a rule, believe in good
government. I remember a vulture that gave us
some trouble, but he only stayed one day on the
Isle of Probation. He made such an uproar that
the lookout sent an urgent message for his return."
" That bird was fun," said Dandy, snickering
softly, and running forward beside Joe. " I can
recall his coming back. He yelled, ' Monarchy !
Constitutionalism! Conservatism! Absolutism! Im-
306 3ot f 8 yarmrtet
perialism ! Turkism ! Police ! Military ! ' and so on
for a week. He's the most conservative bird we
have now. He says those Anarchists anarchised
him out of all nonsense. They were awful, and beat
each other all the time when they weren't asleep or
feeding."
" Here we are at the corral," said Jumbo, " but
you'd better stay on my back, Master Sam. The
Anarchist might break loose."
It was queer to see the animals moving about
softly in the dark. I could make out three or four
elephants, a number of old monkeys and tigers,
leopards, and ever so many bears.
" Come up here, Dandy and Rag," I said, " I
want to keep you beside me," so Jumbo lifted them
up.
I put an arm round each, while Jumbo stood like
a tower.
" The last Anarchist we had," whispered Dandy,
" was a weasel. He gave no end of trouble, for he
was so small that we couldn't lock him up. He'd
crawl out of every place we put him in, and he vowed
he'd taste all our brains from Joe down."
" How did you transport him ? "
" Oh, we didn't bother about the air-ship for that
little nuisance. An eagle just gripped him in his
talons, and flew off with him. None too gently,
I fear, for Weasel yelled all the way to Probation.
&vmuovUna tfjt &narcf)igt 37
He told the eagle he'd have the blood of all his
young ones, and his uncles, and aunts, and cousins,
and relatives to the fiftieth degree, and the eagle only
squeezed him harder."
" And what became of him? "
" Oh, he came back, of course. They all do, and
mighty glad we are to see them, for they are our
brothers even before the scales drop off their eyes.
Weasel now lives in the eagle's nest, and keeps
his young ones warm at night if the eagle is out to
a party."
" I'd like to send Hillington to Probation," I said,
thoughtfully.
" What are you laughing at? " I asked.
He wouldn't tell me.
" I know," said Rag. " He's thinking that maybe
if you took a turn of the Isle of Probation yourself,
you would forgive Hillington."
" I wouldn't forgive him for fifty Islands," I
said.
" Oh, come out of your air-ship, Master Sam,"
said Dandy, impatiently, " or you'll have to be pro-
bated yourself when you die."
" When I die, I'm going to the World of the
Blessed," I said, proudly. " Joe told me I would."
" But not if there is hatred in your heart," said
Dandy, anxiously. " They have an Isle of Proba-
tion, too, in the World of the Blessed. I've heard of
308 ffo^g UataOfst
it from the birds. Come, Master Sam, forgive Hill-
ington. I want to be your dog in the next Paradise.
Who knows, I may have a golden tail."
Rag began to laugh.
" Oh, hush up," said Dandy. " A very well-
known man, called Luther, promised his dog a
golden tail in the resurrection, and if his dog got
one, Master Sam might get me one."
" I'd like one, too," said Rag, getting interested.
" Whist, boys," I said, " they're going to edge
the Anarchist out. Steal-Away, where are you ? "
The little owl flew down from a tree branch to
my shoulder.
" Tell us what is going on," I said, " I can't see
distinctly."
Steal- Away's eyes were like saucers. " The big
animals are lined up each side of the corral gate,"
she said. " Silvertip is just taking down the bars.
The elephants and other bears stand ready there
he comes you hear him ? "
" Oh, gracious, yes," I said, " he's trumpeting
like a good fellow."
" He's prancing in his walk," whispered Steal-
Away. " His stomach is full of good food, and
he is proud. Now the animals are closing in round
him. He has just given Bengal a thwack."
" Poor Bengal ! " I said.
" He has retired limping," Steal-Away went on,
" the elephants are crowding now."
^Transporting tfle gngrrgigt 309
" Crowding ? " I repeated.
" Making a push, you know," interrupted Dandy,
" that is a great word on the Island. Instead of
clawing, and tearing, and biting, they push and
press a fellow till he gets sense."
" The African elephants are each side of him,"
Steal- A way continued. "He is banging them, but
they don't care. They are pressing him this way.
Jumbo, you would better march on."
" I will turn aside," replied Jumbo, and he stepped
under an oak-tree.
The procession passed us. We could dimly see
and perfectly hear the unhappy Anarchist, raving,
i trampling, trying to bolt, and always being headed
off.
" Now, we'll make a detour, and get to the boat
first," said Jumbo, and he tramped along under the
oak-trees, until he got more out in the open.
Steal-Away flew ahead, telling him which way
to go, though he could see pretty well himself
much better than I could."
When we got on the beach, he rolled along in his
funny run. It seemed to me the Island must be
shaking under him, he was so big.
" What kind of a boat are they going to take him
in? " I asked.
" A whale-boat," said Jumbo, " it is drawn up in
a bay yonder."
3* ffioe'g jiavatrfsc
Soon I could see dimly ahead in the darkness a
huge boat, almost filling a pretty little bay. "Of
course, you could not take an elephant in an air-ship,' ,
I said.
When we got nearer, I saw that it was a huge, flat
affair, with neither sails nor machinery. " What
makes it go? " I asked.
" Rockaway is waiting outside," said Jumbo,
" our big, faithful blue whale. He is enormously
strong. He will take them flying through the
water."
I gravitated down one of Jumbo's legs, and ran
up to examine the boat. It was big enough to hold
three or four elephants. While I was leaning over
it, I heard a tremendous trumpeting behind us, and
scuttled back to Jumbo. " What's up, old fellow ? "
" They are binding him," said Jumbo, " with grass
ropes. It would not do to have him go unfettered in
the boat. He might plunge overboard. Here they
come."
I could see through the soft darkness that the
Anarchist wasn't quite as lively as he came hob-
bling over the beach. His trunk was lashed to his
body. There was a long trail of rope on one of his
hind legs, and he was holding his tongue.
The bears seemed to have him in charge now.
They were walking on their hind legs, and if he
paused, one of them would give him a tap with his
paw enough to stagger a church.
QZvmupQvting tftt mvt$tet 3 11
I leaned up against Jumbo, and watched them.
"Where is Joe?" I asked.
" Gone home, probably," said Dandy. " That is
one thing I like about Joe. He is master here, and
yet if he gives any one a piece of work to do, he
doesn't stand over and nag all the time. He can
trust his animals. Soko is just the same, but some of
I the animals are horribly fussy. A few of the cat
tribe, tigers and such like, most drive me crazy."
The Anarchist was now close by. Some apes and
I the elephant steadied the boat, while Silvertip gener-
alled.
"Isn't he masterly?" remarked Jumbo; "he
hasn't been rolling grindstones for nothing."
Almost single-handed, Silvertip was pushing the
elephant in the big boat, and quite single-handed, he
seized the dangling rope, wound it all round the
Anarchist's fore legs, tied it in a knot, fastened it
by means of paw and teeth, then sat down in the
stern.
Kern stepped to the bow, a few young monkeys
skipped in as aids-de-camp, the bears on shore
waded out, gave the boat a push, and off it went.
" That will be a nice little pull for Rockaway,"
observed Jumbo.
We saw the boat pause at a short distance from
the shore, where Rockaway was waiting for it in
deep water.
3i2 3ot f * ggragtee
Kern leaned forward. We knew he was throwing
out to Rockaway the rope that lay coiled in the
bow, then we all called out to the Anarchist, " Good-
bye, brother, come back soon," and then turned away.
" They shipped him darkly," said Dandy. " Hello
what's that?"
We were all strolling up the beach. It was a
lovely night, if it was dark.
" It's the swans singing, maybe," said Rag.
Oh, I forgot to say that a pair of black swans
went with the whale-boat. Never any sort of a craft
started out from the Island without an escort of
these birds. The animals all loved them, and were
almost superstitious about them, for Dandy told me
that they all had an idea that they couldn't go or
come safely without their beloved birds.
Well, when Rag said that maybe the swans were
singing, Dandy began to laugh.
" The swans never sing when they are leaving
the Island, you stupid, only when they are coming
home, and, moreover, that noise never came out of
a swan's smooth throat."
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE DANCE ON THE BEACH
" Well, I vow it's that goat," said Rag, dis-
gustedly, " isn't he enough to make you sick ? "
Away down the breeze, the noise was coming.
" She's gone, she's gone, the cause of all my grief.
Now I'm a happy goat, now I have found relief.
I'm putting on my glorious freedom suit,
It fits me well now that you can't dispute."
" Yes, I can," bawled Dandy, " I wish you'd go
put your head in soak again."
The goat ran up to us. " Do you know how to
dance the Lancers ? " he asked, eagerly.
"Yes, I do, but I won't dance with you," said
Dandy.
" Why, you're a poet, like this dear go-at," said
Jerry, admiringly. " Now do let us have a dance."
" No," said Dandy, decidedly.
" Why not? " teased the goat.
" Because it isn't proper," said Dandy, with mock
bashfulness, " it puts silly thoughts into one's head."
313
314 &ot f u 3Javatnsc
" It wouldn't in mine," said the goat, earnestly.
" No, 'cause you're so chock full now that another
couldn't get in," said Dandy.
" Will you have a round dance, if you won't have
a square one? " begged the goat.
" Not a round one, nor a square one, nor a pentag-
onal one, nor a heptagonal one, nor an octagonal
one, nor a duodecimal one, nor a triangular one,
nor a bisected one," said Dandy, stubbornly, " nor
any kind of a one."
" Why, you love dancing," observed the goat.
" Yes, but I like to choose my partner."
" You needn't dance with me," said the goat,
humbly.
Dandy began to give way.
" The animals all love dancing," whispered Steal-
Away, in my ear. " Look at old Jumbo there,
how he's listening."
I stuffed my fist in my mouth to keep from laugh-
ing.
" Come on, then," said Dandy, making three or
four bounds in the air, " call up some of the animals.
Mr. Sam, may I have the pleasure of the first two-
step?"
" But it's dark," I said, staring round about me.
" Oh, not so very," said Dandy, " it's fun to have
a little darkness. You go bumping against each
other, and everybody laughs."
Efjt Bmtt on tfie ffeacj) 3*s
" I t-t-tell you, there's a moon," said the goat,
stuttering, excitedly, " a nice, steady, old moon,
she'll soon be up."
" Run fly call some animals," said Dandy,
giving him a push, " and a few birds to whistle for
us. Mind don't invite too many. It's no honour to
be asked to a crush."
" Oh, help me, some one," said the goat, piteously.
" The notice is so short. Steal-Away, you come,"
and kicking and throwing out his hoofs, he made
off like a streak.
Steal-Away didn't look very anxious to go.
I We birds have all the work, and none of the fun,"
she said. " They won't let us dance, and we have
; to sing to beat the band."
"Can you sing?" I asked.
" Not sing exactly, but there are hooting parts
where I can help. Dear me, I have no pleasant
task. The robins and larks are always mad in their
first sleep."
" Tell them I want them to come," I said.
" Oh, that alters matters," she observed, in a
changed voice, and she flew away.
The guests weren't long in arriving, and very soon
big forms and little forms came trotting, galloping,
and scampering down the beach.
The birds were slower, but presently they arrived ;
Steal-Away flying behind and driving them on.
316 ffioi's jJaratrfse
They did look sleepy, but they were good-natured,
and perching on one of the sand-hills, they put them-
selves under the leadership of a nightingale.
It was fun to see the tiny creature stand on one
claw, and mark time with the other.
That was a dance, and I doubt if any one ever
saw another like it. It seemed to make all the
animals crazy. Perhaps they can't stand the going
round and round motion as well as we can.
I opened the affair with Dandy for my partner.
First we marched up and down the beach two and
two, then we broke ranks and waltzed. This was
the serpent dance.
Then we had sets of Lancers up and down the
firm, hard sand floor. Mind this was all in half
darkness, but just as we were at the second figure,
a big moon poked her head above the sea, and stared
at us as if to say, " What on earth are you doing
over there, boys ? "
I just shouted. I hadn't been able to see well
before, I only felt that things were funny. Now I
made every one out quite plainly, and there were
some daisy surprises.
The elephant Borneo was dancing with a tigress,
and the bears, who had all run back when they had
heard there was to be a party, for the bears are very
fond of dancing, were hugging tiny atoms of crea-
tures that they could scarcely get hold of. One old
""i ' \?~*
^
WH
A
A
^rk
i
: \ipi
r '"**- '..
M
-
: ;
"ONE OLD GRIZZLY HAD A RABBIT
gpe Bancc on tfle iicartj 3 '7
grizzly had a rabbit, a brown bear had a beaver
I could not for the life of me see how they held on
to each other, and indeed, during the latter part of
the dance, the grizzly and the brown bear both took
dr partners under their arms, and spun round
>ne.
The foxes were mostly dancing with sheep. Some
>od on their hind legs, some kept on all fours, and
irtners were always losing each other. That was a
-eat feature to lose your partner and wander
ound searching for him or her, getting cuffed
id banged by the others who weren't lost.
I thought I should die laughing. I threw myself
iwn on the sand by the birds, who never stopped
laugh, but went on with the most beautiful whis-
ing imaginable. I rolled and tumbled over and
rer, but the animals never minded a bit.
The kangaroos alone were enough to choke you.
>uch gamboling, such wobbling, and they chose
ich queer partners. One Mr. Kangaroo had a
Miss Giraffe, a Mrs. Kangaroo had a wolf who
grinned feverishly at her all the time.
I tried not to laugh at Jumbo. I turned my back
on him a dozen times, but he always veered round
in front. He had a lamb for a partner a little,
sleepy lamb that had come with its gay mamma.
There was no use in Jumbo's trying to take the lamb
round the waist, or the lamb to get his little hoof on
318 ffiors jJaratiisc
Jumbo's shoulder, so lammie just ran round and
round under Jumbo's huge hulk. Jumbo danced, and
lammie tried to keep from being trodden on. His
little face was very anxious. I think he was glad
when the dance was over.
I must not forget the goat. He lost what little
head he had at the beginning, and kept missing his
partner, and running round and round, snatching
others, and getting smacked and bowled over, and
rising again, and dancing a little bit by himself, and
going after other animals' partners again, and get-
ting whacked, and so on, through the whole pro-
gramme.
Really, I thought I'd have to go home, I was so
weak from laughing, and then when they had all
danced till they were tired, didn't they propose
having a cake-walk ?
That finished me. The animals were most awfully
funny without trying to be funny, but when they
set themselves in dead earnest to be clownish and
comical, I just lay on the ground and gave little
gasps. I hadn't any breath left.
Imagine Jumbo and the lamb coming by, Jumbo
ogling and lammie twisting his little head, and
trying to look coy.
Then a grizzly and a rabbit, and Rag and a coon.
Rag was delicious. There wasn't an animal there
that enjoyed himself half as much.
fff) Bant* on tfie iicartj 319
Just when the cake-walk was in full swing, some
monkeys came running down the beach. I had
wondered where they were when all this fun was
going on that would be so much to their liking.
Bless me! hadn't they stopped to dress? There
was a shout when they appeared in the moonlight,
holding up shawls and skirts, and clutching their
hats and bonnets to keep them on.
The other animals with one accord gave up the
beach to them.
"Where did they get those clothes?" muttered
Rag, who had come to sit beside me.
Vegetable fibre," replied Dandy. " The mon-
keys often make them just for fun. The hats and
bonnets are of leaves and flowers. Now look, you'll
see some life. They're going to have the Back-
wards."
"The What?" I asked.
" The Backward Quadrilles. Don't you see, they
are all dressed backward. The most of their faces
are so hairy, that under their hat brims you can't
tell which is front and which is back."
Sure enough, their dresses all fastened the wrong
way, their head-gear was trimmed to make the
backs of their heads look like their faces, so we
had the curious sight of a lot of animals dancing
backward.
I couldn't laugh. Something inside me just made
3* ffors jJaratrfac
a gasp or a squeak once in awhile. I had used my
laughing apparatus so hard, that it was all out of
gear, and I felt sore.
I was glad they hadn't come first. Those flutter-
ing rags of clothes, those humanlike actions, were
perfectly killing. When they stopped dancing, and
I heard they were going to have a cake-walk, I
roared for Jumbo.
" Come, old man, pick me up and take me home.
I'm played out. If I laugh another bit, I'll die.
Lay me carefully on my bed. Don't any one speak
to me. Maybe I'll get this kink out of me by
morning."
The animals all gathered round, but when I saw
the monkeys' anxious faces under the backs of their
bonnets and hat brims, I collapsed, and Rag drove
them back to their dancing.
I heard next day that they kept it up till Joe sent
all the cocks on the Island to crow them home.
The good old Puritan dog didn't approve of
dancing, unless they would have their parties by
sunlight.
He said he didn't see what made them like to get
down on the dark beach, and hustle each other about,
when they ought to be in bed and sleeping.
None of his family were at the dance, and the
great question agitating the Island when I woke
up the next morning was, " Would the President
artie B ante on tfre IScartj 311
allow the races to come off at ten sharp as had been
arranged ? " No, he would not. " You can't play
all night and all day, too," he said, so the races were
postponed till the next day, and the animals were
all given a half day for rest, and a half day for work.
CHAPTER XXVII.
joe's departure
I have just been looking at the pile of paper
I laid out to write this story on. I took so many
sheets, and said, " When I fill them up, I'll stop,
for I don't want to be prosy."
The sheets are most gone, and I have to shorten
up. I've been wondering what I'll leave out, for
I do believe I have enough to fill seven books.
It isn't so hard to write a story, if you've got
anything to say. I used to wonder how folks did it,
but I see now you just take your paper, make up
your mind what to leave out, and start in.
I guess I'll have to give my tour round the Island
the go-by, and I'm mighty sorry, too, for I saw some
pretty queer animals, some I didn't know were in
the world.
Do you know what a panda is, and a cacomixle,
and a coati, and a kinkajou, and a sambur, and a
muntjac, and the ghostly-looking tarsier? I didn't
till I went round the Island.
But I must say a word about the races that pr
322
3*t f u Wtpavtuxt 3*3
ceded the tour. We had them, and I never again
expect to see such races.
Greyhounds, deer, some wild cattle, a couple of
ostriches, and more horses than I could count, took
part.
Palo Alto won, though an ostrich pressed him
sore, and it was on his back that I went round the
island. Rag and Dandy were my only followers,
^ag because he would not be separated from me, and
Dandy because he was such a tramp that he knew
all the animals.
I keep saying that we went round the long narrow
Island, but we didn't. We only got part way. Palo
Alto galloped quickly through woods and fields,
and only stopped when we came to settlements of
inimals.
There we paused, because I wanted to talk to the
inimals. They all had such interesting stories to
ell. Each creature could have written a story of
is or her life. I would sit listening, till Dandy
ould urge me on, saying that we hadn't seen a six-
enth part of the Island yet.
It was on our second day out that the interruption
e. \Yq were in a lair of pumas in a thicket. We
t up late at night telling stories, or rather the
as told the stones, and I listened. Listened
rd, for I never knew before how kind to the
.iman race those savage creatures could be.
iends 6i mankind they call themselves.
324 $ot f u ffarafttse
One of them told us how he came to die. One
time when he was out hunting lambs, a farmer and
a dog tracked him. He killed the dog, for he just
hated every canine he saw. But he wouldn't touch
the man. He sat perfectly still, with his back against
a fence, while the farmer approached with his knife.
The puma said he just stared at the man, and tears
ran down his cheeks. But the farmer didn't care for
his tears, and soon killed him.
I felt sorry for the pumas, and I wish you could
have seen the good bed they made me in the thicket.
I just wallowed among the rose and poppy leaves
they had strewn over it, and slept like a dead boy
till I was roused enough from my deadness to know
what an extra good time I was having.
Some one was trying to wake me, but I made up.
my mind that I wouldn't wake. I had spent the
most of the day before on Palo Alto's back, and I
deserved a rest, so I just went on having an un-
commonly good time. Still the whispering and flut-
tering in one ear kept up, and the soft nosing and
pushing of the other.
I wouldn't wake, oh, no, not I, and I didn't, till
something took me softly by the shirt and shook
me.
Then I flew up. " Let me alone, can't you ? "
Palo Alto was on one side of me, and a swallow
on the other.
$t*t'u mtpattuvt 325
" Oh, come, come," said Palo Alto, trembling
with excitement. " Something wonderful has hap-
pened. The swallow says that he has been sent
after us to say the bird telegraphers report that a
beautiful air-ship is to come from the World of
the Blessed to our Island, and they think it is for
Joe."
They didn't need to say anything more. I flung
on my coat. The swallow flew ahead, and I sprang
on Palo Alto's back, and with Rag and Dandy tear-
ing after, we called a hasty " Good-bye," and
I Thank you," to the pumas, and turned our faces
homeward.
I Palo Alto just flew. Rag and Dandy could not
eep up with him, but came pegging along with a
yhole bunch of pumas who had wanted to come
as soon as they heard the news.
" Swallow," I called, to the little skimming
morsel, as he flew over me, " where shall we find the
air-ship ? "
He dropped to my shoulder. "In the Vale of
Smiles, Mr. Sam."
I knew it well. It was a beautiful, cup-shaped
alley, green and smooth, and located beyond Point
xpectation and the Hill of Arrival.
"Do you think we can get there to-day?" I
sked, anxiously.
Oh, certainly," the swallow said, " at the rate
3*6 ffioe's jJaratiisc
Palo Alto is going. He is like a winged horse. I
will not add a feather weight to his burden," and
he flew up into the air.
At noon we stopped for a rest, and I can tell
you Palo Alto got a good rubbing down.
He lay on a grassy bank by a stream, and with
the help of a near-by colony of monkeys I manipu-
lated him.
Then he drank a little water, and started again.
Early in the afternoon we began to be in familiar
surroundings; then the old points came into view,
and now we began to go slowly. There was a great
press of animals ahead of us. Thousands and thou-
sands of them, and flocks of birds hovering in the
air were all massed round the brim of the cup-
shaped valley.
There was perfect silence. I began to greet
animal friends in a loud way, but soon held
tongue.
Down in that glorious afternoon sunshine was
something as glorious and as beautiful as the sun-
shine. The air-ship had arrived.
I slipped from Palo Alto's back, and surveyed it
curiously. It was different in make from the air-
ships in ordinary use about the Island, but it must
have come from the same place.
The animals never made their air-ships. They
could not. If one wore out, or got out of order,
3Qt f U WtyUVtUVt 327
they always found a new one in its place, put there
by some kind Higher Power for their convenience
and use.
Well, this air-ship was not balloon-shaped like
the ordinary ones. This was long, and instead of
a gas bag, it had revolving fans or wings or arms
I don't know what to call them.
Anyway, they were soft and white, but firm-
looking, and they just fluttered gently in the little
breeze blowing through the valley.
It wasn't very close to us, and I couldn't see very
well, but on board the long, canoe-shaped wicker
car below the wings of the air-ship, I could make
out animals with white skins.
" What are they ? " I whispered to Palo Alto.
" Two snow-white fawns," he said, " the most
gentle and beautiful of creatures. They were once
on the Island, but they look different now so
different."
" Different in what way? "
" Oh, more lovely, more gentle. Can't you see
their graceful, beautiful movements, and the look
in their eyes ? "
" No, I can't," I said, impatiently. " I haven't
your long sight." Then I turned to a shepherd dog
at my side. " When did the air-ship arrive? "
" Only a few minutes ago," he said, in a low
voice. " As soon as it came, a beautiful dove flew
away in the direction of Joe's home."
3^8 3*Vu jJataaisc
" Then you are sure it is Joe that is sent for? "
" Sure he is the best animal on the Island."
While we were talking in a low voice, more ani-
mals and birds kept arriving and surrounding the
Vale of Smiles. They looked over each other's
shoulders, the birds perched on the trees, but with-
out a chirp or a twitter. No one spoke. They all
looked down into the Valley at the beautiful white
creatures who lay in the wicker car. Presently they
got up. I could see them do that, and both looked
our way.
The animals were falling back and making an
opening. Good old Joe was coming, followed by
his whole household. On the brink of the Valley
he stopped. The sun shone all round him. His
dear old head was yellow and glorious. He pressed
up to Jess, and put his muzzle close down to her
face.
She did not look sad. No one did. I never saw
such a collection of beaming faces. Those that
hadn't hair on them just shone, and some that had
hair were so joyful that even their fur seemed
shining.
Well, the animals didn't all crowd round him to
say good-bye. A few near him did go up and
touch him, or gently lick him, but they mostly stood
off, and looked as if they were saying, " Well, dear
old Joe, you are off for a grand trip, but we will
join you some day."
3ot f & 'Btpuvtuvt 329
He spoke to some of them. Jess and her pups,
and the rest of her family, remained standing near
le, while Joe went quietly up to a few to whom he
ashed to say some last words.
First he beckoned to the black Cat. She went
him, and hung her head while he spoke to her.
[o one heard what he said, but every one noticed
low sad the Cat looked, and now we knew that she
really cared for Joe.
After she crept away, he asked the goat to come
forward. Jerry came hopping along with a silly
grin that died away when Joe begged him to be
more serious.
After he skipped out of sight, Joe went up to a
group of tigers and implored them to coax Tam-
many from the marsh. He also asked them to pay
a little more attention to their neighbours, the
snakes, for they felt themselves neglected.
Then he asked for Soko. The good old ape was
hiding himself away among a crowd of his relatives.
Joe made him come to him; then he led him to
the edge of the Valley. He said nothing, but after
looking all round to see that every animal and every
bird saw him, he gently touched him with his paw.
" What does that mean ? " I whispered to Palo
Alto.
" It means that Joe wishes specially to show his
approbation of Soko."
33 $ot f & ffaratttee
" Is he making him President? "
" Oh, no, he has not the power. The animals as
a whole must elect Joe's successor. However, the
departing President knows better than any one the
duties and responsibilities of the position, and he
often in some way expresses his opinion as to which
animal is best qualified to fill the place."
" The animals will appoint Soko, I am sure," I
said, positively.
" Yes, I think they will," replied Palo Alto.
" Then why don't they give him a cheer now ? "
" It would not be seemly," replied Palo Alto,
" not in the presence of messengers from the World
of the Blessed."
Joe was standing beside his mother. " Brothers,"
he said, " there is one other called with me. Where
is Ruth Alden, the rabbit?"
A whisper of " Ruth Alden " passed all round
the brim of the green cup, and soon a very sur-
prised-looking white animal came hopping along
around the green edge.
Joe looked at her kindly. " Did any one ever
hear any evil of our little sister? "
No one ever had. She was a model rabbit.
" Dear friend, come with me," said Joe, kindly,
" but first I must speak to the boy."
I ran forward and, kneeling down, threw my
arms round him. " You sha'n't go, Joe. I want
you."
" But I am called, dear boy. Some day we shall
meet again."
" I'm homesick," I said, " and miserable. I want
you to stay. I don't like this."
Joe's old face beamed. " To you this is like
death. To us it is new life. There is no death,
dear boy. It is but passing on from one stage of
existence to another do remember this, my be-
loved earth friend, and brother, and when you go
back to your home, do not forget the animals."
I sprang up. " If I forget them, may I die a
sudden death, and spend all my years in the Isle
of Probation."
" Gently, dear brother," said Joe. " You will not
forget them. I should not have spoken."
" And I am going to tell everybody what I have
seen here," I cried. " I will make them believe me."
" They will not," said Joe, sadly. " There are
some people on earth who would not be converted to
kindness to animals, if all of us were to rise from
the dead to visit them now, boy, I want to ask
a last favour of you. Will you forgive Hillington
when you return home? "
" Now, Joe," I said, " you know I can't do that.
It isn't in my heart."
He said nothing, but of the two of us, dog and
boy, there was more angel about his face than there
was about mine.
33* 3ot*u ^atrattise
He skilfully changed the subject. " Where is
Rag?" he asked, kindly.
I was just beginning to explain, when my old
beauty arrived. Tongue out, body on fire, but his
manner calm. Dandy lagged behind him. They
were nearly dead from running.
Joe's eye ran over them both, in a curious, under-
standing way. Then he said, " Rag, don't sorrow
too much when your master goes away from
you "
Rag stopped panting for an instant, set his teeth,
and looked up at me.
" And Dandy," said Joe, " my last request of you
is that you stand by Rag. Don't let him feel lonely
and miserable and now I must go Mother "
Jess stepped forward and they put their heads
together for a minute.
I have said that everybody was joyful, but Jess
was joyful and sorrowful, too, if that is possible.
She looked proud, and yet her face was all
wrinkled, and there were tears in her eyes.
" It won't be for long, Mother," said Joe ; then
he turned and paused on the descent to the Valley.
I ran up to him. " Joe, I'll think that matter
over. It isn't worth while to vex a good dog like
you, for the sake of a miserable cur like Hillington."
He shook his head, " Brother, do you think that
is the right spirit in which to forgive? No, don't
ffioe's ^tpnvtuvt 333
speak, please. Turn it over in your mind. I leave
it to your generosity. Good-bye, dear friends,
good-bye, one and all," and he turned and went
down, down the winding path.
The little rabbit crept after him, and we watched
them, oh, how we watched them!
Half-way down, he stopped for the rabbit to
walk beside him, then when they got near the air-
ship the fawns came out to meet them.
That was a meeting and yet there was no fuss
about it. Joe knew the fawns. Palo Alto whis-
pered that he had been very fond of them when
they were on this Island.
The two big, white, perfect creatures bent over
Joe, touched him lovingly, then stepped into the
car with him.
As soon as they all lay down, the white wings of
the air-ship began to flutter, then to spread out
firmly, then it rose from the ground.
Oh, how we stared at it as it slowly mounted.
" Why, that is more like a flying-machine than an
air-ship," I said to Palo Alto.
" It is a flying-machine, I think," said Palo Alto.
" And who manages it ? " I asked. " Those
fawns are doing nothing."
" I have heard," replied Palo Alto, in an awed
voice, " that behind those white screens is a human
being one from the World of the Blessed. You
334 ffioe's jJaratusc
can imagine what pleasure it would be to an im-
mortal fond of animals, to manipulate a ship to and
from from this Island."
The swallow who sat on my shoulder whispered
in my ear, " Just now when the rabbit got near
that pearly white thing, I saw an arm stretched out,
a white, glistening arm. It took the rabbit so
gently, so very gently, and drew it in, and the
rabbit nestled down. Ruth Alden was very fond
of human beings. If she found one in the air-ship,
she would go to him rather than to the fawns."
" Oh, why can't I see, why can't I see ? " I mut-
tered to myself. But I saw nothing beyond the
whiteness of the winged ship, and the blueness of
the sky. The machine went very slowly at first.
" That is done on purpose," murmured Palo Alto,
" for it can fly like the wind. It is to give us as
long a view as possible."
The great throng of animals stood motionless
with upturned faces. There was a hush in the air.
This white mystery made a queer feeling come over
me.
Then suddenly, as we looked, the broad wings
seemed to spread themselves more, one minute we
saw them, the next they had melted into the sky.
Joe was gone.
The animals still stood for a long time staring up
into the air.
30t f 8 'BtpMtUVt 335
Then they looked at each other with quiet, dazed
taces, as if to say, " Well, we have lost him," and
then with one accord they began to gather round
Soko.
The old fellow was soon hidden in the multitude
of animals.
* What does this mean ? " I asked Palo Alto
again.
" It means that Soko is going in as President by
acclamation," he replied, with satisfaction. " There
will be no vote taken I am very glad," and he,
too, pressed forward and left me.
The congratulations were very sober, and soon
the animals quietly dispersed and went to their
homes.
Jess led all her family back to her house on the
hill. Bella, perched on old Jim's back, rode beside
her, saying comforting things, " Don't fret, Mother,
Joe is better off. Who knows maybe he'll be a
President over there."
Soko, too, went home with Jess.
" I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves the other
apes and monkeys and lives with Jess," said Palo
Alto. " It will make her miss Joe less, and if he is
to be President, it will be better for him to live away
from his own people. Some of the young monkeys
are apt to get too familiar."
" Take me home, Palo Alto," I said, " take me
336 ffors ffarattte*
home. I've got the awful feeling inside me that I
had when Rag died. If I don't feel better soon, I'll
have to go home."
I had to go, anyway. Two hours later, Soko
came to my cabin. I think he knew I would be
feeling badly, and after comforting Jess, he came
to comfort me.
We were sitting talking, when suddenly he put
up one of his hairy arms, " Listen."
I did listen, but heard nothing but some birds
singing.
" Come this way," he said, and he led me to a
little hillock.
I did as he bade me. At a short distance from us
was a clump of magnificent, California redwood
trees. In their tall tops were the birds whose sweet
voices I had heard.
" You said you wished to hear some bird tele-
graphy going on," he whispered. " Now is your
chance."
" I didn't know there was a station so near," I
said, in surprise.
The birds were trilling again. There were three
or four of them thrushes and robins.
They would sing in a short, sharp way, as if
asking questions, and then put their pretty heads on
one side as if to get answers.
Soko looked at me, sorrowfully. " Do you under-
stand them?" I asked.
3fors Wtpuvtnvt 337
" Yes," he replied.
"What do they say?"
" Your mother is becoming ill and worried over
the trancelike condition of her son."
"That settles it," I cried, "I must go home."
Then I checked myself. " How do they know ?
They are not telegraphing directly to earth."
" No, they are only receiving the message trans-
mitted by another group of birds. Your earth
birds fly up as high as they can, and sing the news
to our outposts."
" Oh," I said, and I drew a deep breath. Then
I asked, " How soon can I leave? "
" As soon as you like," said Soko.
" Give me half a day to say good-bye," I ex-
claimed. Then I changed my mind. " No, if my
mother is suffering, I must go at once but Rag
I can't leave him."
Soko said nothing.
" Rag," I called, " come here."
He ran up from the beach where he and Dandy
were resting.
" Rag, I've got to go home. I can't shirk it any
longer, and I can't take you oh, what shall I do? "
" Master," he said, " I'm going back with you."
" You can't, Rag, you're dead. They won't let
you go."
" Would you take him ? " asked Soko ; " come,
now, would you take him if you could ? "
33% 3foe'0 ^atrairtet
Yes, I would, if I could always have him with
me.
" Suppose he should be stolen from you ? Sup-
pose you should die and leave him? He might be
cold and hungry; he might be ill-treated. Could
you stand that? "
" Oh, no," I cried; " no, no. It kills me to think
of Rag suffering. I'll leave him, but "
I couldn't talk any more. I went and rolled on
my bed, while Soko left to get the air-ship ready.
It was a special honour to me that he went. The
President was not supposed to do such work, but
good old Soko was fond of boys.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
II COME BACK TO EARTH
My leaving was different from Joe's. In his case,
all was joy. Everybody knew that he was going
to be perfectly happy, more happy than he had ever
been before. They knew that he had no trials
before him, while, in my case, I felt that the old
animals especially were sorry for me. I was only
a boy. I might have a troubled life. I still had to
die, and they pitied me.
" On the other hand," said Soko, cheerfully,
I you may die before you get to be a man."
" I don't want to die, Soko," I said ; " I want
to live."
"That is all right," he replied; "that is the
sounder philosophy. Fight your battle bravely.
Don't shirk life's troubles, and you will get some
pleasure as you go along. I would not wish to have
you morbid, and feel that there is no pleasure in
life, and that death is the only thing to look for-
ward to. That is wrong. No, when I spoke, I
meant that, if death should happen to come to you
339
34Q 3ot f # gwagtgt
by the order of the Great Ruler of all Things, you
would meet it as serenely as you will undertake
living again, and that, moreover, it would be a
blessed thing for us to know you were safe in the
World of the Blessed."
" I understand, Soko," I said. " Oh, dear, I
wish this day were over."
Word had gone round the Island that I was to
leave the birds took care of that, and the ba-
keries, the fields, the roads, and the woods were
deserted. Nearly every bird and every animal on
the Island, lined up on the beach to see me go.
Many of them, indeed, had not reached their homes
after seeing dear old Joe leave, before they heard
of my approaching departure.
The Hill of Arrival was black with my special
friends. I had begged for some of them to go in
the car with me, but Soko was firm. Only the Cat
could accompany me. Therefore, without am
leave-taking, she sprang into the car and sat down.
I hugged Jumbo, and he rubbed me with his
trunk. I took little Billy, who, by the way, ha<
quite recovered from the Widow's drubbing, u]
into my arms and squeezed him hard. I strokec
my mother's Angora, and took a dozen message
from her and Taffy to their mistress.
" But she won't believe a word of them," waile(
the Angora, dismally, " she will say you have beei
dreaming, my dear boy."
X eonu ffatfe to IBartt) 341
" Yes, be prepared to hear that, Master Sam,"
said Palo Alto, gravely. " They always say it on
earth, when the specially favoured try to reveal
after-death mysteries."
I threw my arms round his neck. " You are
almost human," I said, " you are better and
nobler than some human beings."
He shook his beautiful head. " Not as good as
I ought to be. Not good enough yet for the World
of the Blessed. Oh, I want to go there so much
and see my dear master."
I turned away. He almost made me cry. I must
talk to some one ridiculous. " Bella," I said,
" where are you, girl ? "
" Here, boy," she cried, " coming, coming.
Bella's heart is most broke."
" Broken," said Davy, running up my leg and
into my pocket out of reach of her beak.
She forgot her sorrow and began to look for
him. " Oh, the odious rat, to interrupt Bella, when
she was having such a good cry such a lovely
cry such a comforting cry."
" Comforting, Bella," I said; " well, I like that."
" Comforting, yes," she snapped ; " when I am
just bursting, it does me good to cry. Oh, I'm sorry
you're going. Bella loves you, boy, she'll be your
pet bird in the next Paradise."
" What about the Morrises, Bella? " I said, mis-
chievously.
342 ffioe's jJarattfsc
" Oh, I forgot," she said, suddenly composing
herself. " First come, first served, and Bella was
their bird first. Well, Master Sam, can't you keep
near the Beautiful Joe animals and birds in the
World of the Blessed?"
" I don't know, Bella, but if I get there myself,
I'll make a try for it where's Jess ? "
" Here I am," said a meek little voice, and out
of the jam of lions, horses, sheep, tigers, and other
big animals, good little Jess ran up to me with
every pup following her.
" This is a dreadful day for me," she said. " Two
blows I do not know how to stand it."
I stooped down and patted her. I patted every
one of the pups, who for once were looking serious.
She didn't want to see me go. " I can't endure
it," she said. " If you will excuse me, I will go
home. Wrap yourself up, dear boy, so you won't
take cold in the car, and don't forget to be kind to
the mother dogs on earth," and with drooping head
and tail, and every pup filing after her in the same
sad manner, she walked slowly home.
After she left, there was dreadful confusion.
The animals all kept crowding forward, till they
almost pushed us up into the air from the Hill of
Arrival.
Soko looked at the sun. " This will never do.
We are wasting time. Every creature wants to say
K <ftowe ffactt to IBartji 343
good-bye to you, and is afraid he will get left.
Brothers ! " and he shouted to them, " stand back,
form in a line down the Hill. Pass rapidly before
the boy. Just touch his hand as you go by, and
if he wants to single any one out for conversation,
he can do so. Bears and wolves, act as marshals."
This plan worked well. The marshals urged the
animals on, till at last they got them going by
on a trot.
It was astonishing how many I had got to know
in the short time I had been on the Island. And
their faces were all different to me. No two sheep
looked alike. Every animal, even down to a mouse,
had his own expression.
Some of the mice broke ranks, and ran up my
legs to sit on my shoulder and gently bite my hair,
and I wouldn't have them disturbed. They were
so small, they could see nothing from the ground.
" Make way for the snakes," I cried, when they
came along, for I remembered what Joe had said.
They were very grateful, and do you know, a
snake is not very bad to feel, if you do it under-
standingly. They are certainly graceful creatures.
Jumbo stood one side. He did not join the
procession of animals. Dandy and Rag sat beside
him, and when I had said good-bye to about a
quarter of the animals, I had to stop.
" Halt ! " cried Soko, " time is up. The boy will
simply wave his hand at the rest."
344 3ot f n jiaraafsc
" Except the goat," I said, staring at him, as he
came running up.
Upon my word, he was crying again. Tears
were actually pouring down his old beard.
" I am just beginning to feel," he said, chokingly,
" how much indebted I am to you, the author of my
happiness, and now you are going to leave me."
" Well, don't take it so hard," I said. " Try to
make some poetry come now."
" I can't poetize," he said, " and at the same
time lachrymatize."
"What's lachrymatize?" I said to Soko.
" Cry pure and simple."
" Well, Goat," I said, " do whatever makes you
feel happier, but don't cry for me after I've gone
back to earth, for I sha'n't probably think of you."
He dried his tears at that, then I began to think
I'd told a story.
" Of course, I'll think of you," I said, " and every
animal on the Island. You've given me a fine time.
I sha'n't forget one of you, and I hope we shall
meet again."
" Now you've done for him with that touch of
sentiment," said Soko, in a low voice.
I was dismayed. Hadn't that old goat of a goat
gone back to his former place on the beach, where
he was running up and down, and crying for me
just as he had cried for the Widow.
K omt ffatft to IBuvty 345
" Can any one give me a stick ? " I said, des-
I irately.
" Oh, let him alone," said Soko, " he'll get over
and, anyway, it's no worse to have him crying
ere, than it is to have him careering about the
land making poetry. He is enjoying this, too
ere is a luxury in his grief."
" Oh, yes, it is worse," I said. " Here, help me,
animals and birds, all that have sharp beaks, or horns
and claws."
Some of the large birds obligingly flew down,
and followed by many former beasts of prey, I set
out for the goat.
He was sobbing, and stamping, and crying. " Oh,
Master Sam, oh, sweet and gentle Master Sam, on,
darling Master Sam, how I shall miss you ! "
" I'll darling you," I said, and with the help of
my allies, I pinched ; and pulled, and yanked, and
spanked him, but finally overcame him by tickling
him under the ribs.
This set him to laughing, and we ran up into
the woods.
" Now if I hear of you crying for me again," I
said, shaking my fist at him, " I'll come back from
earth and punish you so much worse than this,
that the Widow's treatment will be ball play beside
it."
He sat and looked silly, with one hoof over his
346 $ot f & jJaratHst
hairy chest. Then to my joy, he began to make
doggerel again.
" Hearts are aching, brows are sad,
Souls are bursting, minds are mad "
I just dashed away. " Soko, let's get off," I said,
" before he has a relapse. Now, Rag, Rag, I say,
it's your turn."
I was pretending to be cheerful. Goodness
knows my heart was like lead.
The old fellow twitched himself up to me, and
put his head between my knees.
" Dandy," I said, trying to be light and airy,
" will you do one last favour for me ? "
" Yes, boy," he said, in a dull voice.
"Will you stand by Rag?"
" I will."
I turned away. The two dogs almost finished
me.
" And wild animals," I said, lifting up my voice
so I could get at all of them, " a favour from you.
Will you all try to get the tiger out of the marsh,
and be good to him for my sake? Tell him I left
him a new name Tiger Sunshine, and that I
shall think of him very often when I get back to
earth."
Such a roaring, and squeaking, and calling, from
K omt Batft to iBactrtfi 347
ie animals they would do what I asked them,
ind my mind was at rest.
" Now, birds," I said, looking up into the air,
'here there was a thick, dark cloud of moving
feathers, " how can I shake a claw with all of you? "
You can't," said Soko. " They are to escort
us fifty miles out. Come, are you ready ? "
" Yes, all ready, except saying good-bye to Rag.
Rag, old fellow, look up."
He could not. His tail just barely moved. I
saw a tear on each of my dirty shoes.
" Rag," I said, " you don't care."
He gave a kind of groan, and I dropped down
and took him in my arms. Then I bawled bawled
like the goat, only worse, for 1 had more sense.
Well, it had to be got over with, and presently I
pushed him aside and stepped into the car.
" Let go," said Soko, and one of his young
nephews sprang to the anchor.
The whole flock of swans from Swan Lake rose
with us. They had all begged to escort me home,
and as a special honour I had not the usual two,
but some hundreds of the beautiful birds to ac-
company me right to my mother's house.
It was a wonderful sight to see them and the
other winged creatures birds, birds everywhere.
The magnificent swans near at hand, and every
other sort and kind known in the Union, and manv
34B ffioe'a jiataaisc
foreign birds, flying on either side of us, and above
us, and below us.
But I only looked hastily at them. They were
careful to leave an opening in their ranks, and what
I looked hard at, was my dog my friend more
brother than dog the little pup I had raised, the
friend of my older years.
His face was dreadful. Even Paradise didn't
make up for me Sam Emerson, only a common
sort of a boy in a baseball suit, to most people, but
to that dog well, I don't know what I wasn't. I
was a prince, a king in gorgeous clothing. I was the
whole world with Paradise thrown in.
" Good-bye, Rag," I called, " good-bye, good-
bye!"
He raised his head once, then it dropped like
lead. I saw Dandy run up to him, but Rag pushed
him aside. Then leaving the other animals, he
went off by himself, and the last view I had of
him was of his dear old head hidden in a clump of
bushes.
" Soko," I said, " I'll remember anything you
can do for that dog."
Soko smiled, gravely. " He'll be the most petted
animal on the Island. I can promise you that
and who knows, perhaps in years to come he may
be President."
Rag a President! my heart began to feel
MORE BROTHER THAN DOG"
g (gome ffaclt to fBartti 349
ighter. A President on the Island of Brotherly
>ve! That was better than being a common dog
California.
u I will take him under my especial tuition," said
>ko, " and as your dog, he will have great prestige
imong the animals."
And if I took him back to earth, he would soon
^et old," I said. u He would lose his teeth, and
lis hearing, and his eyesight would go. He would
suffer."
" It is better as it is," said Soko.
" Oh, it is much better," I replied, and my spirits
began to rise with the balloon.
We were out of sight of the Island now, but
away out here in this glorious air, I carried with
me that last picture the long beach, the sorrow-
ing animals massed together, and looking up into
the sky ; and my own white beauty apart from them,
his head run into that clump of shrubbery.
" Look down," said Soko, suddenly, " there is a
flying-fish speaking."
I leaned over the side of the car. A slim and
graceful flying-fish a swallow of the deep was
skimming the crest of the waves. His pectoral fins
were slightly quivering, his head was upraised, he
was saying something to Soko.
" He says the fishes want to say good-bye to you,"
remarked Soko. " They are all down below, and as
35 $ot f n ffaratttee
many of them as can, will make leaps into the air.
They wish you a pleasant journey."
" Thank you, fish," I called down. " How did
you know about my leaving?"
" Oh, we hear everything," replied the flying-fish
in a watery kind of a voice. " We have air scouts.
Yankee Tom sends you his best respects."
" Give mine to him," I said, " and tell him I'll
never eat another codfish as long as I live."
The fish darted below into the deep, blue water,
then we began to see more fins, and tails, and in-
quisitive noses. I distinguished ever so many fishes
that I knew, and that I had heard about during my
talks with animals on the Island Big Nose whale,
Sharkies, Primus and Secundus, Yankee Tom, Old
Rockaway and all his family, pikes, perches,
salmon, sea trout, and others too numerous to men-
tion. Some of them in their excitement made beau-
tiful leaps, and, forgetting my sorrow, I began to
laugh, and hung out of the car so far that plump
down among my friends I went.
I wasn't a bit frightened. The fishes were so
thick that I felt as if I couldn't sink, and, anyway,
old Rockaway caught me on his back, and humping
himself, sent me flying into the air to Soko's out-
stretched paws.
The balloon had made a beautiful swoop, just like
a bird. The fishes nearly killed themselves laughing
g <&omt ffartt to Eavtt) 3s 1
at my mishap, but Soko didn't laugh. He just tore
Iff my clothes, and began to rub me down.
" You might take cold, boy," he said, rebukingly.
" But I couldn't die while I am with you, could
? come now, Soko, tell me."
He wouldn't. I think he thought they had told
le enough about the mysteries of life after death,
id the immortality of inhabitants of the Island.
" It was fine down there," I said, stretching out
my arms to the water, " so cool and fresh. I
would like to take off my coat and trousers, and
put on a tail and fins."
Soko said nothing at first, but after awhile I
heard him muttering to himself as he rubbed me.
" Joe was right. This mixing of mortals and im-
mortals is risky. I'll have no more of it in my
regime."
I gave a howl. " Soko, I want to visit the
Island again."
" Wait till you die," he said, shortly.
" I don't want to wait till I die."
He said nothing, and I began to be thoughtful-.
Then, for we were rapidly ascending, I leaned over
the side of the car. " Good-bye, brother fishes,
good-bye."
" Higher, Bonu," said Soko, to his nephew, and
up we spun through the air.
The fishes were frantically waving fins and leap-
32 $ot f u jlatatri^r
ing, but they soon faded away, and I saw only a
plain, blue sheet of water below, and above us the
slowly leaving crowd of birds.
Their heads were all pointed toward the Island.
" They will take back the latest news of us," I
said, half aloud.
" The latest news," said Soko, " they know on
the Island now that you fell into the sea."
"They know!" I exclaimed, "how do they
know?"
" You had no sooner touched the water than the
birds were telegraphing from above. Do you sup-
pose they would send out such an army of birds
without some reporters among them ? "
" I never thought about it," I said, and quite
quiet from surprise, I stared hard at the big, slowly
moving flock above.
I kept waving my hand at them, and I saw
many a flutter from wings and heads and tails that
I knew were meant for good-byes. Then, just as
we were getting out of sight, they began to sing
that is, all the birds that could sing.
That was a song sweet, and mournful, and
yet cheerful. First it made me want to cry like
a baby, then I smiled, and then it was so stirring
that I felt my fists balling up as if they wanted to
fight some one.
" Good-bye, dear birds," I just yelled after them,
g @otne ffacft to Eavtlj 353
" good-bye, good-bye ! " then I sank back in the
car, and muttered to myself, " I suppose they won't
hear a word of it."
Soko was looking at me curiously. " Boy, you
have a good deal yet to learn, about sound waves."
" A good deal," I repeated, with a kind of scorn
of myself, " I have everything to learn. I am an
ignorant empty-brain. When I get home I'm going
to study you just see, and if I can't catch up to
some of you animals in knowledge, I'll be jiggered."
Soko laughed, and I began to look round for
something to do, for whenever the excitement
stopped, I had that awful feeling in the pit of my
stomach that I had when Rag died.
Pussy was looking rather peaked, so I thought
I would have a little talk with her, and holding my
blanket well around me, I hitched myself over to
the side of the car where she sat.
" Pussy," I said, " I wish I could take you to
earth with me."
" Meow," she said, just like a common cat.
"But, Pussy," I said, "as I can't do that, try
to get to the World of the Blessed before I do. I
should like to have you there to meet me."
" I'll try, Master Sam," she said, pitifully. Then
she went on in a low voice, " Those animals made
;a great fuss over your leaving."
"Yes," I said, "they did."
354 $*t'u jJavatusc
" But not one of them feels as badly as I do,"
said the Cat. " I am so dismal, so hopeless. Those
animals like each other, and I hate them all."
" Suppose you begin by trying to like them,
Pussy," I said. " That may hasten your getting
away."
" Well, I'll try," she said in a miserable voice,
" but it will be hard work. Not one of them ever
did as much for me as you did. I might have been
lying there on that beach yet in a dead hypnotic
state, if it hadn't been for you."
" Pussy," I said, " if you want to make the ani-
mals like you, like them and like them hard.
Make friends with Rag. He will advise you.
He is a noble dog. Stay, haven't I some token
to send him by you ? "
I examined my clothes. My handkerchief was
gone long ago. I hardly ever keep one. My necktie
was lost, but there were some buttons on my coat.
I wrenched one off. I tore a strip from my shirt,
and passing it through the button, tied it round
Pussy's neck. " Show this to Rag," I said. " Tell
him that he is to be chummy with you and help you
in any way he can."
The Cat licked my hand. " Oh, thank you, thank
you."
I amused myself for a time by watching some
other distant air-ships, then I snuggled down beside
her, and went to sleep.
g <&omt ffaett to IBarH) 355
Several hours went by, though they only seemed
like minutes, when I felt her pushing me and whis-
pering, " Wake up, boy, we are nearing San
Francisco."
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. " We have had a
splendid trip," old Soko was muttering to himself.
The young monkey was holding out my clothes
to me. Long ago they had dried in the cool, dry
air. It was damper now that we were dropping
down over the Golden Gate, so while Pussy politely
turned aside her head, I slipped off my blankets,
and got into my garments.
It was very, very early in the morning. A sick,
damp-looking sun was just dragging himself into
sight from behind the hills.
We sailed in over the narrow entrance to the
grand old Bay. Some early birds of Italian fishing-
boats and some larger vessels were just making
their way out to the Pacific.
Cliff House, the Park, Fort Point there they
were just the same as when I left.
" I feel as if I had been away for years instead
of days," I said.
Soko was speaking to our escort of swans. I
forgot to say how quietly and gracefully they had
kept beside us all the way. Dulce, as my chief pet,
flying so near the car that I could touch her some-
times with my outstretched hand.
35^ $Qt f tt jJatatHsr
For some reason or other Soko would not take
them all into the city with us. All but Dulce and
her mate were told to go perch on trees in the Park,
till they saw the air-ship coming back.
Here were more farewells, and when they were
over, we soared up to the top of one of the highest
hills. The cable-cars were gliding up and down just
the same as when I left, though they seemed smaller
now than they were before.
I stared at the house, the garden the Hilling-
ton's house and their garden. Just the same, nothing
had changed.
Soko sent Dulce ahead to investigate. She re-
ported the coast clear, so we anchored the air-ship
to the balcony.
Pussy crept out. " Your nurse has left the room,"
she whispered. " She took a pitcher in her hand,
and has probably gone to get fresh water. Your
mother is dozing in her bedroom with her door
open."
" Say farewell now," said Soko, " we must leave
at once."
I gave him an awful hug. I patted his young
ape helper. I kissed Dulce I am not ashamed to
say so, and rubbed her mate's neck. He was an old
beauty, but not as bright as Dulce; then I waited
for Pussy, who was waving her paw at the false
image on the bed.
<&amt ffacft to IBarttj 357
It faded faded, then disappeared, and I caught
'ussy up in my arms and squeezed her, and she
lever squealed.
Be a good Pussy," I said ; then I lifted her into
ie car, raised the anchor, and watched my friends
disappearing into the damp moist gray of the sky.
Oh, how lonely I felt. I heaved an awful sigh,
ind went into my room. I crept to mother's door.
was dying to wake her, but it might frighten her
death. I would better get into bed, so I stripped
>ff my clothes, put on my pajamas, and in five
linutes, wasn't I asleep again? I am a fearful
leeper, can drop my head, and go off at any time.
CHAPTER XXIX.
MOTHER GETS A START
"Well, Mother!" I said.
It was a few hours later, and I was sitting up in
bed.
Mother gave a great gasp, and cried, " Nurse,
come here quick."
A young woman in a white cap came into the
room.
" Good morning," I said.
" My darling ! " shrieked mother.
" Hush," said the nurse, " don't excite him."
" Don't excite me," I said, " just wait, and I'll
excite you. Please get out of my way, will you, till
I get on my clothes? I'm starving."
" My darling ! " said mother again.
" My darling ! " I said, hugging her. " I'm
mighty glad to see you again."
" Sweet child I've been seeing you every day
for the last week, but you haven't known me."
" Oh, no, no, you haven't, Mother," I said,
" that's where you're mistaken."
358
fflOtytt <&U8 * <Stfttt 359
" Oh, nurse, isn't he bright this morning? " said
mother. " Can this be my sick boy ? "
" No, it isn't," I said, " the Cat took that one."
"The Cat!" cried mother, "oh, nurse, he has
not recovered."
" Will you kindly get out of the room ? " I said,
staring at the young woman, " I want to dress."
She ran like a rabbit to the telephone. I could
hear her calling up the doctor.
I got up.
" Oh, come back, come back to bed, my dear one,"
pleaded mother, trembling with fright. " You are
weak and exhausted. The doctor said that if you
woke we must send for him, and we must on no
account allow you to move oh, is it possible is
it true that you are yourself again? I was afraid
that you would sleep yourself out of that long
trance into eternity."
" Mother," I said, giving her another bear hug
to restore her spirits, " I have been in eternity. I
haven't been in that bed all this time. Didn't I tell
you that that thing was a false image the Cat
made?"
" The Cat again," she shrieked, " oh, my darling,
my darling get into bed."
I was standing in the middle of the floor with
my arms round her.
"Why should I get into bed, little Mother? I
feel as strong as a horse."
36o 3*t*u jJarattfsc
" Oh, just to please me," she said, " do He down.
Mother is going to faint, Sam."
I had to go back into bed, not very well pleased.
" Well, will you let me have some breakfast up
here?"
" Certainly, certainly, darling, but wait a minute,
till nurse comes. Oh, it is so lovely to have you
better. This slight delirium will pass away. Does
your head feel hot, Sam ? Do you see specks in the
air?"
" Mother," I said, drawing her down to a chair
beside my bed, " you just listen to me. I haven't
been home for a week do you understand ? "
Mother nodded her head like a Chinese doll.
" For a week yes, exactly."
"I I've been away in an air-ship," I said, and
for the first time I began to think that my adven-
tures would sound funny to any one that didn't
know of the World of Floating Islands.
" In an air-ship, yes," said mother, nodding
again.
" And that false thing in this bed," I said, " was
just put there to keep you from feeling uneasy."
" From feeling uneasy," she repeated.
" Mother," I said, anxiously, " I don't like your
expression. You're not feeling well."
" Well, oh, yes, Sam, very well."
I went on. " The Cat made you believe that was
me."
ffltottjttr <&tt& a Start 3 61
" Was me, that is, was I," said mother. " Oh,
yes, the Cat, certainly."
" And the ape Soko took me to the Island of
Brotherly Love."
" He did," said mother, with a choke and a
shudder; " how kind ! "
" And I had a great time, Mother," I said, and
I proceeded to tell her.
That dear little woman sat there for ten mortal
minutes, and I talked, and she didn't believe a word
I said.
Then I gave up, and asked her to please order
my breakfast.
She went into the hall, and I stuffed my face in
the pillow to keep from laughing as I heard her
talking to the nurse.
11 Don't excite him," said the young woman, " and
don't for anything encourage him to take anything
but barley water and gruel."
" Mother," I roared, " please bring me up fruit,
and biscuits, and eggs, no meat nor fish, mind,
and hot cakes and syrup."
Mother tiptoed away, and presently came back
with a compromise breakfast.
I grumbled, but I swept everything off the tray.
" Poor boy ! how good to see you eat again,"
she said, watching me.
" Why, Mother, I've been eating like a pig the
last week."
362 ffiorg jJaraatsr
She wouldn't say anything.
" Oh, Mother, I wish you would believe me."
" I wish I could, Sam," she said, pitifully.
" But, Mother, suppose it was all made up. How
could I, Sam Emerson, a stupid kind of a boy in
school, no good at composition or that sort of thing
how could I make up those animals ? Why, lots
of them, I had never seen before, and how could
I make such a queer goat, Mother, and an awful
Widow not a bit like you and monkeys and
apes and bears oh, Mother, you just ought to
see those bears grinding corn."
Mother began to calm down, and get used to my
animals, and now she just looked plain puzzled.
Then suddenly a light broke over her face. " Sam,
I believe you are calling up the old stories in that
Natural History I used to read to you when you
were a child."
" Mother, I don't remember a word of it," I said.
" Still you might have called it up. The brain
does extraordinary things in delirium, or when the
body is in a state of coma. And nothing is lost.
All our apparently forgotten knowledge is stored
away somewhere now, dear boy, don't talk any
more about your Island."
" Mother, I've got to or burst. It is going to
be my business in life to talk about animals."
Like a good mother, she didn't argue, and pres-
IWotfrer &ets a Start 3^3
ently she said : " Sam, I hope you won't blame
me, but I knew how fend you were of your dog, and
I couldn't bear to have him buried in case you asked
for him, so I had him embalmed, but I think he'd
better be put in the ground now."
" That's all right, Mother," I said.
"Don't you want to see him?"
" Oh, yes, but I left Rag alive and well. This is
only his false body."
" His what ? " and she looked frightened again.
I began to explain to her what I meant, but the
more I talked, the more frightened she got, so
at last I dried up.
Then I began to kick about, and said I must get
up.
She managed to keep me in bed till the doctor
came. He felt my pulse, and put a glass thing in
my mouth, and just once I saw a queer look in his
eye a look that said, " Why, you don't seem like
the same boy that I was attending yesterday."
However, when I laughed and taxed him with it,
he said I was mistaken.
I told him he had been fooled by a false body,
and he smiled, a kind of down-to-the-ground smile,
and said he was glad to see me in such good spirits.
He represented the medical profession. Mother
had the law and the Church to argue with me, and
an editor friend of hers published a very good story
364 ffiorg jiavatnsc
in his paper, called " The Strange Hallucination of
a Boy."
I laugh in my sleeve at all these people. They
don't understand. The animals do. Every little
while when some one has been laughing at me, I put
my mouth down to my new dog's ear and say,
" Have you ever heard of the Island of Brotherly
Love?"
He gives me an understanding glance, and upon
my word I believe the animals can look into the
future better than we can.
However, I'm not talking so much about the
Island now. I had to stop it because the fellows
at school joshed me so. But I don't forget it, and I
just stick up for animals all I can. I know they're
watching me, and sending news to the Island of
what I am doing, and it's queer how much comfort I
get out of that knowledge.
The bird telegraphy is still working. Sometimes,
when no one is near, and I see a bird singing away
up in a tree, I shout a message to him. He under-
stands, but he never gives me a message back.
I do wish the animals would communicate witl
me, but they never do.
I must not forget to say that Hillington and
had a grand make-up. He met me more than half-
way. He was afraid I was going to die. I tol<
him about the Island. He looked queer, but h<
didn't laugh ; then he advised me to write it dowi
jWtotfler &*ts a Start 3^5
" Your head's full of it," he said, " and if you go
chin-chinning with everybody, they'll only jolly
you."
So I've tried to do as he said, and write down
the affair for myself, and for old Joe's friends. I've
tried to do it, but haven't got on so very well, what
with my trying to keep slang out, and fit nice-
sounding words in; but I've got down what I
wanted to say, Hillington tells me, for I've read it
to him. So here goes for another good-bye.
Believe me if you can, some of you fellows that
read this; and if you can't, when you come to San
Francisco, ask for Sam Emerson, one of the junior
members of the San Francisco Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and he'll have a
good talk with you about dream versus reality, and
if he doesn't convince you, I don't know who can.
THE EMD
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as well as scrupulous accuracy and religious sentiment.
Three Little Crackers, from down in dixie.
By Will Allen Dromgoole, author of " The Farrier's
Dog," etc., with fifty text and full-page illustrations, by E.
B. Barry.
One vol., library i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . $1.00
A fascinating story for boys and girls, of a family of Ala-
bama children who move to Florida and grow up in the South.
Prince Harold, a Fairy Story. By l f.
Brown. With 60 full-page illustrations by Vitry.
One vol., large i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . . $1.50
A delightful fairy tale for children, dealing with the life of
a young Prince, who, aided by the Moon Spirit, discovers,
after many adventures, a beautiful girl whom he makes his
Princess.
The Fairy Folk of Blue Hill : a story of
Folk-Lore. By Lily F. Wesselhoeft, author of
" Sparrow the Tramp," etc., with fifty-five illustrations from
original drawings by Alfred C. Eastman.
One vol., library i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . $1.00
A new volume by Mrs. Wesselhoeft, well known as one of
our best writers for the young, and who has made a host of
friends among the young people.
L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S
Larry Hudson's Ambition. By James Otis,
author of " Toby Tyler," etc. Illustrated by Eliot Keen.
One vol., library i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . $1.25
James Otis, who has delighted the juvenile public with so
many popular stories, has written the story of the rise of the
bootblack Larry. Larry is not only capable of holding his
own and coming out with flying colors in the amusing adven-
tures wherein he befriends the family of good Deacon Doak ;
he also has the signal ability to know what he wants and to
understand that hard work is necessary to win.
The Adventures of a Boy Reporter in
the Philippines. By Harry Steele Morrison, au-
thor of " A Yankee Boy's Success."
One vol , large 1 2mo, cloth, illustrated . . . $1.25
A true story of the courage and enterprise of an American
lad. It is filled with healthy interest, and will tend to stimu-
late and encourage the proper ambition of the young reader.
The Young Pearl Divers: A Story of Aus-
tralian Adventure by Land and by Sea. By Lieut.
H. Phelps Whitmarsh, author of " The Mysterious
Voyage of the Daphne" etc. Illustrated with twelve full-
page half-tones by H. Burgess.
One vol., large i2mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.00
This is a splendid story for boys, by an author who writes in
vigorous and interesting language of scenes and adventures
with which he is personally acquainted.
The Voyage of the Avenger : in the days
of the Dashing Drake. By Henry St. John. With
twenty-five full-page illustrations by Paul Hardy.
One vol., tall i2mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . $1.50
A book of adventure, the scene of which is laid in that stir-
ring period of colonial extension when England's famous naval
heroes encountered the ships of Spain, both at home and in
the West Indies.
BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
THE WOODRANGER TALES
By G. WALDO BROWNE
The Woodranger.
The Young Qunbearer.
The Hero of the Hills.
Each i vol., large i2mo, cloth, decorative cover, illus-
trated, per volume $1.00
Three vols., boxed, per set $3.00
"The Woodranger Tales," like the "Pathfinder Tales" of
J. Fenimore Cooper, combine historical information relating
to early pioneer days in America with interesting adventures
in the backwoods. Although the same characters are con-
tinued throughout the series, each book is complete in itself,
and while based strictly on historical facts, is an interesting
and exciting tale of adventure which will delight all boys and
be by no means unwelcome to their elders.
Songs and Rhymes for the Little Ones.
Compiled by Mary Whitney Morrison (Jenny Wallis).
New edition, with an introduction by Mrs. A. D. T. Whit-
ney and eight illustrations.
One vol., large i2mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.00
No better description of this admirable book can be given
than Mrs. Whitney's happy introduction :
" One might almost as well offer June roses with the
assurance of their sweetness, as to present this lovely little
gathering of verse, which announces itself, like them, by its
deliciousness. Yet, as Mrs. Morrison's charming volume has
long been a delight to me, I am only too happy to link my
name with its new and enriched form in this slight way, and
simply declare that it is to me the most bewitching book of
songs for little people that I have ever known."
8 L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY
The Rosamond Tales. By Cuyler Reynolds.
With 30 full-page illustrations from original photographs,
and with a frontispiece from a drawing by Maud
Humphreys.
One vol., large i2mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50
These are just the bedtime stories that children always ask
for, but do not always get. Rosamond and Rosalind are the
hero and heroine of many happy adventures in town and on
their grandfather's farm ; and the happy listeners to their story
will unconsciously absorb a vast amount of interesting knowl-
edge of birds, animals, and flowers, just the things about which
the curiosity of children from four to twelve years old is most
insatiable. The book will be a boon to tired mothers, and a
delight to wide-awake children.
Old Father Gander ; or, the better-half of
Mother Goose. Rhymes, Chimes, and Jingles
scratched from his own goose-quill for American Goslings,
and illustrated with Impossible Geese. By Walter Scott
Howard.
One vol., oblong quarto, cloth decorative . . $2.00
The illustrations are so striking and fascinating that the
book will appeal to young people aside from the fact even of
the charm and humor of the songs and rhymes. There are
thirty-two full-page plates, of which one-half are in color.
Divine and Moral Songs for Children.
By the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. Delightfully illustrated
in color by Mrs. Gaston.
Small quarto, decorative $1.00
Did the Rev. Isaac Watts ever dream of finding himself
tricked out in such quaint array? This is a most enticing
little volume, where Greenawayish babies gaze with edified
gravity upon " How doth the little busy bee," or are lulled to
sleep by the sweetest of cradle hymns, or let Greenaway angels
guard their slumbering heads. It is a unique idea in the way
of a child's gift book.
THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
By MARY HAZELTON WADE
FIRST SERIES
These are the most interesting and delightful accounts
possible of child-life in other lands, filled with quaint say-
ings, doings, and adventures. The " Litde Japanese
Cousin," with her toys in her wide sleeve and her tiny bag of
paper handkerchiefs ; the " Little Brown Cousin," in whose
home the leaves of the breadfruit-tree serve for plates and
the halves of the cocoanut shells for cups ; the " Little
Indian Cousin," who lives the free life of the forest, and the
" Little Russian Cousin," who dwells by the wintry Neva,
are truly fascinating characters to the little cousins who
will read about them.
Four volumes, as follows :
Our Little Japanese Cousin
Our Little Brown Cousin
Our Little Indian Cousin
Our Little Russian Cousin
Each i vol., i2mo, cloth decorative, with 6 full-page
illustrations in tints, by L. J. Bridgman.
Price, per volume . . $0.50 net (postage extra)
Price, per set, 4 vols., boxed . 2.00 net (postage extra)
" Juveniles will get a whole world of pleasure and instruction
out of Mary Hazelton Wade's Little Cousin Series. . . . Pleas-
ing narratives give pictures of the little folk in the far-away lands
in their duties and pleasures, showing their odd ways of playing,
studying, their queer homes, clothes, and plavthings. . The
style of the stones is all that can be desired for entertainment,
the author describing things in a very real and delightful
fashion." Detroit News- Tribune.
THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
By MARY HAZELTON WADE
SECOND SERIES
The great success and prompt appreciation which this
charming little series met last season has led to its continua-
tion this year with a new set of child characters from other
lands, each as original and delightful as the little foreign
cousins with whom the little cousins at home became ac-
quainted in last season's series.
Six volumes, as follows :
Our Little Cuban Cousin
Our Little Hawaiian Cousin
Our Little Eskimo Cousin
Our Little Philippine Cousin
Our Little Porto Rican Cousin
Our Little African Cousin
Each i vol., i2mo, cloth decorative, with 6 full-page
illustrations in tints by L. J. Bridgman.
Price, per volume . . . $0.50 7iet (postage extra)
Price, per set, 6 vols., boxed . 3.00 net (postage extra)
" Boys and girls, reading the tales of these little cousins in
different parts of the world, will gain considerable knowledge of
geography and the queer customs that are followed among
strange people." Chicago Evening Post.
" Not only are the books interesting, but they are entertain-
ingly instructive as well, and when entertainment can sugar-coat
instruction, the book is one usually well worth placing in the
hands of those to whom the knowledge will be useful." Utica
Observer.
" To many youthful minds this little series of books may open
up the possibilities of a foreign world to which they had been
total strangers. And interest in this wider sphere, the beyond
and awayness, may bear rich fruit in the future." N. Y. Com-
mercial Advertiser.
I
COSY CORNER SERIES
It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall
contain only the very highest and purest literature,
stories that shall not only appeal to the children them-
selves, but be appreciated by all those who feel with
them in their joys and sorrows, stories that shall be
most particularly adapted for reading aloud in the
family circle.
The numerous illustrations in each book are by well-
known artists, and each volume has a separate attract-
ive cover design.
Each, i vol., i6mo, cloth . $0.50
By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
The Little Colonel.
The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its
heroine is a small girl, who is known as the Little
Colonel, on account of her fancied resemblance to an
old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and
old family are famous in the region. This old Colonel
proves to be the grandfather of the child.
The Giant Scissors.
This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in
France, the wonderful house with the gate of The
Giant Scissors, Jules, her little playmate, Sister Denisa,
the cruel Brossard, and her dear Aunt Kate. Joyce is
a great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes
shares with her the delightful experiences of the " House
Party " and the " Holidays."
L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S
By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON (Continued)
Two Little Knights of Kentucky,
Who Were the Little Colonel's Neighbors.
In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an
old friend, but with added grace and charm. She is
not, however, the central figure of the story, that place
being taken by the " two little knights," Malcolm and
Keith, little Southern aristocrats, whose chivalrous na-
tures lead them through a series of interesting adven-
tures.
Cicely and Other Stories for Girls.
The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles
will be glad to learn of the issue of this volume for
young people, written in the author's sympathetic and
entertaining manner.
Big Brother.
A story of two boys. The devotion and care of
Steven, himself a small boy, for his baby brother, is the
theme of the simple tale, the pathos and beauty of
which has appealed to so many thousands.
Ole Mammy's Torment.
" Ole Mammy's Torment " has been fitly called " a
classic of Southern life." It relates the haps and mis-
haps of a small negro lad, and tells how he was led by
love and kindness to a knowledge of the right.
The Story of Dago.
In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago,
a pet monkey, owned jointly by two brothers. Dago
tells his own story, and the account of his haps and mis-
haps is both interesting and amusing.
COSY CORNER SERIES
By EDITH ROBINSON
A Little Puritan's First Christmas :
A Story of Colonial Times in Boston.
A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how
Christmas was invented by Betty Sewall, a typical child
of the Puritans, aided by her " unregenerate " brother,
Sam.
A Little Daughter of Liberty.
The author's motive for this story is well indicated
by a quotation from her introduction, as follows :
" One ride is memorable in the early history of the
American Revolution, the well-known ride of Paul
Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is another
ride, untold in verse or story, its records preserved
only in family papers or shadowy legend, the ride of
Anthony Severn was no less historic in its action or
memorable in its consequences."
A Loyal Little Haiti.
A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary
days, in which the child heroine, Betsey Schuyler,
renders important services to George Washington and
Alexander Hamilton, and in the end becomes the wife of
the latter.
A Little Puritan Rebel.
Like Miss Robinson's successful story of " A Loyal
Little Maid," this is another historical tale of a real girl,
during the time when the gallant Sir Harry Vane was
governor of Massachusetts.
A Little Puritan Pioneer.
The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settle-
ment at Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds
another to the list of favorites so well known to the
young people in " A Little Puritan Rebel," etc.
4 L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S
By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramie)
A Dog Of Flanders : A Christmas Story.
Too well and favorably known to require description.
The Nurnberg Stove.
This beautiful story has never before been published
at a popular price.
A Provence Rose.
A story perfect in sweetness and in grace.
Findelkind.
A charming story about a little Swiss herdsman.
By MISS MULOCK
The Little Lame Prince.
A delightful story of a little boy who has many adven-
tures by means of the magic gifts of his fairy godmother.
Adventures of a Brownie.
The story of a household elf who torments the cook
and gardener, but is a constant joy and delight to the
children who love and trust him.
His Little Mother.
Miss Mulock's short stories for children are a constant
source of delight to them, and " His Little Mother," in
this new and attractive dress, will be welcomed by hosts
of youthful readers.
Little Sunshine's Holiday.
An attractive story of a summer outing. " Little Sun-
shine " is another of those beautiful child-characters for
which Miss Mulock is so justly famous.
COSY CORNER SERIES 5
By JULIANA HO RATI A EWING
Jackanapes.
A new edition, with new illustrations, of this exquisite
and touching story, dear alike to young and old.
Story of a Short Life.
This beautiful and pathetic story will never grow old.
It is a part of the world's literature, and will never die.
A Great Emergency.
How a family of children prepared for a great emer-
gency, and how they acted when the emergency came.
The Trinity Flower.
In this little volume are collected three of Mrs.
E wing's best short stories for the young people.
Madam Liberality.
From her cradle up Madam Liberality found her
chief delight in giving.
By FRANCES MARGARET FOX
The Little Giant's Neighbors.
A charming nature story of a "little giant" whose
neighbors were the creatures of the field and garden.
Farmer Brown and the Birds.
A little story which teaches children that the birds are
man's best friends. Miss Fox has an intimate knowl-
edge of bird life and has written a little book which
should take rank with " Black Beauty " and " Beautiful
Joe."
Betty of Old Mackinaw.
A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to
the little readers who like stories of " real people."
L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S
By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE
The Farrier's Dog and His Fellow.
This story, written by the gifted young Southern
woman, will appeal to all that is best in the natures of
the many admirers of her graceful and piquant style.
The Fortunes of the Fellow.
Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm
of "The Farrier's Dog and His Fellow" will welcome
the further account of the " Adventures of Baydaw and
the Fellow " at the home of the kindly smith among the
Green Hills of Tennessee.
By FRANCES HODGES WHITE
Helena's Wonderworld.
A delightful tale of the adventures of a little girl in
the mysterious regions beneath the sea.
Aunt Nabby's Children.
This pretty little story, touched with the simple humo
of country life, tells of two children, who, adopted by
Aunt Nabby, have also won their way into the affections
of the village squire.
By CHARLES LEE SLEIGHT
The Prince of the Pin Elves.
A fascinating story of the underground adventures of
a sturdy, reliant American boy among the elves and
gnomes.
The Water People.
A companion volume and in a way a sequel to " The
Prince of the Pin Elves," relating the adventures of
" Harry " among the " water people." While it has the
same characters as the previous book, the story is com-
plete in itself.
COSY CORNER SERIES
By OTHER AUTHORS
The Story of Rosy Dawn. By Pau-
line Bradford Mackie.
The Christmas of little Wong Jan, or " Rosy Dawn,"
a young Celestial of San Francisco, is the theme of this
pleasant little story.
Stisanne. By Frances J. Delano.
This little story will recall in sweetness and appealing
charm the work of Kate Douglas Wiggin and Laura E.
Richards.
nillicent in Dreamland. By edna s.
Brainerd.
The quaintness and fantastic character of Millicent's
adventures in Dreamland have much of the fascination
of "Alice in Wonderland," and all small readers of
" Alice " will enjoy making Millicent's acquaintance.
Jerry's Adventures. By Evelyn snead
Barnett.
This is an interesting and wholesome little story of
the change that came over the thoughtless imps on Jef-
ferson Square when they learned to know the stout-
hearted Jerry and his faithful Peggy.
A Bad Penny. By John T. Wheelwright.
No boy should omit reading this vivid story of the
New England of 1812.
Qatty and I. By Frances E. Crompton.
The small hero and heroine of this little story are
twins, " strictly brought up." It is a sweet and whole-
some little story.
8 L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S
The Fairy of the Rhone. By a. comyns
Carr.
Here is a fairy story indeed, one of old-fashioned pure
delight. It is most gracefully told, and accompanied by
charming illustrations.
A Small Small Child. By E. Livingston
Prescott.
"A Small Small Child" is a moving little tale of
sweet influence, more powerful than threats or punish-
ments, upon a rowdy of the barracks.
Peggy's Trial. By Mary knight potter.
Peggy is an impulsive little woman of ten, whose
rebellion from a mistaken notion of loyalty, and her sub-
sequent reconciliation to the dreaded " new mother," are
most interestingly told.
For His Country. By Marshall Saunders,
author of " Beautiful Joe," etc.
A sweet and graceful story of a little boy who loved
his country; written with that charm which has endeared
Miss Saunders to hosts of readers.
La Belle Nivernaise. the story of an
Old Boat and Her Crew. By Alphonse
Daudet.
All who have read it will be glad to welcome an old
favorite, and new readers will be happy to have it
brought to their friendly attention.
Wee Dorothy. By Laura updegraff.
A story of two orphan children, the tender devotion
of the eldest, a boy, for his sister being its theme and
setting. With a bit of sadness at the beginning, the
story is otherwise bright and sunny, and altogether
wholesome in every way.
f)
PS Saunders, Marshall
8537 Beautiful joe's paradise
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