'This way, Mr. Sergeant, this way,' cried the box-opener.

'All right, my dear, here I am. But where are you?'

'Don't be afraid; there are no steps--straight on this way--he's in the corner. Oh, the rascal, he's as strong as a Turk!'

'Grrrooonnn,' said Tom.

'There, do you hear him? Is that to be called a Christian language?'

'Come, come, my friend,' said the sergeant, who had at last managed to distinguish Tom in the faint twilight. 'We all know what it is to be young--no one likes a joke better than I do--but rules are rules, and the hour for going home has struck, so right about face, march! and quick step too.'

'Grrrooonnn'--

'Very pretty; a first-rate imitation. But suppose we try something else now for a change. Come, old fellow, step out with a good will.

Ah! you won't. You're going to cut up rough, are you? Here, my man, lay hold and turn him out.'

'He won't walk, sergeant.'

'Well, what are the b.u.t.t ends of your muskets for? Come, a tap or two will do no harm.'

'Grrrooonnn--Grrrooonnn--Grrrooonnn--'

'Go on, give it him well!'

'I say, sergeant,' said one of the men, 'it strikes me he's a _real_ bear. I caught hold of him by the collar just now, and the skin seems to grow on the flesh.'

'Oh, if he's a real bear treat him with every consideration. His owner might claim damages. Go and fetch the fireman's lantern.'

'Grrrooonnn.'

'Here's the lantern,' said a man; 'now then, throw some light on the prisoner.'

The soldier obeyed.

'It is certainly a real snout,' declared the sergeant.

'Goodness gracious me!' shrieked the box-opener as she took to her heels, 'a real live bear!'

'Well, yes, a real live bear. Let's see if he has any name or address on him and take him home. I expect he has strayed, and being of a sociable disposition, came in to the Masked Ball.'

'Grrrooonnn.'

'There, you see, he agrees.'

'Hallo!' exclaimed one of the soldiers.

'What's the matter?'

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOM DISCOVERED IN THE BOX]

'He has a little bag hung round his neck.'

'Open the bag.'

'A card.'

'Read the card.'

The soldier took it and read:

'My name is Tom. I live at No. 109 Rue Faubourg St.-Denis. I have five francs in my purse. Two for a cab, and three for whoever takes me home.'

'True enough; there are the five francs,' cried the sergeant. 'Now then, two volunteers for escort duty.'

'Here!' cried the guard in chorus.

'Don't all speak at once! Let the two seniors have the benefit of the job; off with you, my lads.'

Two of the munic.i.p.al guards advanced towards Tom, slipped a rope round his neck and, for precaution's sake, gave it a twist or two round his snout. Tom offered no resistance--the b.u.t.t ends of the muskets had made him as supple as a glove. When they were fifty yards from the theatre, 'Bah!' said one of the soldiers, "tis a fine morning.

Suppose we don't take a cab. The walk will do him good.'

'Besides,' remarked the other, 'we should each have two and a half francs instead of only one and a half.'

'Agreed.'

Half an hour later they stood at the door of 109. After some knocking, a very sleepy portress looked out.

'Look here, Mother Wideawake,' said one of the guard; 'here's one of your lodgers. Do you recognise him?'

'Why, I should rather think so. It's Monsieur Decamps' bear!'

The same day, Odry the actor received a bill for little cakes, amounting to seven francs and a half.

_SA THE PANTHER_

From Loudon's _Magazine of Natural History_.

About seventy or eighty years ago two little panthers were deserted by their mother in one of the forests of Ashantee. They were too young to get food for themselves, and would probably have died had they not been found by a pa.s.sing traveller, and by him taken to the palace as a present to the king. Here they lived and played happily for several weeks, when one day the elder and larger, whose name was Sa, gave his brother, in fun, such a dreadful squeeze that, without meaning it, he suffocated him. This frightened the king, who did not care to keep such a powerful pet about him, and he gave him away to Mr. Hutchison, an English gentleman, who was a sort of governor for the English traders settled in that part of Africa.

Mr. Hutchison and Sa took a great fancy to each other, and spent a great deal of time together, and when, a few months later, Mr.

Hutchison returned to Cape Coast he brought Sa with him. The two friends always had dinner at the same time, Sa sitting at his master's side and eating quietly whatever was given him. In general he was quite content with his portion, but once or twice, when he was hungrier than usual, he managed to steal a fowl out of the dish. For the sake of his manners the fowl was always taken from him, although he was invariably given some other food to satisfy his hunger.

At first the inhabitants of the castle and the children were much afraid of him, but he soon became very tame, and his teeth and claws were filed so that he should not hurt anyone, even in play. When he got a little accustomed to the place, he was allowed to go where he liked within the castle grounds, and a boy was told off to look after him. Sometimes the boy would go to sleep when he ought to have been watching his charge, and then Sa, who knew perfectly well that this was not at all right, would steal quietly away and amuse himself till he thought his keeper would be awake again. One day, when he returned from his wanderings, he found the boy, as usual, comfortably curled up in a cool corner of the doorstep sound asleep. Sa looked at him for a moment, and then, thinking that it was full time for him to be taught his duty, he gave him one pat on his head, which sent the boy over like a ninepin and gave him a good fright, though it did not do him any harm.

Sa was very popular with everybody, but he had his own favourites, and the chief of these was the governor, whom he could not bear to let out of his sight. When his master went out he would station himself at the drawing-room window, where he could watch all that was going on, and catch the first sight of his returning friend. Being by this time nearly grown up, Sa's great body took up all the s.p.a.ce, to the great disgust of the children, who could see nothing. They tried to make him move, first by coaxings and then by threats, but as Sa did not pay the smallest attention to either one or the other, they at last all took hold of his tail and pulled so hard that he was forced to move.