orn animals have no right to attend the
Mighty-in-Pomp, the Lord-of-Light," etc., etc.

She rolled out the titles sonorously, determined that if she was docked
of dignity in one way she would have it in another.

Now it was not very hard to catch the big black golliwog of a dog, even
though he did snarl and snap and try to bite. There were a lot of camp
followers who were only too glad to have the amusement of capturing him,
so, after a very short space poor "Tumbu," for Baby Akbar insisted on
calling him so, was being dragged off at the end of a long rope to his
masters the shepherds, looking very sad, with his tail between his legs.

But it was quite different with "Down," the cat. She had made up her
mind to stay where she was, and it is very hard, indeed, to make a cat
change its mind when it is once made up.

So she moved about gently, from one place to the other, purring softly
and looking as mild as milk, her blue eye--for real Persian cats often
have their eyes of different colours and one of them is always
blue--ever so friendly, as if she were just longing to be picked up.
Only the very tip of her bushy tail swayed a little, and that is a sure
sign that a cat is contrary. And contrary Down was. The very instant any
one tried to pick her up--why! she was somewhere else!

Head-nurse ere long joined in the chase, saying all the rest didn't
understand cats. But she soon lost patience and declaring that she had
never been done by a dumb animal yet, started capture by force. A circle
was formed round the point where Down sat blinking in the sunlight, and
shawls and veils were held up to make it complete. Then step by step
they advanced towards the cat, who, in truth, viewed the enclosing wall
with polite indifference. It was really rather a funny sight to see
stout Head-nurse without her veil tip-toeing in line towards pussy and
shrilling out her orders to the others to close in and be sure to leave
no loopholes. Step by step her voice became more and more triumphant,
and it really seemed as if the cat _must_ be caught this time, for Down
sat sweetly purring until she was actually hidden from sight behind the
high-held screening cloths.

"Now then! quick!" shrilled Head-nurse. "Close in--close----"

But her order ended in a scream of fright, for there was pussy in one
flying leap on her bare head, scrabbling up her scanty hair, and with
another away up the hillside leaving nothing but claw-marks behind her!