ach other's eyes--it appeared that this little sissy tramp boy
did not even know enough to discover when he was being laughed at!

"David! David! His name is David," they jeered into his face again.
"Come on, tune her up! We want ter dance."

"Play? Of course I'll play," cried David joyously, raising his violin
and testing a string for its tone.

"Here, hold on," yelled the tallest boy. "The Queen o' the Ballet ain't
ready". And he cautiously pulled from beneath his coat a struggling
kitten with a perforated bag tied over its head.

"Sure! We want her in the middle," grinned the boy with the tin can.
"Hold on till I get her train tied to her," he finished, trying to
capture the swishing, fluffy tail of the frightened little cat.

David had begun to play, but he stopped his music with a discordant
stroke of the bow.

"What are you doing? What is the matter with that cat?" he demanded.

"'Matter'!" called a derisive voice. "Sure, nothin' 's the matter with
her. She's the Queen o' the Ballet--she is!"

"What do you mean?" cried David. At that moment the string bit hard
into the captured tail, and the kitten cried out with the pain. "Look
out! You're hurting her," cautioned David sharply.

Only a laugh and a jeering word answered. Then the kitten, with the bag
on its head and the tin can tied to its tail, was let warily to the
ground, the tall boy still holding its back with both hands.

"Ready, now! Come on, play," he ordered; "then we'll set her dancing."

David's eyes flashed.

"I will not play--for that."

The boys stopped laughing suddenly.

"Eh? What?" They could scarcely have been more surprised if the kitten
itself had said the words.

"I say I won't play--I can't play--unless you let that cat go."

"Hoity-toity! Won't ye hear that now?" laughed a mocking voice. "And
what if we say we won't let her go, eh?"

"Then I'll make you," vowed David, aflame with a newborn something that
seemed to have sprung full-grown into being.

"Yow!" hooted the tallest boy, removing both hands from the captive
kitten.

The kitten, released, began to back frantically. The can, dangling at
its heels, rattled and banged and thumped, until the frightened little
creature, crazed with terror, became nothing but a whirling mass of
misery. The boys, formed now into a crowing circle of delight, kept the
kitten within bounds, and flouted David mercilessly.

"Ah, ha!--stop us, will ye? Why don't ye stop us?" they gibed.