ling. I don't believe that Atkinson was even aware of the triumphant
sell which he lately assisted in administering to Mr. Toots, the cat
from the camel-house.

The cat in the ostrich-house is a sly fellow, and I believe he knows why
there are fewer pigeons in the roof of the hippopotamus-house than there
were. He horribly sold Mr. Toots, who was anxious to have a snack of
poultry himself, for a change. "In my house," said this bold, bad cat,
"there are the biggest pigeons you ever saw. Go in and try one, while I
look out for the keeper." And the trustful Mr. Toots went in; and when,
full of a resolve to make it hot for everything feathered in that house,
Mr. Toots bounced into the presence of Atkinson, who is rather more than
seven feet high, he came out anxious for the scalp of that other cat. I
never mention this little adventure to Mr. Toots, who is sensitive, but
all the other Zoo cats chaff him terribly. Even Jung Perchad and the
other elephants snigger quietly as they pass, and Bob the Bactrian, from
the camel-house, laughs outright; it is a horrid, coarse, vulgar,
exasperating laugh, that of Bob's. Atkinson, however, is all unconscious
of the joke, and remains equally affable to cats, pigeons, and human
beings.

[Illustration]

Pontius Pilate is just the sort of camel-gander that _would_ bury its
head to hide itself. Pontius Pilate is, I fear, an ass; also a snob. He
has a deal of curiosity with regard to Atkinson, who is a recent
arrival, and lately belonged to the Queen. Also, he is often disposed to
pay a visit--with his head--to Atkinson's quarters, and take a friendly
snack--at Atkinson's expense; this by an insinuation of the neck out
between his own bars and in between those of Atkinson, adjoining. But he
doesn't understand the laws of space. Having once fetched his neck
around the partition into Atkinson's larder by chancing to poke his head
through the end bars, he straightway assumes that what is possible
between some bars is possible between all; and wheresoever he may now be
standing when prompted by companionable peckishness, straight he plunges
among the nearest bars, being mightily astonished at his inability to
reach next door, if by chance he have dropped among bars far from
Atkinson's. He suspects his neck. Is the ungrateful tube playing him
false? Maliciously shortening? Or are his eyes concerned in fraud? He
loops his head back among his own adjoining bars, with a vague suspicion
that they