any new enterprise and in looking out for
new things to do which would contribute to their pleasure and comfort.
The boys now learned what they had never dreamed of before; that life is
a most complex problem; that to secure pleasures toil is necessary, and
that the greatest happiness comes from knowing you have succeeded.
Pursuit, not possession, is man's greatest joy. To the brute the reverse
is true.

"Where is the Professor? I have been bitten by a cat."

"A cat, Harry? Where did you find the cat?"

"Across the river, where I was cutting the oak log."

The Professor was soon at hand. "What is this? A cat, you say?"

"It looked just like a big cat, about two feet long?"

"Did it have a pointed nose?"

"Then it must have been a Zibet, a specie not unlike the American civet.
It is a cat, but not what is known as the 'wildcat,' and can be tamed."

"Do you think there is any danger from the bite?"

"Some animals have a species of rabies, like those possessed by mad
dogs, and cats have been known to be infected. I do not think we need to
have any fear from that source. The wound should, however, be cleansed."

CHAPTER VIII

THE BULL FIGHT

As the boys grew more and more familiar with the island the greater was
its store of abundance shown to them. Each journey to the interior
brought some surprise in the way of fruit, flower or vegetable. Some
were of species well known to them; others unknown, and most of such
came to them under names of chemicals only.

"There is one plant, at any rate," said Harry, "that makes this seem
like home, and that is the thistle."

"Yes, and it is the one common enemy of man in every part of the world.
It is the most successful business plant, in this particular, that it is
equipped to resist attacks from other plants and from animals as well."

"But donkeys and some cattle will eat them."

"For the reason that nature has given such animals the proper coating
and linings of mouth and stomach that the thorns do not affect them.
There is hardly a plant which is as nutritious as the thistle. In
England, the thistle leaves, in early days, were used as salads."

Harry was an ardent admirer of flowers, and was constantly bringing in
some specimen for examination. "Here is a very pretty flower which is
differently colored from any that I have seen before. It looks like the
wood sorrel."

"It is the sorrel, but if you should be in Ireland, the people there
would call it