acted a lively young possum
by the tail.

Next morning he was sitting on the Colborns' fence as usual. At his
feet was a little box with two or three slats nailed roughly across it.
Inside was the possum. King Billy wondered what kind of a coat he could
get. He liked a frock-coat; there was something majestic about it,
something fine and ample. Common morning coats would not do; no one
would insult a king by offering him tweed; even little Annie knew
better than that, especially if he gave her a live possum he had caught
himself. And when Annie did come out, she was in the seventh heaven of
delight with the possum, and ready to bestow anything in the world on
King Billy.

"You give poor Billy one fellow coat, missy, and he go down along street
like a king."

Annie flew into the house and seized the first garment she laid her
little hands on. It was her father's dress-coat. She rolled it up, and,
running out, thrust it excitedly into the king's black paw. As he went
off, she carried the possum indoors, and was deliriously happy for
hours.

King Billy hurried into the bush till he came to a water-hole, and,
stripping off his rags, he held up the coat. His jaw fell; there was a
remarkable exiguity about the coat which was inexplicable. He had never
observed such in his life. He put it on, and, bending over the surface
of the still pool, took a good look at the general effect. It was not
bad from some points of view, but Billy had his doubts as to whether
he would be received with the respect due to his title if he went into
Ballarat clothed thus. He tried to button it, but discovered that, if it
had ever been intended for buttoning, he could not get it to meet
across his chest. He picked up his discarded frock-coat, which was held
together by the collar; then he felt the stuff of which the dress-coat
was made, and the material pleased him. "Oh, why," asked Billy, "had it
not been made with front tails?" He saw at last that this coat and his
high hat alone were insufficient for civilisation. For full dress in
a corroboree it might do. Unconsciously, he was so wrought upon by the
purpose for which the coat had been built that he determined to reserve
it for parties in the seclusion of the bush, where any merriment could
be rightly checked by a crack from his waddy. He planted it carefully
in a hollow log, and, having inserted himself with as much care into his
discarded rags, he wondered off into the town. He got very i