s very wild and ferocious. If any of the passengers or
crew came anywhere near the cage, he snarled with rage and leaped at the
bars of the cage. He shook and bit the iron bars, as if he wanted to get
out and attack the people. He was well fed all the time, but still
nothing seemed to lessen his ferocity.

Then, one day, a lady happened to take out her handkerchief. She was
standing about three or four yards from the cage, and a fresh breeze was
blowing from her direction toward the cage. Immediately a change came
over the leopard. A minute before he had been snarling with rage at
sight of her, and trying to get out to attack her.

But as soon as she took out her handkerchief, the leopard ceased to
snarl and to bite the bars. Instead, he tried to put his head through
the bars, as if to get his _nose_ as near her as possible.

Of course the lady did not understand that. She merely wondered why the
leopard had changed his behavior so suddenly. She now noticed that the
leopard was bending down, and scratching the floor of the cage near the
front of the bars--just as a pet cat or dog will scratch the floor
outside your door to be let in. The lady wondered still more, and came
a little nearer to the cage.

Immediately the leopard got up, and began pacing the cage in joy. The
lady now stood about two yards away. Then the leopard put his paw
through the bars and began to _snatch_ with it. The lady was a little
frightened at first, but presently she noticed that the leopard was not
snatching at _her_, but at the _handkerchief_, which was still in her
hand. And the leopard was not snatching ferociously, but almost
playfully, like a great big cat.

After a moment's thought the lady realized that the leopard wanted the
handkerchief--but why he wanted it, she did not know. So she threw the
handkerchief at the bars. The leopard caught it in his paw, and pulled
it into the cage.

Then you should have seen how that wild and ferocious leopard behaved!
He played with that handkerchief more joyously than any kitten ever
played with a ball. He put the handkerchief on the floor of the cage,
leaped upon it, rubbed his nose on it, and even rolled over it.

Gradually the lady began to understand why he did that. The handkerchief
had been scented with lavender. She wondered if it could be the
_lavender_ that he loved, and not the handkerchief itself?

Struck by this idea, the lady went to her cabin and brought out a small
bottle of la