f the animals
during the hours when the exhibition was closed to the public; and as
he went at every thing vigorously, he was before long in possession of
several fine sketches of the tiger and other beasts, besides several
secrets only known to the initiated, who act as keepers.

The royal Bengal tiger was one of the finest beasts Caper had ever seen,
and what he particularly admired was the jet-black lustre of the stripes
on his tawny sides and the vivid lustre of his eyes. The lion curiously
seemed laboring under a heavy sleep at the very time when he should have
been awake; but then his mane was kept in admirable order. The hair
round his face stood out like the bristles of a shoe-brush, and there
was a curl in the knob of hair at the end of his tail that amply
compensated for his inactivity. The hyenas looked sleek and happy, and
their teeth were remarkably white; but the elephant was the constant
wonder of all beholders. Instead of the tawny, blue-gray color of most
of his species, he was black, and glistened like a patent-leather boot;
while his tusks were as white as--ivory; yea, more so.

'I don't understand what makes your animals look so bright,' said Caper
one day to one of the keepers.

'Come here to-morrow morning early, when we make their toilettes, and
you'll see,' replied the man, laughing. 'Why, there's that old hog of a
lion, he's as savage and snaptious before he has his medicine as a
corporal; and looks as old as Methusaleh, until we arrange his beard and
get him up for the day. As for the ellllephant ... ugh!'

Caper's curiosity was aroused, and the next morning, early, he was in
the menagerie. The first sight that struck his eye was the elephant,
keeled over on one side, and weaving his trunk about, evidently as a
signal of distress; while his keeper and another man were--blacking-pot
and shoe-brushes in hand--going all over him from stem to stern.

'Good day,' said the keeper to him, 'here's a pair of boots for you! put
outside the door to be blacked every morning, for five francs a day.
It's the dearest job I ever undertook...and the boots are ungrateful!
Here, Pierre,' he continued to the man who helped him, 'he shines
enough; take away the breshes, and bring me the sand-paper to rub up his
tusks. Talk about polished beasts! I believe, myself, that we beat all
other shows to pieces on this 'ere point. Some beasts are more knowing
than others; for example, them monkeys in that cage there. Gi