he said doubtfully. "'Tis like they was
warranted t' be, but they wasn't."

"Sure!" cried Toole joyously. "'Tis water-proof th' skin of th' dongola
water goats is, like th' skin of th' duck. An' swim? A duck isn't in it
wid a water goat. I remimber seein' thim in ould Ireland whin I was
a bye, Dugan, swimmin in th' lake of Killarney. Ah, 'twas a purty
picture."

"I seem t' remimber thim mesilf," he said. "Not clear, but a bit."

"Sure ye do!" cried Toole. "Many's the time I have rode across th' lake
on th' back of a dongola. Me own father, who was a big man in th' ould
country, used t' keep a pair of thim for us childer. 'Twas himself
fetched thim from Donnegal, Dugan. 'Twas from Donnegal they got th' name
of thim, an' 'twas th' name ye give thim that misled me. Donnegoras
was what we called thim in th' ould counry--donnegoras from Donnegal. I
remimber th' two of thim I had whin I was a kid, Dugan--wan was a Nanny,
an' wan was a Billy, an'--"

"Go on home, Mike," said Dugan. "Go on home an' sleep it off!" and the
little alderman from the Fourth Ward picked up his hat and coat, and
obeyed his orders.

Instituting a new public park and seeing that in every purchase and
every contract there is a rake-off for the ring is a big job, and
between this and the fight against the rapidly increasing strength of
the reform party, Mayor Dugan had his hands more than full. He had no
time to think of dongolas, and he did not want to think of them--Toole
was the committee on dongolas, and it was his duty to think of them,
and to worry about them, if any worry was necessary. But Toole did not
worry. He sat down and wrote a letter to his cousin Dennis, official
keeper of the zoo in Idlewild Park at Franklin, Iowa.

"Dear Dennis," he wrote. "Have you any dongola goats in your menagery
for I want two right away good strong ones answer right away your
affectionate cousin alderman Michael Toole."

"Ps monny no object."

When Dennis Toole received this letter he walked through his zoo and
considered his animals thoughtfully. The shop-worn brown bear would not
do to fill cousin Mike's order; neither would the weather-worn red deer
nor the family of variegated tame rabbits. The zoo of Idlewild Park at
Franklin was woefully short of dongola goats--in fact, to any but the
most imaginative and easily pleased child, it was lacking in nearly
every thing that makes a zoo a congress of the world's most rare and
thrilling creatures. After