to make him late
for breakfast, nor take away his appetite. Each morning, after
execution, the moment the bell rang for prayers, in marched Beauty with
a swollen head well on one side, growling anathemas from somewhere round
the corner all prayer-time; after which the escaped convict devoured
breakfast with the voracity of a stiffnecked cannibal.

[Illustration: ONE EVIL-MINDED BLACK TOM.]

[Illustration]

Finding the beast utterly unhangable, I determined to try drowning. My
nature is by no means a cruel one, quite the reverse; but Beauty's cup
of iniquity had long been full to the brim, and running over into the
saucer. He had gulped down my canaries like pills, poached my pigeons,
fricasseed my rabbits, and made himself an abominable beast generally;
and had now committed a crime that capped everything.

My cock bantam, which had won first prize at the Slocum-Pogis poultry
show, mysteriously disappeared. Jim, the gardener's boy, and I hunted
everywhere without finding any trace till we sighted Beauty. The beast
was seated on my verbena bed, with fearfully distended stomach, waving
my poor little bantam's tail feathers from between his teeth. Had I been
an ancient Egyptian high priest, and Beauty at the top of the tree of
holy cats, his diabolical godship should have been made into a mummy
instanter. As things were, he had to be drowned forthwith.

[Illustration: AT A CABINET COUNCIL IN THE COAL CELLAR.]

At a cabinet council in the coal cellar, composed of the cook, footman,
Jim, and myself, all the executive details were arranged; my aunt being,
of course, kept in happy ignorance of our intentions. As soon as my
respected relative uttered the preliminary snore of her afternoon
siesta, Beauty made an involuntary exit out of the house, all the lower
doors and windows having been carefully fastened. Then commenced a
silent cat-hunt, a serio-comic drama in dumb show, with a crowded
audience breathlessly gazing from the windows. The scenery was a series
of dissolving views, beginning on a flower-decked lawn, and ending at a
mill-pool a mile or so away from the audience. Beauty played leading
actor with considerable activity, notwithstanding the drawback of being
handicapped with an undigested bantam. He flew over dozens of
flower-beds, through all the outhouses, over the stable, out into the
park, up and down all the tallest trees, and all over the country, till
he took refuge in the deserted old mill. There we wr