,
Or mounted the back of an ox;
It's nobody's habit to ride on a rabbit,
Or try to bestraddle a fox.
But as for a Camel, he's
Ridden by families--
ANY LOAD does for me!

"A snake is as round as a hole in the ground,
And weasels are wavy and sleek;
And no alligator could ever be straighter
Than lizards that live in a creek.
But a Camel's all lumpy
And bumpy and humpy--
ANY SHAPE does for me!"

Now, Dorothy was a very tender-hearted little child, and by the time
these verses were finished she hardly knew whether to laugh or to cry.
"Poor old, feeble-minded thing!" she said, compassionately. "And what
became of him at last?"

There was a dead silence for a moment, and then the Admiral said
solemnly:

"We put him in a pond."

"Why, that's the most unhuman thing I ever heard of in all my life!"
exclaimed Dorothy, greatly shocked at this news.

[Illustration: THE CARAVAN DISCIPLINE THE CAMEL.]

"Well," said the Admiral, in a shamefaced sort of way, "_we_ thought it
was a good thing to do--for us, you know."

"And _I_ call it proud and unforgiving," said Dorothy, indignantly.
"Did the poor creature say anything?"

"Not at first," said the Admiral; "but after he got in he said things."

"Such as what?" said Dorothy.

"Oh, we couldn't make out _what_ he said," replied the Admiral,
peevishly. "It was perfectly unintellijibbergibble."

"Kind of gurgly," put in the Highlander.

"Did he go right down?" inquired Dorothy, very anxiously.

"Not a bit of it," said the Admiral, flippantly. "He never went down at
all. He floated, just like a cork, you know."

"Round and round and round," added Sir Walter.

"Like a turnip," put in the Highlander.

"What do you mean by _that_?" said Dorothy, sharply.

"Nothing," said the Highlander, looking very much abashed; "only I
thought turnips turned round."

Dorothy was greatly provoked at all this, and felt that she really ought
to say something very severe; but the fact was that the Caravan looked
so innocent, sitting on the grass with their sunbonnets all crooked on
their heads, that it was as much as she could do to keep from laughing
outright. "You know," she said to herself, "if it wasn't for the
Highlander's whiskers, it'd be precisely like a' infant class having a
picnic; and after all, they're really nothing but graven images"--so she
contented herself by saying, as severely as she c