ight, he's too tough to
make much of a brekfus'."

The Wildcat went to the end of the car and opened the linen closet
wherein he had cached the parrot.

With the opening of the door the mystery of the thumping noise which he
and the Backslid Baptist had heard was explained. In a low falsetto the
parrot was repeating the two military commands which she had learned.

"'Tenshun! At res'! 'Tenshun! At res'!"

Lily, the mascot goat, was contributing the last fragment of muscular
energy to the business of obeying orders. In response to the parrot's
commands the goat languidly flopped at rest on the floor of the linen
closet and came to her feet at attention.

"Lawd Gawd, Lily! At res' an' stay 'at way!"

Gratitude rang in the answering "Blaa" of Lily the goat.

The Wildcat reached for the parrot. "You green debbil! Whut you mean,
exercisin' mah mascot all night?"

"Quawk!" The parrot made a vicious swing at the Wildcat's reaching
hand.

"Leggo, you debbil!"

The green parrot, fuming in a rage compared to which nitric acid was a
cream puff, was restored to its Spring-drinking owner.

"Lady, heah's de green demon."

"Pretty Polly. What made her little feathers all mussed up?"

The Wildcat returned to his exhausted mascot.

"'At green chicken's lucky does he git by widout gittin' his health an'
stren'th mussed up befo' dis trip ends. At res', Lily, till I brings
you some nutriment. Doggone ol' bird must have near wore you out. 'At's
de way wid dem mil'tary commands. Res' yo'se'f, Lily, till Ah brings
yo' brekfust."

"Blaa!" answered Lily, weakly.

The Wildcat detected a tone of hypocrisy,--something of false
gratitude--in the mascot's reply. He returned from the dining car
carrying two heads of lettuce for the mascot. He placed the lettuce
under the nose of the recumbent goat, but Lily refused to eat.

"Fust time Ah eveh seed you slow up when de mess call blowed. How
come?"

An instant later his roving eye discovered the "how come" of Lily's
loss of appetite. In a dark corner of the linen closet he saw a dozen
fragments of white cloth. He hauled them out, and the light revealed
the hems of a covey of sheets and a half dozen pillow cases. Then the
web of a home-spun disaster met his eye. From the lower shelf of the
linen closet dangled the shredded legs of the trousers which the
occupant of Compartment B had given him to be pressed.

"Goat, doggone you, come to 'tenshun! No wondeh you kain't eat lettuce,