It will kill him," she cried.

Ah Foo laughed. "Heap hard killee cat," he said. "Cat get nine time life
good;" and as he spoke, Skipper, after whirling through the air in
several somersaults, came down on his feet all right, and slunk off into
the woodpile.

"I tellee you," said Ah Foo, chuckling.

"Thatee isee heapee goodee manee," cried Jusy. "I havee learnee talkee
oneee language already!"

A roar of laughter came from the dining-room window. There stood Uncle
George, holding his sides.

"Bravo, Jusy!" he exclaimed. "You have begun on pigeon English, have
you, for the first of your nine languages?"

"Isn't that Chinese?" said Jusy, much crestfallen.

"Oh, no!" said Uncle George, "not by any manner of means. It is only the
Chinese way of talking English. It is called pigeon English. But come in
to breakfast now, and I will tell you all about my cats,--my hunting
cats, I call them. They are just as good as a pack of hunting dogs; and
better, for they do not need anybody to go with them."

How pleasant the breakfast-table looked!--a large square table set with
gay china, pretty flowers in the middle, nice broiled chicken and fried
potatoes, and baked apples and cream; and Jusy's and Rea's bright faces,
one on Mr. Connor's left hand, the other on his right.

As Jim moved about the table and waited on them, he thought to himself,
"Now, if this doesn't make Mr. George well, it will be because he can't
be cured."

Jim had found the big house so lonely, with nobody in it except Mr.
Connor and the two Chinese servants, he would have been glad to see
almost anything in the shape of a human being,--man, woman, or
child,--come there to live. How much more, then, these two beautiful and
merry children!

Jusy and Rea thought they had never in all their lives tasted anything
so good as the broiled chicken and the baked apples.

"Heapee goodee cookee, Uncle George!" said Jusy. He was so tickled with
the Chinaman's way of talking, he wanted to keep doing it.

"Tooee muchee putee onee letter e, Master Jusy," said Uncle George.
"After you have listened to their talk a little longer, you will see
that they do not add the 'ee' to every word. It is hard to imitate them
exactly."

Jusy was crestfallen. He thought he had learned a new language in half
an hour, and he was proud of it. But no new language was ever learned
without more trouble and hard work than that; not even pigeon English!

[Illustration: decorative panel