ss, if she catches you, will make
mincemeat of you. Neither may I stay longer here. My home must be a
burrow in the wild wood, or in the rocky cave in future. What will you
do?"

"I, Jackal? I know not yet. Go, if you will, and starve yourself. I
trust to find a better home than a cramped burrow, or the cold shelter
of a cave. I love warmth, and kitchen fires, and the smell of roast
meats too well to trust myself to the chilly covert you propose to seek,
and my coat is too fine for rough outdoor life."

"Hark!" cried Jackal, "do you hear that? That is the mistress's warning
note! Fare you well, Doggie. I shall dream of you to-night lying stark
under the paw of the Leopardess."

Jackal waited to say no more, but fled from the scene, and from that day
to this Jackal has been a vagabond. He loves the darkness, and the
twilight. It is at such times you hear his yelp. He is very selfish
and cowardly. He has not courage enough to kill anything for himself,
but prefers to wait--licking his chops--until the lion or the leopard,
who has struck the game, has gorged himself.

As for Dog he was sorely frightened, but after a little deliberation he
resolved to face the matter out until he was certain of the danger. He
conveyed the cubs, living and dead, quickly within, and then waited with
well-dissembled anxiety the coming of his mistress.

Leopardess shortly arrived, and was met at the door by the obsequious
Dog with fawning welcome.

"Where is Jackal?" asked Leopardess as she entered.

"I regret to say he has not returned yet from a visit which he said he
was bound to pay his friends and family, whom he had not seen for so
long," replied Dog.

"Then you go and bring my little ones to me. Poor little dears, they
must be hungry by this, and my milk troubles me," commanded the
mistress.

Dog departed readily, thinking to himself, "I am in for it now." He
soon returned, bearing one of the cubs, and laid it down.

"Bring the other one, quickly," cried Leopardess.

"Yes, ma'am, immediately," he said.

Dog took the same cub up again, but in a brief time returned with it.
The cub, already satisfied, would not touch the teat.

"Go and bring the other one, stupid," cried Leopardess, observing that
it would not suck.

"This is the other one, mistress," he replied.

"Then why does it not suck?" she asked.

"Perhaps it has not digested its dinner."

"Where is Jackal? Has he not yet returned? Jackal!" s