dency and focussed
their astonished gaze upon the miracle.

"The miracle" was a half-grown leopard cub, vividly marked. He was
muzzled and held in leash by a chain affixed to a stout collar, and
Bones, a picture of smug gratification, held the end of the chain.

"But how--how did you catch him?" gasped the girl.

Bones shrugged his shoulders.

"It is not for me, dear old friend, to tell of nights spent in the
howlin' forest," he quavered, in the squeaky tone which invariably came
to him when he was excited. "I'm not goin' to speak of myself. If you
expect me to tell you how I trailed the jolly old leopard to his grisly
lair an' fought with him single-handed, you'll be disappointed."

"But did you track him to his lair?" demanded Hamilton, recovering his
speech.

"I beg of you, dear old officer, to discuss other matters," evaded Bones
tactfully. "Here are the goods delivered, as per mine of the
twenty-fourth instant."

He put his hand to his pocket mechanically, and the cub looked up with a
quick eager stare.

"Bones, you're a wonderful fellow," said Sanders quietly.

Bones bowed.

"And now," he said, "if you'll excuse me, I'll take my little friend to
his new home."

Before they realized what he was doing, he had slipped off the chain.
Even Sanders stepped back and dropped his hand to the automatic pistol
he carried in his hip pocket.

But Bones, unconcerned, whistled and marched off to his hut, and the
great cat followed humbly at his heels.

That same night Bones strode across from his hut to the Residency,
resolved upon a greater adventure yet. He would go out under the
admiring eyes of Patricia Hamilton, and would return from the Residency
woods a veritable Pied Piper, followed by a trail of forest denizens.

In his pocket was a quart bottle, and his clothes reeked with the scent
of wild aniseed. As a matter of fact, his secret would have been out the
moment he entered Sanders's dining-room, but it so happened that his
programme was doomed to interruption.

He was half-way across the square when a dark figure rose from the
ground and a harsh voice grunted "Kill!"

He saw the flash of the spear in the starlight and leapt aside. A hand
clutched at his jacket, but he wrenched himself free, leaving the
garment in his assailant's hands.

He was unarmed, and there was nothing left but flight.

Sanders heard his yell, and sprang out to the darkness of the verandah
as Bones flew up the steps.

He s