straight up he flew, half-way up in a single easy bound, and caught the front bars with his paws, exactly as a man would with his hands. Another bound from that seemingly impossible position, and he was nosing the ceiling. He held on for a few moments, then, just turning his head and looking down, he sprang away from the bars and alighted lightly on his feet. On rare occasions I have seen him spring from the top of his box in the extreme rear of his large cage, strike in his flight the polished woodwork of the side of the cage, and rebounding, traverse the entire width of the cage, landing against the front bars, to which he clung. Though in a half light he gives an impression of velvetblack, he has, in a strong light, much color. The upper flat planes become blue, shading into black; along his sides and flanks the local color is a purple-brown. His eye, while appearing yellow, is in reality a light hazel.

III. FELIS SERVAL.

THIS is the largest of the smaller African wildcats, being next in size to the leopard. Like the leopard, it is found from Algeria to the Cape. It is not generally looked upon as a handsome or otherwise interesting animal, which is of course very good fortune for the cat, for it has thus escaped the slaughter which is the fate of all that is beautiful in the animal kingdom;

nor has the naturalist pursued it with any keenness, as is shown by the dearth of information as to its habits, which are probably those of any other wildcat. It preys upon all kinds of small animal life, and is known occasionally to kill the gazelle. The specimens in zoological gardens do not appear much more formidable than a house cat, but a good specimen taken wild may measure five feet in length, of which about one fifth is tail. I find the serval handsome and in certain poses even statuesque, reminding me of the bronze figures of animals found with Egyptian mummies. Its movements are very quick and graceful, and in walking it holds its head high. Its most characteristic features are the great length of leg and the comparative shortness of tail. The hair is somewhat longer and coarser than that of the leopard, and is of a somewhat faded tawny, running into pure white on the lower parts, where the hair may be long. The spots of black are very small and far apart, but they increase in size and thickness as they approach the ridge of the back, where they run into lines. The tail is somewhat flat and is ringed with black. A pelt may be distinguished by the large black spot on the inner surface of the upper fore leg. The serval is playful, and if taken young is easily tamed. Black specimens frequently occur, the markings of the skin showing in a favorable light, as in the case of the black leopard.

HE steam-launch was bowling up the bay and homeward, at high tide and twilight and spring, with the crew at military silence and two officers in lively conversation with a lady. Lannigan had not regarded the lady, though the rating "A1!" had been whispered to him at the moment she stepped aboard. But here, as he leaned in his seat and dreamed with the evening, the flare of a match set her profile sharp against his eyes, and started up a thrill in Lannigan that kept him gazing long when the soft, compelling features had blurred in the gloom again. Strange, strange! Time had been too busy erecting her fortunes all these years for ever a touch at her lovely face. He settled down with his head in his hands, seeming to stare at the keel of the boat. But he did not see it, and he did not hear the beat of the screw or the rush and ripple of the waters.

What he saw was the wall of a long, deep garden, and, at a corner hidden by trees from a time-worn house, a girl, who leaned over, muffled in a scarf, lest he might discern her face in the starlight. What he heard, in this night of June, was her rich, old-country voice, with a bit of the blessed brogue in it, and a touch of the heart, he thought, and a quaver of longing.

"Then why will I never see ye again?" he pleaded.

"If I disappeared for years," she said, "I'd find ye still here whistling to the robins every morning. Sure, ye 've stolen the secret of happiness, and that from some girl, I think, such a tongue ye have."

"Then ye'd better share half the secret with me," he said, "or, faith, ye 'll be robbing it all."

"Now, true, if I thought I'd never grow old," she laughed, "I'd scare ye for saying that. I'd make ye think I swallowed your blarney."

"What's growing old to do with being young?" he said. "Why, the pleasure of

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growing old with you would keep a man young forever."

Ah, yes," said the girl; "for is n't a man young always? But there's nothing that keeps a woman young, and there's plenty that makes her old. And that's how little ye know of us; for I believe ye never had a mother."

"Did n't I have a mother, though?" said Lannigan. "And as handsome she was as you'd be, now, if a bat would steal that scarf away. And she never growed old: she stayed preserved in the sweet things that none could keep from telling her. "T was she that learned me how to read the heart behind the smile, Mary Travers; and that's why I know ye like me prayers, though ye do pretend ye 'll come no more to the wall."

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- "Ye child!" said Mary Travers, drawing the scarf more tightly. Ye never even saw me face. And if ye did, ye 'd pass me by; for I'm the ugliest girl that ever slaved for a living. And maybe that 's why I'm scared of to-morrow night's moon."

"Whatever marble you 're made of," said Lannigan, "it's the heart of burning fire inside I'm knocking at. What's a face, Mary Travers? Sure, the divil himself is a handsome man. Ye need have no face at all, if ye like."

"Oh, with such a tongue inside your head, ye 'll never lack a roof over it," said Mary Travers. "Well, it 's good-by to ye; and when I 'm an old woman I'll remember how pretty ye can talk to an empty face at a wall."

"I've something important to tell ye," he called. But she had fled, and the stars looked down upon his puzzled countenance.

When he returned, the following night, she was not there, and he could not understand. Their dozen trysts had yielded what seemed to him too inevitable and from too near the source for her now to keep a promise of absence made so lightly. He gave a robin's whistle and hummed a snatch of a sailors' chanty as he walked the length of

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